Discover the Finest Hospital Gear & Supplies Retail in Huntsville, Texas at SuperPages from Verizon has listings for a lot of more Huntsville companies. people are working three jobs and can't make ends meet! Right here, in the US, people are searching for methods to make elementary and high school kids stay at school till 6:30pm, i.e. babysitting providers, in order that their parents can work longer hours! Its a disgrace, the health system just isn't the only thing damaged in the US, but it definitely is one which severely needs to be changed.
She begins working on the issue of insomnia. Her aim is to extend the variety of hours she sleeps per evening to 6 or extra. Presently she sleeps lower than 4 hours per evening. She units a daily measurement. But nevertheless great often is the process at each turning of the way in which the revolutionary consciousness deepens. The final complexes flee away; no one need come to us talking of the 'dependency' advanced of an A. L. N. soldier.
Listed below are few of the health train suggestions that may be carried out by everyone of their life every day to keep up a healthy physique and make match. Step aerobics incorporates the use of a step or bench typically about one foot broad and three feet long and about six inches high. Instructors use many strikes that require individuals to step up and down from the platform. This manner, the exercise is not going to be boring and tiring, however shall be full of life and motivating.
Each Pregnancy girl should take a prenatal vitamin every day as directed by their family docs or obstetrician. As a younger girl I stored a journal - though I known as it a diary. It has been destroyed, or misplaced. Different product and company names shown could also be logos of their respective owners. Physical standards within the Royal Navy are simply that, requirements. Reaching elite ranges that get you 00 standing is something else fully. Here's the problem for the can be Bond just getting started.
The Market will let these individuals affected know when their information has been verified and the issue has been resolved. If customers do not send the necessary documents, they could be in jeopardy of dropping their Market protection or monetary help they might be receiving to pay for such protection. Each province and territory has their own health insurance coverage plan. Be sure you know what your plan covers.


text:
Eat the sky, drink the ocean, edited by Kirsty Murray, Payal Dhar and Anita Roy
Allen & Unwin, 2015. ISBN 9781743319789
(Age: 12+) Recommended. Short Stories, Fantasy. When in 2012, two appalling crimes against women were perpetrated, one in India where a woman was raped and murdered in a bus and the other in Melbourne where a woman was raped and killed walking home, the idea for this anthology extolling the ambitions and dreams of women was born. A partnership between writers in India and Australia was promoted, resulting in pairs of authors working together to produce speculative fiction, with women grasping the world with both hands, ensuring that they take big chunks out of that pie in the sky.
As a result this anthology published by Allen & Unwin with funding from the Australia Council, presents ten short stories, six graphic stories and one play script.
Each story is unique, fascinating and playful.
In a classroom, they could be used as a study of short stories, a study of speculative fiction, a model for students' work, and a jumping off board for reading other works by the authors appearing.
Trying to choose just a few to talk about is almost impossible, as I enjoyed them all. A graphic story by Nicki Greenberg, Back-stage pass has a journalist interviewing Ophelia before her curtain call. The questioner asks the girl why she was written that way, why she killed herself and why she didn't have more to say for herself. Questions countless students ponder when studying Hamlet. Nicki's recognisable graphic style stands out. I can imagine readers going off on a tangent with this one, postulating Ophelia's story for themselves. But this applies to so many of the tales in this book.
In Little red suit, Justine Larbalestier puts Little Red Riding Hood into a dystopian future where people live in a bubble, protected from the outside world. But Poppy is desperate to visit her grandmother's house and comes across a wolf.
Anita Roy's Cooking time postulates a very future Master Chef where Mandy has another agenda in becoming a contestant.
Cast out by Sahmta Rani is very confronting beginning with a girl being whipped and removed form her village but finding a place where women come together.
Weft by Alyssa Brugman has a girl sell a kidney to receive enough credits to buy someone's hair, but in getting the hair entwined with hers, begins to think about the person who sold her hair.
Each story offers something different, and at the end of the book are pieces from each author explaining their collaboration with another, which adds another level of interest to the stories.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Any author expects reviewers to criticize and differ with his writing, but not to seriously misrepresent it to readers.
In his review of "The New Russians" (Dec. 9), S. Frederick Starr seriously misrepresents a central thesis of my book. Arguing that the book is "Gorbocentric," Mr. Starr describes me as "the proponent of the view that all change has arisen from Mikhail S. Gorbachev's initiative and is dependent upon his continuing activity."
This is flatly inaccurate; my book argues the opposite. Not only does "The New Russians" lay out antecedents of reforms apart from Mr. Gorbachev, point out his repeated failures in the economy and on the nationalities issues, purposely omit his name from the title and present the dynamic pressures for faster reforms from Boris Yeltsin and democratic reformers now running city governments and republics around the country. But in the very first few pages, in the introduction, "The New Russians" asserts the thesis that "all too much of the time, our focus has been on Gorbachev and whether he will 'make it'; but the most important questions reach beyond Gorbachev personally. In fact, one of the most important things I hope this book will show is that whether Gorbachev 'makes it' or not, the process of change has taken root in the Soviet Union. It may be halting, untidy, embattled, and its course unsteady and sometimes uncertain, but whether or not Gorbachev survives, reform has now acquired a momentum of its own, and it will carry on regardless of his individual fate. . . . Others, now maturing and learning the skills of democracy, will emerge to carry reform forward to another stage, further than Gorbachev himself either intended or was capable of realizing. In time, we may come to see Gorbachev as a transitional figure."
Many other chapters illustrate and support this thesis; in fact, the entire book does. HEDRICK L. SMITH Chevy Chase, Md.


