thriller

Book Review – Anna

I picked up the book “You,” by Caroline Kepnes from my library last year after reading some glowing reviews, and I fully expected to read something completely cheesy and cliche- the totally predictable narrative of the depraved mind of a stalker/killer obsessed with his victims, something I had read before and probably will read again. However, instead of being met with an insane and disgusting, or insanely disgusting, creep of a character that I would instantly hate, I was met with Joe Goldberg, who did not instantly put me off with his murder-y behavior, but charmed me with his humor and wit. And thus it began this way, my love-hate relationship with Joe Golderberg, serial killer and obsessive stalker. Who knew one book would make me question my very fundamental ethical standards??

The plot of the book basically goes like this: Joe meets Beck at the used book shop he pretty much runs and instantly becomes obsessed with her, immediately beginning his stalker behaviors by looking her up online and following her around New York City. They “by chance” (I say this because to her, it seemed that way, but it was definitely not) meet again and hit it off officially when she drunkenly falls onto the subway tracks and he is magically there to save her from her impending death. What unfolds is his attempting to eradicate everything in her life that would take her away from him, leading him to kill multiple people in the process. It’s a wild ride, y’all. I mean, I devoured this book in the span of only a few sittings, wanting to find out what Joe had in store for us all next.

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And while the plot itself was pretty full of twists and surprises to keep you interested, it was the way the book was written that really made it unique. It was written as almost a stream of consciousness inside of the mind of Joe, where we see all of his cleverness, witty humor, and charming asides to make you want him to succeed just to see what else he will say about the world around him. For all of his insanity in wanting to stalk and kill for a girl that is not very interesting (just saying- I did not like Beck’s character), Joe had a lot of actually valid critiques of the world and the people that Beck surrounded herself with, making me believe Kepnes wrote this fully intending it to be a cultural satire of sorts. That becomes even more apparent in the second book, where Joe finds his way to LA to tell us just what he thinks of that culture and lifestyle (that book is great too- seriously, y’all, read it!).

As I mentioned breifly before, and as Jaden will mention again in his review of the TV show, the only thing I hated about this book was Beck, Joe’s obsession. She was the very epitome of a shallow, wannabe-bestselling-author trying to “make it” in New York that lived the most inane lifestyle that would never lead to her writing anything good. While this may have been the point, I thought it made the whole thing a little unbelievable. I mean, Joe was smart enough to critique these very kinds of people, so why would he fall in love with one? Beck was not a good person- she lied and cheated, and ultimately had very little interesting qualities to redeem her in my eyes. I actually think that they did a much better job of creating her character in the show. She was kind and caring, and I did actually feel bad for her when things didn’t go her way. In the book, I didn’t care at all, and maybe that’s what made it so easy to root for Joe, instead.

I give the book an 8/10 and would highly recommend it, and its sequel, to anyone interested in novels with dark, yet simultaneously funny, plots.

TV Review – Jaden

After my girlfriend recommended that I sit down with her to start watching “You,” I was skeptical. She had previously read the book, and didn’t seem to care much for it (not true!!! see my review above 🙂). Much to our surprise, however, the show actually turned out to be pretty good.

“You” does a great job of putting the viewer into the mind of a serial stalker/murderer. Joe Goldberg, the protagonist, is such an ordinary guy that I often found myself laughing at his antics and even rooting for him at times. I had to constantly remind myself what an awful person this protagonist was, and every time I did I found myself liking the show more and more. In this regard, the show nailed it.

I did have some problems with the show, however. I found the protagonist to be a little too stupid to be believable. This isn’t to say that he was stupid objectively, he was actually of much higher than average intelligence. Rather, he was too stupid not to get caught kidnapping, stalking, and murdering people immediately. Also, I really hated the character of Beck, Joe’s love interest. She has no depth to her, and most of the things she said and did were pretty annoying.

“You” is by no means the best show I’ve ever seen, but it is pretty good. The first season was made for cable, so it isn’t some super intelligent look into the mind of an evil genius. It’s a weird, kind of awkward mix of a stalker/murderer psychological thriller and romantic comedy, and I’m not sure that it quite landed. But I was thoroughly entertained by season 1, and it left enough loose ends that I plan on watching season 2 as well.

