AltWeeklies Wire
'Animal's People' Takes on Corporate Responsiblitynew
The fictional town of Khaufpur is based on Bhopal, India, where a 1984 gas leak at a Union Carbide chemical plant caused thousands of deaths and countless more injuries.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
04-03-2008 |
Fiction
'True Tales of Rollerderby': A Real-Life Cartoonnew
A comic book about the Rose City Rollers is one of those ideas that's so obvious, once you've heard about it, that it seems strange such a thing hasn't been hit on before
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
04-03-2008 |
Nonfiction
It's Easy to Read Because It's Badnew
Even the most distracted bus rider won't fail to notice that The English American isn't easy to read because it's frivolous; it's easy to read because it's bad. Larkin's sentences unfold with such hackneyed predictability that reading each one in its entirety hardly seems necessary.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
03-27-2008 |
Fiction
'Stop-Loss' Is Frustrating Failurenew
Stop-Loss relies on stereotypes and cartoonish oversimplification to critique the US military. It's a frustrating failure, both ideologically and creatively.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
03-27-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Kimberly Peirce, Stop-Loss
Hipsters Add John Brandon to Your Reading Listnew
His first book, Arkansas, has just been released by the McSweeney's Rectangulars imprint.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
03-13-2008 |
Fiction
Slack Onnew
When recovering slacker Kennedy gets a high-paying job in the marketing department of a major record company, he sees his coolness finally validated. Then he started work.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
02-28-2008 |
Nonfiction
Peter Carey Examines the Democratic National Convention of 1968new
But Carey's book is less about the events of the period than about its immediate consequences; about what happens when rich kids go revolutionary; about those who create tidal changes, and those who, through naivete or weakness, are swept up in them.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
02-21-2008 |
Fiction
Yes, It's a Werewolf Booknew
In Toby Barlow's surprising first novel, contemporary Los Angeles is secretly inhabited by packs of men who can, at will, transform themselves into dogs.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
02-14-2008 |
Fiction
'Honeydripper': John Sayles Meets Jim Crownew
Sayles' sedate, inoffensive film takes place in Harmony, Alabama, in 1950, where Jim Crow laws are in full swing and black men can be arrested simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
02-01-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Honeydripper, John Sayles
Beth Lisick Seeks Help in 'Helping Me Help Myself'new
When Lisick unleashes her inner snark, she's laugh-out-loud funny, but when she toes the book's tagline and earnestly tries to "fix" herself, she's boring, kind of annoying, and self-indulgent.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
01-10-2008 |
Nonfiction
The Food Book to Read This Yearnew
Michael Pollan sets out to determine why the so-called Western diet is the unhealthiest in the world; how, despite a full-fledged societal obsession with food and nutrition, Americans have gotten to the perverse point where we are both overweight and undernourished.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
12-27-2007 |
Nonfiction
Your Dreams are Worthlessnew
An undercurrent of pathetically naked hope that makes Great World of Sound weirdly compelling, and a sad-but-honest look at the depressing consequence of our national obsession with fame.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
12-27-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Craig Zobel, Great Wall of Sound
Denzel Fires It Up in 'The Great Debaters'new
There's a lot here about institutionalized racism and the ways in which violence and humiliation are systematically employed to keep people afraid, and it's all packaged up in a nice sentimental package, with a few fat-kid-makes-good and pretty-girl-gets-laid subplots for good measure.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
12-20-2007 |
Reviews
Fun in Nursing Homesnew
The Savages is bleak (though not without a certain dry humor), but it will likely resonate strongly with the boomer crowd, who are starting to deal with these issues themselves.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
12-20-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Tamara Jenkins, The Savages
Hooray for Family!new
If there's tenderness in Margot at the Wedding, it's steeped in ulterior motives and self-deception: This is not a feel-good film.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
11-26-2007 |
Reviews