Polo Biology Global Group News Release - Evans & Evans, Inc.
On November 24, 2008, the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") issued its final bulletin confirming the completion of the Qualifying Transaction and that the Company will be listed, as a Tier 1 Issuer and its common shares will resume trading on the Exchange on November 25, 2008 under the ticker symbol "PGG".
Concurrent with the Qualifying Transaction, the Company completed a prospectus offering (the "Financing") in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario of 5.0 million common shares of the Company (each, a "Share") at a price of $0.50 per Share for gross proceeds of $2.5 million. Blackmont Capital Inc. (the "Agent) acted as the agent in connection with the Financing on a best efforts basis. The Agent was paid a cash commission of $145,000, a corporate finance fee of $45,000 and was also reimbursed for its reasonable expenses in connection with the Financing. The Agent and members of the selling group were also granted compensation options to acquire up to 500,000 Shares at a price of $0.50 per Share for a period of up to two years, The Company also granted the Agent an option, exercisable no later than 60 days from the date of closing of the Financing, to arrange for the sale of up to an additional 750,000 Shares at a price of $0.50 per Share to cover over-allotments and for market stabilization, if necessary. In addition, a reduced finder's fee was paid to Evans & Evans, Inc. (the "Finder") in connection with the Qualifying Transaction, in which 600,000 Shares at a deemed price of $0.40 per Share was issued (and are held in an Exchange surplus security escrow) and $360,000 in cash was paid to the Finder.
Pursuant to the Qualifying Transaction, the Company acquired all of the issued shares of Rainbow, which holds a 55.6% equity interest in Sino-Canada Beijing Polo Biotech Co. Ltd. ("Polo JV"), and issued 36,000,000 Shares to the shareholders of Rainbow at a price of $0.50 per Share. As a result of the Qualifying Transaction, Rainbow is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, which indirectly owns the 55.6% interest in Polo JV. Polo Biology Science Park Co. Ltd. ("Polo Biology") holds the balance of the 44.4% equity interest in Polo JV. The prospectus describing the Company, and the Financing, the terms of the Qualifying Transaction, and the business of the Company, prepared in accordance with applicable securities legislation, is available on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.
The net proceeds from the Financing will be used by the Company to increase its percentage ownership of Polo JV, subject to obtaining the requisite Chinese government approvals. Until the requisite Chinese government approvals are obtained, Polo Biology has agreed to assign its distributions and dividends received from Polo JV in excess of the portion owed to it based on a 10% ownership in Polo JV. Polo JV is expected to use the funds contributed by the Company to fund marketing programs, research and development, an enterprise resource planning system and general working capital.
With the completion of the Qualifying Transaction and Financing (including a previously announced share consolidation), the Company has 49,399,997 Shares issued and outstanding (on an undiluted basis). The Company also changed its name to "Polo Biology Global Group Corporation" effective on November 21, 2008.
The Company, through its operating subsidiaries in China, develops, manufactures and distributes health supplements, personal and homecare products across China under the Polo brand. The Company currently distributes its products through Polo Biology, which manages a network of retail outlets operated by its franchisees.
Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address a company's expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following risks: risks associated with marketing and sale of securities; the need for additional financing; reliance on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers, or directors with certain other projects; the volatility of our common share price and volume. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.


text:
package team316.navigation.configurations;

import team316.navigation.RobotPotentialConfigurator;

public class ArchonConfigurator extends RobotPotentialConfigurator {

	@Override
	protected double oppositeArchonCharge() {
		return 0.0;
	}

	@Override
	protected double oppositeGuardCharge() {
		return -1e3;
	}

	@Override
	protected double oppositeSoldierCharge() {
		return -5e3;
	}

	@Override
	protected double oppositeViperCharge() {
		return -1e3;
	}

	@Override
	protected double oppositeScoutCharge() {
		return 0.0;
	}

	@Override
	protected double oppositeTurretCharge() {
		return -1e4;
	}

	@Override
	protected double allyArchonCharge() {
		return 0.0;
	}

	@Override
	protected double allyTurretCharge() {
		return 0.0;
	}

	@Override
	protected double fightingAllyCharge() {
		return -1.0;
	}

	@Override
	protected double allyDefaultCharge() {
		return 1e2;
	}

	@Override
	protected double zombieCharge() {
		return -1e4;
	}

	@Override
	protected double denCharge() {
		return -1e3;
	}

	@Override
	protected double defaultCharge() {
		return 1.0;
	}

	@Override
	protected double bigZombieCharge() {
		return -1e5;
	}

	@Override
	protected double fastZombieCharge() {
		return -4e4;
	}

	@Override
	protected double rangedZombieCharge() {
		return -2e4;
	}

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Bānār River är ett vattendrag i Bangladesh.   Det ligger i provinsen Dhaka, i den centrala delen av landet,  kilometer nordost om huvudstaden Dhaka.

Trakten runt Bānār River består till största delen av jordbruksmark. Runt Bānār River är det mycket tätbefolkat, med  invånare per kvadratkilometer.  Tropiskt monsunklimat råder i trakten. Årsmedeltemperaturen i trakten är  °C. Den varmaste månaden är oktober, då medeltemperaturen är  °C, och den kallaste är januari, med  °C. Genomsnittlig årsnederbörd är  millimeter. Den regnigaste månaden är juni, med i genomsnitt  mm nederbörd, och den torraste är december, med  mm nederbörd.

Källor

Vattendrag i Dhaka (provins)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Business News›University of Toronto
Record hike in Indian students at London universities
According to an analysis of new data from the UK's Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) released on Wednesday, Indian student numbers in London grew by 34.7 per cent in 2018-19, marking the largest numbers since 2011-12.
Sharjeel Imam to be produced before Delhi court, lawyers raise slogans calling him traitor
Situation at Patiala House Courts Complex remained...
University of Houston signs MoU with Himachal based-Shoolini University
The US based University of Houston, a leading public research univers...
Researchers from the University of Southampton in the UK compiled a list of cities and countries they believe are at high risk from the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) -- which has killed over 100 people so far, and infected thousands.
UiPath partners with 150 academic institutions in India
The programme, aimed at creating an inclusive workforce who are fluent in automation technologies, has so far trained more than 20,000 students and professionals in the country, said the company in a press release.
Oxford declares 'Samvidhaan' the Hindi word of 2019, says it reflects ethos, mood of the year
The word 'Samvidhaan' first received widespread attention in August 2019.
University of North Texas launches an online degree programme
The university has partnered with Coursera to bring its Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (B.A.A.S.) programme on the online platform starting this year. UNT initially developed the degree program to help students with diverse backgrounds, including those who have prior college or military credit, earn an accredited bachelor's degree.
Government will not allow universities to become political battlegrounds: Ramesh Pokhriyal
The minister said that the students cannot remain engaged in small things as their aim is to excel in academics and improve the international ranking of over 1,000 universities across the country.
India needs better opposition: Abhijit Banerjee
Speaking at a session at the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), the 58-year-old India-born American economist said there was no co-relation between the authoritarianism and the economic success.
People are protesting to remind govt of constitutional values: Rohit De, professor of history, Yale University
The protestors are saying that the Constitution protects many of our rights. The new laws seek to deviate from that. The institutions that are supposed to protect us — political parties, the judiciary — have not stepped in. So people are coming out to hold these values up and remind them that they can't deviate from the basic structure of the Constitution, asserted Rohit De.
Share market update: BSE Capital Goods index flat; Graphite India dips 2%
The S&P BSE Capital Goods index was trading 0.06 per cent down at 17,716.07.
Top CEOs commit to support developing core set of universal ESG disclosures
Announcing the initiative, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said 140 of the world's largest companies support effort to develop a core set of common metrics and disclosures on non-financial factors to their investors and other stakeholders.
Student unions of NE universities call for class boycott against CAA
"As the Supreme Court will hear the petition against CAA, we will register our protest against CAA. Students from universities which include Gauhati, Dibrugarh, Cotton, Nagaland, Manipur, Tezpur and North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, will hold protest and boycott classes, " said PG Students Union of Gauhati University gen secy Moon Talukdar.
Aligarh: AMU students disrupt VC's Republic Day speech, raise 'VC go back' slogans
Another faceoff between students and Vice Chancellor Tariq Mansoor at the Aligarh Muslim University. Students disrupted the VC Mansoor's Rep...
From SOTY's St Teresa to KKHH's St Xavier's, B-town is fixated with western names
It is the highly arbitrary renaming of institutions that's cemented the appeal of branding via Western names.