Overall, “You” is entertaining, and tries to get the viewers to sympathize with the evil protagonist, and few shows succeed at this as much as “You” did.

6.8/10 would recommend

It seems, to society, that there are few things more simultaneously fascinating and terrifying than a witch. As a woman with unmatched power and strength to protect herself and her sisters, the witch has become a powerful symbol of the mysteries of womanhood and female empowerment, a theme that is entangled at the core of Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 remake of the 1977 Dario Argento cult classic, Suspiria.

If you haven’t seen the film, and want to, I would not read any further, as this article will contain spoilers!

In both versions of the film, the story follows a naive American dancer, Susie Bannion, as she joins a prestigious dance school/company (depending on what version you are watching), where there are mysterious forces at work- namely, a coven of covert witches working under the watchful eye of matriarch Helena Markos. This general plot framework, along with a memorable soundtrack, is just about where the shared aspects of the two films stop. While both offer a lush, visceral experience to cause absolute dread, the original accomplishes this through a string of gloriously gory kills, frantic music and garish lighting that transforms the dance academy into a nightmarish rave. Guadagnino’s update, however, is the definition of slow burn.

Dakota Johnson as the innocent, Mennonite runaway, Susie Bannion, that we meet at the beginning of the film, complete with a harmless braid. (Photo: Amazon Studios)

Our hero, Susie (Dakota Johnson), arrives at the dance company as a repressed Mennonite runaway, a virginal beauty with a wicked talent for dance- the perfect formula to fit the archetype of the pure and innocent final girl. While I fully expected our childish Susie, who arrived at the company with a long, wholesome, ginger braid, to be subjected to the horrors that lie within the company, then work to dismantle it with her goodness and charm, this movie delightfully subverts the tropes in exchange for something much more impactful.

As we wind throughout Guadagnino’s generous 2.5 hours of film, we witness a radical transformation in Susie’s identity, as she leaves behind her life as a sweet farm girl and blooms into a fiercely free and indescribably powerful woman. In one scene, she dances maniacally, each move of her body gruesomely crumpling a woman to death in another room of the company. Later, to her director, Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton), she quietly describes the experience of dancing as “what it feels like to f**k”- but not a man, something more primal and animal.

In the end, it seems like she dutifully accepts her submissive role in the coven as the vessel for the ancient, omnipresent and ailing Mother Markos, who claims to be one of the original three mothers, a trio of powerful witches that represent pain, darkness and sadness. But in a subversive twist in the dizzying, and surreal final act, Susie herself claims the ultimate power, revealing herself to be one of the true mothers, while simultaneously killing any member of the coven that stood with Markos. And when I say surreal, I mean insane- like heads exploding while Dakota Johnson rips her own chest open insane- all to the haunting vocals of Thom Yorke. To put it simply, this film sticks with you, crawls under your skin and insists on staying the night.

A new, more powerful and free Susie dances the lead in the company’s show, Volk, which doubles as an occult ritual. (Photo: Amazon Studios)

When I returned from my 10:20pm viewing of the film, I crawled into bed and thought endlessly about it- the intoxicating dance scenes, the overwhelming themes of guilt and shame and motherhood, the impeccable costuming and rich setting. It all culminated into a work that tasks us with considering what it all means together. The film ends with a surprisingly tender scene in which the newly-revealed Mother Suspiriorum in the form of Susie visits an ailing, old psychiatrist plagued by the guilt of losing his wife to the holocaust- that the coven had been tormenting throughout the film- to rid him of all of the memories of any woman that had caused him pain, including his missing wife. I couldn’t help but think this scene showed the magical quality of female power- a power that can be vicious but is ultimately, at its core, maternal and empathetic.

Although the film is long and slow at times, and although I struggled to grasp the meaning of it in the end, it is a story so entirely female that even the one important male character (the old psychiatrist) is played by Tilda Swinton in a crazy amount of prosthetics. And in a media landscape entirely tailored to men and the male perspective, it was refreshing, to say the least.