10 CULTURE
The Boomerang | Fall 2021
Kindle-ing by Anonymous Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller First line: “I forget everything between footsteps.” Stars: So many. All the good mystery stars and dark haunted house stars. Also some characters stars with old family secret stars. There’s nothing like reading a book that you can’t put down. When a story unfolds just right, drawing you in so well you forget any time has passed before it's late and you’re convincing yourself to read just one more chapter anyway. I just finished a book exactly like that. It’s called “The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” by Stuart Turton, and if you’re looking for something seasonally scary to read around Halloween, it’s a great bet. I’ve read a lot of murder mystery stories, and I think I’ve gotten pretty adept at breaking down the tropes that always seem to come back. Chances are the story is set in a grand old house, somewhere remote with oil lamps, suspicious butlers and guests that all know each other’s secrets and dark pasts. Then someone dies and there’s just one bit of evidence at the crime scene that doesn’t
make any sense. Undoubtedly somebody is having an affair and people don’t turn out to be who they say they are. Finally, the murderer is revealed, and almost every time it’s about money or love, or both. But I’ve never read anything like this. This book opens with someone who doesn’t remember why he’s scurrying through the undergrowth of a forest chasing a shadowy figure. He’s so frazzled he doesn’t know who he is anymore, and here’s the thing, he’s not actually himself, or rather, it’s not his own body he’s inhabiting. Yes, this is a 1920s style, body hopping, eerily twisty murder mystery story, and you’re not ready. The protagonist soon learns his real name is Aiden Bishop, and that he’s at Blackheath house for a reason. At 11pm, Evelyn Hardcastle, the daughter of the strangely absent hosts, is going to be murdered in front of a ballroom of people, and it’s up to him to save her. Here’s the catch: he’s going to be reliving the day this happens over and over, waking up in the body of a different guest each time. The only way to escape is to solve the murder, and bring the answer to a mysterious masked figure: who killed Evelyn, and why?If he doesn't manage to do this on the seventh day, the time loop will start over, and his memories will be wiped.
Of course the reader is given a map with the layout of the house, and the formal invitation to the party with a helpful guest list to try and work it out (I can’t say I didn’t try). It sounds easy enough, with a week’s worth of chances to investigate. But then there's the fact that there are others in the house like Aiden, and only one of them is going to be allowed to escape. In a similar effort to make things difficult, it turns out that the lines between Aiden's own conscience and that of the person he inhabits are becoming more and more blurred each day, and solving the mystery will get harder and harder. This book doesn’t follow the old formula, but it draws from its best parts and unnerving atmosphere to create something really inventive and original. It’s a little hard to get your head around the time travel fantasy parameters sometimes, sure. But I suggest you surrender to its dazzling magic anyway, it worked pretty well for me. This was one of the most creepy, enjoyable and absorbing reading experiences I’ve had. So go along for the ride. You won’t regret it.
Cinematic Waffle
by Yağmur Zubaroğlu
Hello dear old and new dwellers of UCU! Welcome to my first ever film column. After long hours during class, I decided that the very first film I will be writing to you about is Festen (Thomas Vinterberg, 1998): Danish dark comedy at its finest. Helge, the respected family patriarch, decides to celebrate his 60th birthday at a countryside manor. The whole family is invited: drunk uncles, long lost cousins, elders with questionable opinions, and of course, family secrets. We are welcomed by Helge’s three grown-up children Christian, Michael, and Helene. It is your usual family gathering with endless small talk and subtle show-offs, until Christian makes a speech nobody will ever forget.
Serious accusations and life changing confessions are revealed throughout the night! Unspeakable scandals! And then, then…? Nothing. Nothing happens. Christian’s speech proceeds with the main course. Both the family and the guests refuse to see the ginormous two-headed elephant in the room. We face many hard truths as the night goes on. Yet, harder truths only lead to greater denial. The plot progresses in a cruel cycle of action and no-reaction. The carelessness of the crowd reaches to such an absurd degree that is very very annoying at times. good guys don’t win, justice is not served, and the lesson is not learnt. But this is what we are here for. We’re here to watch the celebration. We came to this Danish manor to celebrate, and that is what we are
doing. Regardless of the scandals, The Celebration continues. What I like – or actually, LOVE about this film is the absurdity hidden in lines. While watching Festen, we are on a futile look out for “something to happen”. At the end of the film, after whatever happens happens (I’m trying hard not to spoil), we see the guests eating together again, having breakfast this time. That’s it! Even at the end of the film, the celebration still continues.
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