Cognizant, Fortune 500 company is one of the world's leading professional services companies, transforming clients' business, operating and technology models for the digital era.
In the latest job notification, Cognizant India announces job vacancies for Junior Data Analyst post, with work location in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai.
Under Cognizant Mumbai Junior Data Analyst 2019 Jobs, candidates completed Degree are required to apply.
Job Designation: Junior Data Analyst.
Job Location: Mumbai, Navi Mumbai.
Date & Timing: 30th March - 1st April '19, 10 AM onwards.
Venue: Cognizant Technology Solutions, Airoli Mindspace SEZ Opposite Airoli Railway Station, Building 9, 2nd Floor, Mumbai - 400708.
Interested and qualified job applicants have to walk-in on the announced date and venue.


Have I told you lately, I love me my Restore?! My Better Half and I were there this evening and were loving every minute of it. I picked up a few more cabinet doors to use for projects like my Bathroom Rules Sign . I also got some other nice little odds and ends that you will see at a later date. While we were at ReStore this evening, one of the workers asked us if we came knowing what we were looking for (with a project in mind) or came to be inspired. My Better Half assured them that it was both. We certainly have a list of things that we are looking for to fix up this old house but most often the inspirational stuff is way more fun.
Last week at ReStore was an example of one such inspiration. I am looking for something for my entryway. Something to store the boatload of shoes that lines the room. I saw this buffet that I thought might work but was not ideal for the small space. It did cross my mind while looking at it that it would make a beautiful island between my kitchen and dining room. We picked it up and headed home. I immediately had My Better Half put it in the entryway where I did not like it at all!! I gave him those please, oh please, eyes (yes, I know it's manipulation) and asked if he would move it to the kitchen. VOILA!! A perfect fit.
This is what it looked like when we moved it to the kitchen. I knew it needed some serious work but I could totally see the potentional. We removed the loose, broken veneer to find beautiful wood that we were able to stain to match the rest of the buffet perfectly. We removed the top from the island we had in place and it fit by just sawing a little off the top of the buffet. I made the top from our other island a couple years ago when we remodeled our kitchen and knew it would look great on the new island.
Ok, so this is what my island looked like before. Just a boring, manufactured, too small bottomed island.
It's so funny, I didn't know I "needed" a new island until I saw this one in place and now it is PERFECT.
Don't you just love it? I know I do!!
How much was it?…$80 and worth every penny!
It was a steal! It looks beautiful in your home.
Great job, it's beautiful! We're going to be building a cabin in the near future and I have always wanted to have an island made from an old buffet. I love the lines of the one you snagged, and how perfect that the previous top fit perfectly?!! Good job!
Wow, it's perfect. Isn't it amazing how old furniture renewed or redone in a different way not only ads interest to a room but so much character and history to a space!
I love the line of it! What a bargain for $80 bucks!!
Wow, what an amazing find! Love the ReStores 🙂 I think it looks great there, what a nice piece for your home.
Wow this is awesome! I hadn't thought of using a dresser as an island- yours looks great. Thanks for sharing!
You did such a great job on this, great find!
My grandmother had a buffet just like this one. Your re-do is beautiful. Thanks for sharing!
Just beautiful! I love, love, love that base! Great idea!
What an awesome idea!!! It turned out beautiful and I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little jealous.
I found you on Wicked Awesome Wednesdays and thanks for sharing.
I love the restore here in Des Moines. Sometimes I just wonder around until something hits me! I love how your island turned out. it looks like a custom piece of furniture!
What a beautiful old piece. You did a lovely job restoring it.
What an awesome idea! LOVE it!!
What a perfect match that top is to the buffet. It is so much more special now!
I like that you find things on the cheap. Just like me!
Great use of an antique, and no one else on the block has an island like that.
nnot over-eat, specifically instantly prior to playing.
Maake sure before taking part iin any physical activity that you warm up annd cool down afterwards.
it looks beautiful! I think you did a great job. The colors are so pretty, and I love the shape of it.


