Sunday, June 23, 2019

MY GEEKLY BOOK REPORT........... RATING "THIS BOOK IS NOT YET RATED"..........

This Book Is Not Yet Rated by Peter Bognanni (2019)   BQ visitors know that from time to time,I dip my toe in the Young Adult book waters......

                This can hardly be helped, since BD (Beloved Daughter) is not only a librarian, but an avid buyer and reader of YA.......so these books pile up in every nook and cranny of the BQ abode......

                  This one caught my eye instantly.......all about Ethan Ashby,  a teen film geek and his collection of fellow lovable, film-obsessed oddballs.......how could I resist?

                   Together, this motley crew is running a severely rundown decrepit classic movie house, the Green Street Cinema........but scheduled for demolition to make way for apartment buildings.......

                   Ethan, who dearly misses his late, film-professor father, rallies his oddball staff  into an ill-fated, Save-Our-Theater protest that leaves them even worse off........and their theater shut down, condemned and headed for its date with the wrecking ball........

                   To the rescue, (and fleeing Hollywood) comes Ethan's childhood crush Raina Allen, now the unhappy movie star of her own CGI-laden franchise, "Time Zap"......(which sounds frighteningly similar to the actual comic-book garbage films the BQ often rants about...)

                   Yes, I'm aware.......describing this plot, it sounds cloyingly precious and far-fetched.......but, hey, man, it's all about those afflicted,like yours truly, with a lifelong love of MOVIES......

                   Plus, it's all about love in general.....the love that bonds a father and son, the love of an art form that defines your life.......and that prickly, tentative, but all powerful first love that forever holds you in its grip.

                   So what can I say?  It reads like an American teen version of 'Cinema Paradiso'........and it had me at hello. 

                   Funny, said, thoughtful and right on-target with the movies it references.....including, naturally, "The Last Picture Show".....it's a 4 star (****)  summer treat for film buffs.  Any movie that provides you with a wise life lesson from the history of Steve McQueen and "The Blob" deserves a read.......

                    

                 

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