Blog - Page 6 of 78 - Ruth Madison

Movie Review: Young Adult

The movie Young Adult with Charlize Theron was not at all what I was expecting. Being about a YA author, I thought it would be zany and fun, an upbeat comedy. It came up on Netflix and I watched it last night, discovering that it was anything but upbeat. It’s actually very difficult to watch. The main character is struggling with depression and her behavior can be very difficult to empathize with. The only thing that kept me watching was discovering a character played by Patton Oswald who has a disability. The story is that Mavis leaves the big city of Minneapolis to go back home to Mercury, Minosota when she sees her ex-boyfriend’s announcement that he and his wife have had a baby. Mavis becomes convinced that Buddy, her ex, is trapped in his...

Review: The Boy Next Door by Annabelle Costa

I love this book. I fell in love with it right from the start, as soon as Tasha began to narrate. She is witty, sassy, and hilarious. At the same time she doesn’t understand love nearly as well as she thinks she does. After some wild years, she’s finally ready to settle down, but she still can’t see that the right guy for her has been there all along. It’s frustrating in the best possible way to watch her screwing up her life. The book has some flow charts at the ends of some of the chapters that are laugh out loud funny. Costa really understands humor, that’s for sure. And she also knows how to reveal an endearing vulnerability just below the humor. It’s a real talent. I’d read anything at all that she wrote! Jason is...

Works in Progress

I thought I’d give everyone an update on what has been filling up my time lately! Be(Longing) I’m redoing the outline for this novel about a paraplegic singer who convinces his brother to pretend to be him in order to get a record contract. I’ve written about 22,000 words, but I’m still working on bringing out Dylan’s character and getting to know him and what makes him tick. Our friends Annabelle and Lee have read portions of the rough draft and have been very encouraging, so I think it’s going to be really good once I get it finished. My plan is to get the outline reworked in January and then finish the first draft in February. Homework and Homicide This is the novel that I wrote for Nano. It is a...