If your browser is in Personal mode, pages that use personal or geographic data may not work. TIP: If in case you have coverage that only focuses on a part of these advantages, or focuses on treating a single side of your health (imaginative and prescient, dental, treating a specific condition/illness), your healthcare is not going to meet minimum necessities of the March 31, 2014 deadline.
With one state after one other saying large 2017 Obamacare rate increases the latest refrain from Obamacare supporters is that with perhaps one or two extra years of fee increases every part can be superb. Understanding the difference between health insurance coverage policies and health discount plans will aid you choose which one is greatest for you and your family's needs.
Nevertheless, most defined contribution plans usually are not only portable in that staff can take the plan and cash contributed so far with them once they leave an employer however, at that time they will also change managers if they so desire.
Should you would favor to speak to a Health Internet representative about this difficulty, please click on here to go to our Customer Service Middle page. Nowhere is that this peculiar and completely unnecessary capitulation more evident than within the beleaguered health care sector. You might recall that the administration was solely in a position to pay 12.5% of what insurers have been owed for 2014 beneath the reinsurance program designed to guard health plans from losses in the insurance exchanges. The plans provided by many employers charge excessive administrative charges and offer funding choices in mutual funds which can be operated more for the advantage of the mutual fund firm relatively than for the advantage of the worker investors. Scroll down via your first three plans to change into acquainted with where to look for particulars necessary to you — write them down elsewhere to help maintain observe of what plans have what advantages.
You're correct that one of the issues with outlined contribution plans is that individuals don't take the time to find out about cash and subsequently may not manage their plans as well as they could. There are two generic types of health insurance accessible in the United States: group plans and individual plans. In the event you buy your plan via the marketplace, any changes in plans all year long are topic to approval by the market. Discrimination in health care was institutionalized in Independence, Missouri on July 30, 1965 when President Johnson signed the Social Safety Amendments of 1965 into regulation, creating two ethical frameworks for public financing of healthcare". Most often, firms that sell particular person insurance coverage must supply HIPAA plans.


