Stupid Chair

           I’m not really sure why, but most of the times Hollywood references the Ozarks, it is not in a real positive way.  If you were to judge strictly from movies, the Ozarks are synonymous with meth use like in Winter’s Bone or barefoot yokels wearing overalls like The Beverly Hillbillies.  Occasionally, the Ozarks means something else, like in the Bourne movies, where world class badass Jason Bourne ends up being from Nixa Missouri.  Sometimes in rare cases, like 2004’s hit Million Dollar Baby, we get a mix of the two stereotypes.

            Now, before I go any further let me just say SPOILER ALERT.  The movie has been out for nearly a decade and won 4 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Leading Actress, so if you haven’t seen it by now it’s your fault, not mine.  On the off chance this applies to you and you haven't seen Million Dollar Baby, you can watch a 5 second version of it or just keep reading, either way you won’t miss much.

            The movie is about Maggie Fitzgerald, a tough waitress from the Ozarks played by Hillary Swank, that goes to LA to train as a boxer.  She meets up with the crotchety old trainer played by Clint Eastwood, who insists he doesn’t train girls.  He winds up changing his mind, because that is what Clint Eastwood does in every movie he’s in.  He comes across as some pissed off old guy with borderline sexist or racist ideas, and then by the end of the movie we all realize that underneath it all, he’s really a caring person…just don’t walk on his lawn.

            Clint Eastwood transforms Maggie into an impressive physical specimen of a fighter in a single montage that even includes the narration of Morgan Freeman.  She quickly rises up the ranks with knockout after knockout until finally landing a title fight.  Bet you didn’t see that one coming!  Her opponent is an East German former prostitute known for being a dirty fighter.  The fight begins with Maggie getting pummeled before she delivers a Rockey-esque comeback at the end of the round.  Saved by the bell, the former commie hooker hits Maggie from behind knocking her neckfirst into a poorly placed stool and breaking her neck.  It’s really no wonder that Clint Eastwood took to talking to chairs after watching one crack his prize fighter’s neck like a pencil.

            The break is serious and Maggie is left paralyzed from the neck down   The negative Ozarks stereotypes surface when Maggie's hillbilly family makes the trip from Theodosia to visit her in the hospital (after visiting Disneyland first, of course).  Her brother wears a black tank top with arms covered in tattoos and one of those obnoxious Bret Michaels hats that you can only pull off if you were once the lead singer of Poison, otherwise you look like an idiot from the Ozarks.  Rather than showing concern for their paralyzed relative, they only want Maggie to sign a form transferring all of her fight winnings to them.  Maggie refuses to mouth sign the form and the family leaves.

            Bedridden and unable to care for herself, Maggie decides that she would rather die than face life in her condition so she asked her trainer to help her commit suicide.  He refuses at first but again changes his mind.  He is Clint Eastwood after all and killing is kinda his thing.  So, in a tearful scene, he calmly sneaks into her hospital room after hours and pulls out his trusty Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum and does what he has to do.  At least that’s what I assume happened, I pretty much mentally checked out after she broke her neck.  The end.

Timshel

            I’ve found that going back and reading classic books can be a bit of a gamble.  Sometimes it is the unfamiliar language that throws me off making the book too difficult for me to enjoy, and other times the story is so dated that I have a tough time relating to the characters.    And so, when I first sat down to read East of Eden by John Steinbeck, I was little cautious and skeptical.  So many people had already told me so many great things about the book that I was worried I wouldn’t enjoy it, or worse, I wouldn’t get it.

            My fears quickly disappeared within the first few pages.  Steinbeck’s style had a familiar and relaxing cadence to it.  The story opens in the Salinas Valley of Northern California beginning in the late 1800’s.   There was a strong feeling of optimism at the time as settlers ventured into a new land intent on claiming their portion of the American dream.  It was easy for me to get caught up in the time period and relate to their excitement as they braced for the new century.

            But what makes East of Eden a true classic isn’t the setting, it is the cast of dynamic characters.  From beginning to end, the story spans several generations of the Trask family beginning with Cyrus Trask.  Cyrus has two sons from two different mothers, Adam and Charles.  The two boys are polar opposites of each other.  Adam is an all-around good person while Charles has violent tendencies with a very short fuse.  Their contentious relationship forms the backbone of all the events of the novel. 

            Supporting characters also give a lot of life to the book.  Samuel Hamilton, an Irishman with a love for life and father of nine kids, proves to be a great source of entertainment as he sneaks around his overly strict firecracker of a wife.  And then there is the Chinese American known simply as Lee.  Lee is incredibly smart and wise, though he chooses to hide it from most of the world by opting to speak pidgin instead of English.  Lee does this partly as a matter of convenience to blend in.  Being Chinese in a foreign land he is noticed less when he speaks as people expect him to.  For much of the novel Lee proves to be the glue that holds the Trask family together and a source of constant wisdom.

            East of Eden is filled with great moments that are worth reading multiple times.  The intro to Part 2 of the book is nothing short of a masterpiece.  It occurs as the events in the novel cross into the 1900’s.  Steinbeck uses this opportunity to flex his literary muscles and deliver an eloquent description of what the 1800’s amounted to and the feelings people had as they stepped into the new century.  The chapter is short, not even a full 2 pages.  If reading it doesn’t make you want to read the entire novel than nothing I could possibly say would convince you to.

            Many of the subplots of the novel parallel stories of the Bible, from the fall of Adam and Eve to the relationship of Cain and Abel.  These biblical similarities do add depth to the novel, but not overly so.  You do not need to be a theological scholar in order to unwrap the references, which was a fear I had before I read the book.  And even a person completely unfamiliar with the teachings of the Bible can still fully understand the choice between being good versus evil and the price of redemption.

East of Eden is available through Amazon