Too Close for Comfort (Niamh O' Connor)

This crime novel has an intricate plot, a setting with some of the same unfamiliar bleakness as Larssen's Sweden. We are in Dublin in the recession, a gated estate where most residents are in negative equity and the Wicklow mountains loom nearby. There is none of the jolly 'Oirishness' that we English expect, though there are some quaint characteristic expressions - renters for tenants, swoon for faint, fuck is said freeely in front of children, and the repeated references to 'presses' is nothing to do with the crooked journalists in the plot (they're just cupboards!)
There are possibly too many characters, some with names that are not well differentiated. O'Connor is quite willing to use cliche in her descriptions, and indeed her title. The book could have done with more editing. The Sean Hore character (a real life corrupt journalist) seems somewhat 'bolted on' to a plot that perhaps she had roughed out before the worst of the NoW revelations came to light. Maybe later a real corrupt journalist thriller can be written.

However, the experience of reading the book is gripping and fascinating, as the plot's unpredictable twists are calculated to surprise and draw us in. Rather like driving along the Military Road from the Sallly Gap into Dublin, as above.

There's a boy with autism who is a very well drawn character, ultimately with decisive role to play. And we have a leading lady in Jo Birmingham who is fallible, foul mouthed and forgetful, along with her cleverness and drive. I would have been very happy to have written this - to have kept the many stranded plot together -Enjoyable.

Argo (what do I know?)

With its uninformative title, customary creditless opening, and fanciful storyboard history with a monotone commentary, coupled with my very vague recall of events in  from Iran in 1979-81, I sat down to watch Argo with remarkably little prior knowledge.
And so I was drawn deeper and deeper into a movie with superb, accelerating pace - (yes, it *did* get the Best Editing Oscar as well as the others), spare fluent and believable dialogue, and that generous confidence with performances and tone that one associates with an actor-director. Alan Alda and John Goodman added humour, through timing and pauses, warming characters that could have been abrasive and aggressive. The read through of a sub-Star Wars script was hilarious though the humour was tightened by cross cutting with a chilling Soviet style mock execution.
There were some 'Hollywood' concessions to limited attention spans - surely if the Revelutionary Guards wanted to stop a plane from taking off they could simply speak to the control tower beforehand? - but it worked incredibly well for someone in England who didn't have the slightest idea how true it was before the end credits.
Then we had pictures of the real people portrayed, looking mainly quite like the actors. And a rather quavering Jimmy Carter. And having declared the astonishing truth of whole pseudo movie plot, the titles brought back the facts that were half buried in my memory. The 444 days of the hostages' captivity, etc...
And this is unusual. I normally approach a historical film with prior knowledge that greatly affects the experience (for example knowing that the opening scenes of the dire Cromwell supposedly take place after the Irish uprising of 1641 but before the Scottish war of 1639!) And this is a historical film. The cars, hair, clothes and above all the *glasses* put the characters into a period long gone, one I can hardly believe I lived through!
But last night, watching Argo, I was like a non-techy person watching science fiction. Taking it all at face value. This was a good way to be. A rare pleasure.
Recommended .