text:
Author Features / Debut Authors / Features / Fiction
Gaston Leroux: A Man of Heaven and Earth
Posted on May 20, 2013 by Bloom	3 Comments
by Nicki Leone
"No, he is not a ghost; he is a man of Heaven and earth, that is all."
― Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera
Gaston Leroux came into the world somewhat inconveniently on May 6, 1868, on the road from Le Mans to Normandy. His parents were forced to stop the coach between one train station and another and his mother, Marie-Alphonse, was carried to the nearest house, where she gave birth to a healthy and no doubt squalling baby boy. Years later, Leroux returned to see the house that had served as his inadvertent birthplace, only to discover that it had been converted to an undertaker's shop. "There, where I sought a cradle," he wrote, "I found a coffin."
As metaphors for a life go, this tale seems wildly appropriate: A man who vagabonded around the globe in pursuit of stories is born almost before the carriage carrying his mother has a chance to stop. The writer who would become famous for his gothic tales and dark, sinister novels finds a coffin shop ensconced in his birthplace.
Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux, despite his adventurous introduction into the world, led a relatively normal, if privileged, childhood—his way smoothed by his father's money, but also by his own easy nature and not insignificant intelligence. The son of a successful Normandy shipbuilder, Leroux was an excellent sailor, a good swimmer, and apparently also proficient at handling a catch of herring.
But of course parents always want something better for their children, so when he was old enough Gaston Leroux was sent to school to study law, where he took the requisite prizes and impressed his teachers. Had anyone asked what would become of M. Leroux at the time he received his degree, all would have avowed that the young man was destined to become a brilliant lawyer.
But two significant things happened in 1889 in the life of young Leroux. He had a sonnet published in the newspaper L'Echo de Paris, and his father died.
At first glance, it would seem that the latter tragedy would be more important than the former small triumph, especially since upon his death Leroux père left his son an inheritance of one million francs. Leroux fils did what any young man would do upon finding himself suddenly independent and very rich—he went on a bender. He dropped his law career and dived head first into the gambling dens, nightclubs, and theatrical shows of fin de siècle Paris, becoming immensely popular with all sorts of dissolute, albeit interesting, types. After six months, Gaston Leroux was broke. And the only thing he seemed to have learned from half a year's worth of self-indulgence was that he absolutely did not want to be a lawyer.
Instead, he decided to be a writer.
To call Gaston Leroux a late bloomer is something of a misnomer. By the time he wrote The Mystery of the Yellow Room in 1907—the novel that would establish his literary reputation—he already enjoyed near-celebrity status as a journalist. He was the kind of correspondent who would go to almost any lengths to get his story, and became famous for getting interviews with elusive people under unusual circumstances. Leroux had demonstrated this aptitude early in his career, when he took it upon himself to interview a prisoner awaiting trial for a serious crime by posing as a prison anthropologist, even going so far as to produce forged credentials. This was outrageous enough, but much to the chagrin of the courts and the police, the article Leroux wrote exonerated the prisoner completely.
By all rights, he should have been arrested. But sales of the paper skyrocketed, and the editors at his paper Le Matin, knowing a good thing when it fell into their laps, stood by their wunderkind and promptly began dispatching him around the globe in pursuit of breaking news. Leroux's name at the head of a column became a sure way to increase circulation.
And so Gaston Leroux became a roving investigative reporter, charged with ferreting out the story others couldn't get. He journeyed from hot spot to hot spot, from one dangerous situation to another—a life of constant adventure that would have made Sir Richard Francis Burton envious, if only there had been more sex in it.
His talent for subterfuge and disguise, his willingness to walk into danger, and his ability to strike up a conversation with anyone under any circumstances became the most useful weapons in Leroux's arsenal. He reported on an erupting Vesuvius from the edge of the crater, and disguised himself as an Arab to report on riots in Fez. He broke a story about a secret summit between Kaiser Wilhelm II and the Russian Tsar by making friends with a cook in the Tsar's entourage. He met arctic explorers and Russian revolutionaries, but the man who brought world events to the pages of Le Matin was not a simply a yellow journalist anxious to jump on the most sensational story. His coverage, early in his career, of public executions by the guillotine made him an opponent of capital punishment for the rest of his life. He was also instrumental in the second trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, whom Leroux believed unequivocally to be innocent, and spared no ink in attempting to expose the scandal that poisoned France for more than a decade.
So why was it that in 1907, at the height of his fame and the pinnacle of his success as an investigative journalist, did Gaston Leroux decide to hang it all up so he could write novels? George Perry, in his book The Complete Phantom of the Opera , suggests it was an impulsive decision made when Leroux, having just returned from a long foreign assignment, received a late-night phone call from his editor telling him to hop on the next train to Toulon. Leroux responded with something Gallic and unprintable, slammed down the phone, and decided to become a novelist.
But it should not be forgotten that what first inspired Leroux to live by the pen was that sonnet published years before. He fell in love with literature as a young man studying law, going on to become a great reader who admired many important novelists of the age, including Stendhal, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas père, Daphne du Maurier, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Émile Zola. And he never really abandoned what we might call "creative" writing, despite the demands of his journalism career; like many writers, his first novel, The Mystery of the Yellow Room, was not, in fact, his first novel. Since 1903 he had been publishing serialized fiction in Le Matin, and one of these—The Seeking of the Morning Treasures, based on the exploits of a famous bandit known as Cartouche—was wildly popular, not least because the paper staged a series of treasure hunts around Paris to publicize it.
The Mystery of the Yellow Room was Leroux's breakthrough novel. He must have started writing the moment he hung up the phone on his editor, because it was published the very same year.
The genre known as "locked room mysteries" is something of an acquired taste. Modern readers tend to prefer their mystery novels for the "whodunnit" and "whydunnit" aspects of the story. The "howdunnit" is somewhat out of fashion in this era of forensic science and computer wizardry.
But in Leroux's day, howdunnit was all the rage. Edgar Allan Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue and the Sherlock Holmes stories of Arthur Conan Doyle fascinated readers everywhere. So Leroux, like any budding novelist, decided to write what was selling. "When I sat down to pen that story," he recalled, "I decided to go 'one better' than Conan Doyle, and make my 'mystery' more complete than even Edgar Allan Poe had ever done."
This would have been fabulously arrogant if Leroux hadn't made good with his very first book. The Mystery of the Yellow Room is often cited as one of the original—and best—of the locked room mysteries. John Dickson Carr, the acknowledged master of the genre, cites it as the book to which he aspired.
But why did it make such an impression? The main character, Joseph Rouletabille, is not especially original. A young but brilliant journalist, at the beginning of the story he has already achieved fame for solving a crime that had the police stumped. If the character sounds a little familiar—well, that's no accident. Nor can the book's success be attributed to Leroux's style, which at this point in his literary career still carries the cadences of a journalist. The story, like other novels of the day, is presented as a series of memoirs, journals, letters, and court documents, but there is no real attempt to distinguish one speaker from another in the profusion of sources.
Part of the problem with locked room mysteries is that the narrative tends to sink into a morass of technical details provided so the reader can be absolutely sure that the room in question was, in fact, locked. In the case of the Yellow Room, a woman is attacked in her own bedroom. Her father and a loyal family servant hear a commotion and her cry for help, and attempt to break into the room. It takes a few minutes, during which they are standing at the door—the only way out of the room. They burst in, find the lady unconscious and bloody, and the room otherwise empty. Even the window is still locked and barred. There is nowhere for the perpetrator to hide, no way for him to have escaped, yet he is not in the room.
The solution to this mystery—who tried to kill the young woman and how he could have escaped—occupies the rest of the book, and Leroux takes great pains to explain just how impossible it was for anyone to have escaped unseen. He measures the dimensions of the bedroom, describes the construction of the door and the window, and offers the direction of the corridor and the height of the room from the ground below, going so far as to draw maps of the house's layout for the reader's edification. Various characters propose solutions, which the author then, in the character of Rouletabille, demolishes. One person suggests the father was in on it, another that the accomplice was the family servant. A family friend proposes that the would-be murderer hid in the mattress on the lady's bed. (Rouletabille barely deigns to respond to this). A local magistrate suggests that the murderer slipped past the men while they were looking the other way. At one point, people start to suggest ghosts and apparitions. Rouletabille all but loses his temper:
Novelists build mountains of stupidity out of a footprint on the sand, or from an impression of a hand on the wall. That's the way innocent men are brought to prison. It might convince an examining magistrate or the head of a detective department, but it's not proof. You writers forget that what the senses furnish is not proof. If I am taking cognisance of what is offered me by my senses I do so but to bring the results within the circle of my reason. That circle may be the most circumscribed, but if it is, it has this advantage—it holds nothing but the truth! Yes, I swear that I have never used the evidence of the senses but as servants to my reason. I have never permitted them to become my master. They have not made of me that monstrous thing,—worse than a blind man,—a man who sees falsely.
What is it that Sherlock Holmes used to say? When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever left, however improbable, must be the truth.
The particular triumph of The Mystery of the Yellow Room, the reason Leroux might be justified in his claim to have one-upped Mr. Arthur Conan Doyle and Mr. Edgar Allan Poe, and the reason why the book is still cited by aficionados as one of the great locked room mysteries of all time, lies in the answer to how the would-be murderer escaped that room. Poe and Doyle each wrote their own locked room stories, of course. And in each case the solution is exotic, to say the least: strange animals loose in the night, secret passageways and hidden doors.
Leroux dispenses with all such fantastic devices. The police spend a fair amount of time searching for trap doors and secret passages, but Rouletabille is confident at the outset no such thing will be found. Instead, the author relies on misdirection to trap the unwary reader, who would do well to remember Roulatabille's somewhat heated admonishment: "You writers forget that what the senses furnish is not proof."
All good mysteries take advantage of that disconnect between what we see and what we expect to see, and this one does so to wonderful effect. The men of the house behold a woman swooning on the floor, but no assailant in the room, and begin to think of supernatural explanations. Rouletabille sees the same picture, but deduces something far more ordinary, logical, and mundane. His reasoning is absolutely sound, but most readers will have to wait for the denouement at the end of the novel to discover it.
At which point, 99 out of a hundred readers will exclaim, "Oh!" and the novel, which up to this point has been a strange collection of testimonies and seemingly sinister coincidences, will suddenly resolve itself into a highly satisfying mystery story.
Gaston Leroux would go on to write dozens of other novels, many featuring Rouletabille and liberally sprinkled with anecdotes from his vast experience as a journalist. He still enjoyed gambling, and was in the habit of writing a new book whenever he had to pay off his gambling debts. "I have to be pushed by deadlines," he said, the reporter's discipline never truly leaving him. It wasn't until 1911 that Leroux wrote the novel that would make him famous forever, The Phantom of the Opera .
Today, The Mystery of the Yellow Room is an all but forgotten story drowned out by the more famous madman behind his mask, banging away, enraged, on the Opera House organ. Inspired by true events—a chandelier counterweight falling into the audience at the Opera House, and the discovery of a skeleton in the catacombs under the building—The Phantom of the Opera became Leroux's best known and most successful book. Although its fame was somewhat late in coming, having received only lukewarm praise on the continent, Phantom took off once Hollywood turned it into a movie with Lon Cheney almost a dozen years after it was first published. Its success continues unabated into the 21st century, with Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical adaptation topping the list of Broadway's longest running shows.
In many ways, The Phantom of the Opera is utterly unlike The Mystery of the Yellow Room: reason gives way to horror, common sense to superstition. Dark and secret passageways abound, and a specter rules the stage of the Paris Opera House. It is only on reflection that one sees the common threads between the early detective story and the late gothic novel. But The Mystery of the Yellow Room is littered with gothic elements: strange animal cries in the night, sinister caped figures that seem to vanish into nowhere, brave young women set upon by evil forces. And the Opera Ghost of The Phantom of the Opera turns out to be not a demon, but as Leroux writes, just "a man of Heaven and Earth, that is all."
The late but rising popularity of The Phantom of the Opera did not deter Leroux from racking up more gambling debts, which he had to pay off with the advances from more books. He wrote up until his death in 1929, at the age of 59, publishing books at the rate of roughly once a year in a wide variety of genres—fantasy, horror, even romance. He also wrote plays, and screenplays, and even founded a company with the mission of turning novels into films. (He soon lost interest.)
But Phantom's success in Hollywood did allow Leroux to enjoy the last years of his life in rather sumptuous circumstances. Until he died, Leroux insisted that there really was a Phantom of the Opera House—a real, breathing man who made his home in the catacombs below the building—and his children and grandchildren continue to reaffirm his statement. The book itself is written not as a novel, but as a reporter submitting copy to his editor.
Leroux led a story-filled life, which he turned into novel after novel. So it is hard not to imagine that the lines between what was real and what was fiction might have become a little blurred. "In Paris," as Leroux writes, "our lives are one masked ball."
Nicki Leone showed her proclivities at a young age when she asked her parents if she could exchange a gift of jewelry for a hardcover Merriam-Webster. Later, her college career and attending loans supported her predilection for working as a bookseller. Currently she works with the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, developing marketing and outreach programs for independent bookstores. She has been a book reviewer for local magazines and newspapers, and the on-air book commentator for her local public radio and television stations. She is also past president and a current member of the board of the North Carolina Writers Network. She lives in Wilmington, North Carolina with a varying numbers of dogs and cats.
Homepage photo credit: Universal Pictures
Tags: Alexandre Dumas père, Alfred Dreyfus, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Arthur Conan Doyle, Émile Zola, Daphne du Maurier, Edgar Allan Poe, Gaston Leroux, George Perry, John Dickson Carr, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Lon Cheney, Nicki Leone, Sherlock Holmes, Sir Richard Francis Burton, Stendhal, The Complete Phantom of the Opera, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of the Yellow Room, The Seeking of the Morning Treasures, Victor Hugo. Bookmark the permalink.
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glschmitz says:
"Until he died, Leroux insisted that there really was a Phantom of the Opera House—a real, breathing man who made his home in the catacombs below the building—and his children and grandchildren continue to reaffirm his statement."
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The language that is based on dialects spoken in and around Copenhagen (the capital of Denmark) is called Standard Danish (rigsdansk). Different than other Scandinavian languages, Danish only has one regional speech norm. Unlike Swedish and Norwegian, Danish does not have more than one regional speech norm. Over 25% of all Danish speakers reside in the urban area of Copenhagen. Additionally, most government agencies, institutions and large businesses are located in the capital city of Denmark.
It is thought by most people that Standard Danish is based on a form of Copenhagen dialect. In spite of this, the exact norm (like the majority of most language norms) is not easy to identify. Throughout history, Standard Danish came about as a mix between the dialect of Zealand and Scania. The beginning of it can be seen in east Danish provincial law texts such as Skånske Lov.
Even though Denmark had a very centralized government, the divided geography of the country caused rural dialects to thrive over the centuries. These dialects are referred to as genuine dialects and were previously spoken by most in Denmark. Yet since the 1960s, the appearance of these dialects has decreased significantly. In spite of this, they still exist in communities out in the countryside. Yet when most speakers are spoken to in Standard Danish, they tend to reply in a regionalized form of Standard Danish. This is typically a form of the local dialect to Rigsdansk.
Danish is divided into three distinct dialect groups. These groups are then subdivided in roughly 30 categories. The three main categories are Insular Danish (dialects of the Danish islands of Zealand, Funen, Lolland, Falster, and Møn), Jutlandic (further divided in North, East, West and South Jutlandic), and the Bornholmsk dialect (dialect of the island of Bornholm).
The term Eastern Danish is sometimes used for Bornholmian, but also involves the dialects of Scania. Scanian is a similar group of dialects that formed part of the old Scandinavian dialects. The reason for this is because of the loss of the Danish provinces of Blekinge, Halland and Scania to Sweden in 1658. This means that the spoken language in this part of Sweden comes from a local variation of Danish. Despite this, the written language used in this area is standard Swedish (which developed in Uppsala and Stockholm, Sweden).
Similar to this, the Norwegian language is thought to come from West Norse. While this is so, the written language used by most in Norway is derived from an older version of Standard Danish. Long ago, the classical dialects that existed in the southern Swedish provinces were thought to be more Eastern Danish than Swedish (similar to the dialect of Bornholm).
Clients targeting a certain area in Denmark may want to choose a specific dialect to translate their content into.


I remember one day years ago, I was going to log in on this site, & the website was down. Something told me to look it up today & I see that it's up & I recreated my account to a different name. I'm glad to see that this site is still up today. What happened to this site years ago?


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As we celebrate our 50th anniversary, we look back on a very successful year in Northern Ireland with Joanne Sherwood, Director of RSPB NI.
Bigger than ever
I'm writing this on the 50th anniversary of RSPB NI, and I can't believe how far we've come in that time. Frank Hamilton was our first regional officer, working from an office in Queen's University with just one member of staff.
Now we have 50 members of staff, 280 volunteers and we own or manage thousands of hectares of land vital for wildlife across NI. We also offer better-than-ever visitor experiences at our reserves, including the revamped Window on Wildife (WOW) in Belfast, and the Rathlin West Light Seabird Centre, which re-opened in March 2016.
Belfast Window on Wildlife
Connecting people with nature
Talking of the public, I'm proud to say we welcomed almost 2,000 new members in the 2015-16 period, and we now have around 14,000 members in NI. In addition, through education and outreach, we connect around 20,000 young people with nature every year.
One of our most notable occasions is the wildlife photography event at Portmore Lough. It takes place in an area of Portmore Lough not normally open to the public, in an area well-known for its Irish hares.
Our Big Wild Sleepout is the biggest UK Sleepout event – with a staggering 500 people taking part last year! In partnership with National Museums Northern Ireland, it takes place at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in County Down, in their amazing grounds.
We've also been very successful in our Big Garden Birdwatch, increasing numbers of people taking part from 12,000 to 25,000 in two years.
Wonderful for wildlife
I'm delighted to report that 2015-2016 was a wonderful year for wildlife across our sites. For example on just one plot on Rathlin Island, the number of kittiwake pairs increased from 62 in 2014 to 165 in 2015. At Lough Beg near Toomebridge we recorded 121 'spikes' of the rare Irish lady's tresses orchid.
In County Fermanagh, Sandwich terns returned to breed on Gravel Ridge Island in Lower Lough Erne from their wintering grounds in West Africa. This colony is unique as normally they only nest at the coast. Counts revealed 138 pairs, up from 124 in 2014, and an impressive rate of breeding success.
We can also report the highest numbers of breeding waders ever on our sites. RSPB nature reserves have potential to hold up to 49% of the NI population of redshanks. There were also some rare sightings throughout the region, including pintails at Portmore Lough and the discovery of rare beetle Carabus clathratus in the Glenwherry area, previously thought to be extinct in County Antrim!
Irish lady's tresses orchid
There's no doubt that agriculture has shaped Northern Ireland's landscape. Close to three-quarters of the land is dedicated to producing food, with the agri-food industry employing over 100,000 people and boasting an annual turnover of around £4 billion.
Technological improvements and a temperate climate mean that NI has developed a sophisticated and productive livestock farming system. However, wildlife, habitat, landscape character, water and soil quality have all suffered declines as a result of agricultural modernisation.
We've been working with farmers in key areas to plan how they can attract more wildlife. Through this project, RSPB NI has been able to improve the fortunes of species such as curlews and yellowhammers - species that have seen declines of up to 90% in some areas.
We would not have been able to do this without the help and support of farmers, who are essentially saving species from extinction in the wider countryside.
Grant for Lough Erne
Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded funding to preserve and enhance one of Northern Ireland's greatest natural treasures, Lough Erne in County Fermanagh.
This money will go to the Lough Erne Landscape Partnership, of which we're a lead partner, for the stage one development phase. It will be used to conserve 'at risk' heritage buildings and to preserve and improve wildlife species and their habitats within the Fermanagh Lakelands, which are an important breeding ground for wading birds such as curlews, snipe and lapwings.
Three members of staff will work in County Fermanagh to help connect people to the landscape.
Set-aside land at edge of field
In town and at sea
We don't only work in rural areas. We're continuing with the Belfast Swift City project, which raises awareness of the plight of swifts, monitors swift populations, and works in partnership with planners, developers, local authorities and businesses to protect and provide nest sites. We're collecting swift sightings online to help target conservation action.
More than half of Northern Ireland's biodiversity is found in the sea, so we need to ensure that marine wildlife has proper protection. Four new Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) have been proposed: Carlingford Lough, outer Belfast Lough, Waterfoot and Rathlin Island. These are home to a wealth of unique wildlife, including seagrass, black guillemots and the ocean quahog. RSPB NI was instrumental in campaigning for the successful implementation of these, and we're waiting for a final decision.
Black guillemot
Beyond reserves
To create a healthy, wildlife-rich environment based on sustainable land management, we must look beyond the boundaries of our reserves and work in partnership with others to help give nature a home.
Our Futurescapes sites at Portmore Lough near Lough Neagh and at Lough Beg near Toomebridge demonstrate how restoration and management of wet grassland can be achieved in the wider landscape.
We've formed a partnership with the Forest Service to provide advice and expertise on potential peatland restoration on their land and with Northern Ireland Water to identify poor-quality water catchment areas with the potential to become sustainable catchment areas.
An INTERREG funding bid with RSPB Scotland, Birdwatch Ireland and other environmental organisations has been developed to restore wetland habitats, bog and wet grassland for the benefit of breeding waders, hen harriers, merlins, rare plants and insects.
Snipe chick
Adapting to changing conditions
One constant throughout the RSPB is that there are always things we can't control. In winter 2015, we experienced the highest levels of flooding in 30 years, and it particularly affected our Portmore Lough reserve.
Together with the unexpected weather, we've also been adjusting to major changes in government funding, changes to local government and planning for post-election changes to the Northern Ireland Executive.
We started this financial year still reeling from the severity of the assembly's cuts to the Natural Heritage Grants Programme which affected environmental organisations working for nature in Northern Ireland. We joined up with Northern Ireland Environment Link and other affected environmental organisations to provide a sectoral response to this devastating news for nature.
In May, we were relieved that our voice for nature had been heard and we were able to recoup a significant amount of our funding losses through the new Natural Environment Fund that raised revenue through the carrier bag levy. Whilst this fund was a welcome reprieve for many it underlined the fragility of the environmental sector in Northern Ireland and the low levels of funding upon which it relies.
Seismic shifts
On 1 April, 11 new 'super councils' took over from the previous 26 councils with new powers and responsibilities for planning functions. As a result of this shift to 11 councils working simultaneously on local and community plans, there will be a considerable and concentrated volume of work for our small planning team. We will continue to target our efforts in those areas where there are the greatest opportunities for, and threats to, our special places and species aligned to our conservation work.
Finally, another most fundamental change for us to plan for is the 'merger' between the Department of Environment and Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The new Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs effective from the May 2016 elections will also be responsible for Inland Fisheries and Sustainable Development, whilst the Rivers Agency, Inland Waterways and Strategic Planning moves to the new Department for Infrastructure.
In preparation for this seismic shift in environmental governance we have been working with a coalition of environmental organisations including National Trust, Friends of the Earth and NIEL. Together and through a commissioned report we are providing evidence based analysis of environmental governance options to convince decision-makers of the need for better environmental and governance outcomes for Northern Ireland.
What we do in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is home to all sorts of wonderful wildlife, from lolloping Irish hares to soaring red kites, not to mention stunning scenery as far as the eye can see.
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Five Books I've Read
Tag Archives: Wally Lamb
Paperbacks to Look Out for in June 2017: Part Two
Whereas a family theme – conventional or otherwise – ran through the first installment of June's paperback preview, this one's much more of a hodge-podge. Given the time of year, a book aimed fairly and squarely at the summer reading market seems as good a place to start as any. Invincible Summer has a structure that never fails to appeal to me. It follows four young people, inseparable at university, and now facing the realities of life as young adults: Eva's off to the City; Benedict decides to pursue a PhD; siblings Sylvie and Lucien indulge themselves in a life of art, travel and adventure. Summer reunions bring them back together but recreating the intimate bonds of student friendship isn't always easy.
Structure was what attracted me to Jonas Hassen Khemiri's prize-winning Everything I Don't Remember. It's the story of a young man who dies one April afternoon in Stockholm, his car wrecked in a crash which some speculate may have been suicide, others are sure was an accident. Khemiri tells Samuel's story through a series of interviews with those who knew him – some fleetingly, others intimately – conducted by an author planning to write a book about him. Given that the novel is a made up of interwoven fragments it's remarkably cohesive, not to mention utterly addictive. An immensely enjoyable book, cleverly constructed and completely engrossing.
Struggling for links here but I can just about work structure in again given that Anna Noyes'
Goodnight, Beautiful Women is a collection of short stories. Noyes' stories share the backdrop of smalltown Maine, and they're about women. Men tend to be somewhere off stage, their presence – or absence – often keenly felt. These are stories about ordinary, everyday people sometimes emotionally damaged, often struggling to get by. Single parents fretting about their kids; children overhearing too much; mental illness and too much alcohol; sexual misadventure and abuse, are recurring themes. Noyes writing is carefully crafted yet immediate – sometimes dreamlike, sometimes sharp and clean. Ron Rash came to mind for me although the Washington Post compares Noyes to Alice Munro with which, I'm sure, her publishers will have been very much more delighted.
Also about women, I'll Take You There took me by surprise. It's that rare thing: an enjoyable, commercial novel with a broad, deep streak of feminism running through it, and it's written by a man. A divorced professor of film studies, Felix adores his daughter and is on good enough terms with his ex-wife. He's the brother of two sisters, both of whom he loves dearly. One Monday night, as he sets up in the gloriously old-fashioned cinema in which he runs his film club, an apparition appears introducing herself as Lois Weber, a silent movie director much overlooked by her male colleagues and wanting the record put straight. There's a nice vein of humour running through Lamb's novel and although I suspect I won't be investigating his backlist any time soon, this one's well worth your time.
My final June choice is Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad which was surrounded by a good deal of pre-publication brouhaha in hardback, not least because President Obama took it on holiday with him – remember those halcyon days? Cora is a slave in Georgia, an outcast amongst her fellow slaves since childhood. When Caesar arrives from Virginia he tells her about the Underground Railroad, offering a means of escape from her misery which Cora chooses to take. The novel follows her arduous journey through the South, a slave catcher snapping at her heels. 'As Whitehead brilliantly recreates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America, from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day' say the publishers. A tough read, I'm sure, but not to be missed.
That's it for June's paperbacks. Should you be interested, a click on a title will take you to my review or to a more detailed synopsis for the ones I've not yet read. If you'd like to catch up with June's new titles they're here and the first batch of paperbacks is here.
This entry was posted in Random thoughts, Reviews and tagged Alice Adams, Anna Noyes, Colson Whitehead, Everything I Don't Remember, Goodnight Beautiful Women, I'll Take You There, Invincible Summer, Jonas Hassen Khemiri, Paperbacks published in June 2017, Rachel Willson-Broyles, The Underground Railroad, Wally Lamb on 29 May 2017 by Susan Osborne.
I'll Take You There by Wally Lamb: Men can be feminists, too
I can't say I embraced the prospect of Wally Lamb's new novel entirely enthusiastically: I'd read his first, She's Come Undone, which was praised to the skies by all and sundry but left me cold, and the blurb mentions ghosts which I found distinctly off-putting. You might wonder, then, why I decided to read it. The answer is that it appeared to be a feminist novel by a man, a phenomenon well worth investigating.
Felix Funicello is a sixty-year-old professor of film studies. Divorced, he adores his daughter Aliza, encouraging her in her journalistic career, and is on good enough terms with his ex-wife. He's the brother of two sisters, both of whom he loves dearly. One Monday night, setting up in the gloriously old-fashioned cinema in which he runs his film club, an apparition appears introducing herself as Lois Weber, a silent movie director much overlooked by her male colleagues and wanting the record put straight. She tells Felix that he's been chosen as 'educable', playing him footage of significant scenes from his life and occasionally directing him to 're-enter' those scenes. As he watches his family, Felix is hit by a wave of nostalgia accompanied by the benefit of hindsight. He overhears his beautiful sister Simone confide her boss's sexual harassment to their mother and his mother's inadequate response; he watches his sister Francis throwing herself into the Rheingold Girls beauty pageant election and her terrible struggles with anorexia. As Lois shows Felix more of his life, the pieces of his own personal jigsaw begin to fall into place until he understands the women in his life far better.
Narrated in the first person, Lamb's novel is written in a very direct, conversational style. It bowls along nicely, interweaving Felix's family story with historical context and movie trivia. Those worrying 'ghost' scenes are carried off with humour, smartly avoiding any painful creakiness. Felix's hindsight allows Lamb to smoothly make points about the tyranny of beauty, the exploitation of women's insecurities and the casual dismissal of women's potential and achievements. Aliza's blog post towards the end of the novel is a neat riposte to her mother's angry dismissal of 'post-feminism' in which she argues that a new generation of feminists is attacking sexist attitudes using a different set of tools. I'll Take You There is a very rare thing: an enjoyable, commercial novel with a broad, deep streak of feminism running through it, and it's written by a man. I won't be catching up with Lamb's backlist anytime soon but this one proved to be well worth my time.
This may well be my last review for 2016. The rest of December's posts are likely to be taken up with looking forwards and back in that time-honoured fashion for the last month of the year.
This entry was posted in Reviews and tagged Contemporary American fiction, feminism, Film in fiction, Hutchinson, I'll Take You There, Wally Lamb on 7 December 2016 by Susan Osborne.
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