Out of Sight by Elmore Leonard

(hb; 1996)

From the inside flap:

"Deputy U.S. marshal Karen Sisco is just stopping off to serve a summons and complaint on Florida's Glade Prison. She's all decked out in her black Chanel suit and heels but ready with her pump-action shotgun when the breakout begins, minutes after she pulls into the prison parking lot. But she's not ready for Jack Foley, the celebrity con who disarms her, invites her to climb into the trunk of her own car, and then joins her as his pal Buddy guns the blue Caprice onto the highway, heading for freedom. Squeezed into a trunk littered with handcuffs and tactical gear, the escapee bank robber is a perfect gentleman who shares her passion for movies and wonders if it would be different if they'd met in a bar.

"Only this time she's part of the federal task force hunting the escapees. This time she's sitting in the bar of the Detroit Westin, nursing a sour mash and watching a blizzard outside. This time Foley finds her. First come cocktails and conversation, Then Time Out. In Karen's suite, 'You like taking risks,' she says 'So do I.'

"Next morning Foley's gone and Karen's out to get him. She cruises Detroit's mean streets and boxing hangouts looking for Foley, Buddy and a hard case named Maurice, one step behind them as they plot the biggest heist of their careers - and a double cross that will leave only one man holding the goods. . ."


Review:

Out of Sight features Leonard's trademark character-based quirkiness and wit, waste-no-words plotting, and slick dialogue and action, this time flavored with a curiously cinematic, warm and romantic tone.

Worth owning, this.

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The resulting film was released stateside on June 26, 1998. Steven Soderbergh directed it. Scott Frank wrote the screenplay.

George Clooney played Jack Foley. Jennifer Lopez played Karen Sisco. Ving Rhames played Buddy Bragg. Don Cheadle played Maurice Miller. Steve Zahn played Glenn Michaels.

Dennis Farina played Marshall Sisco. Catherine Keener played Adele. Albert Brooks played Richard Ripley. Luis Guzmán played Chino. Isaiah Washington played Kenneth. Paul Calderon played Raymond Cruz. Nancy Allen played Midge.

An uncredited Samuel L. Jackson played Heijira Henry. An uncredited Michael Keaton played Ray Nicolette: this was the second time he played this character; the first time he played this character was in Quentin Tarantino's 1997 film Jackie Brown (which is based on Elmore Leonard's novel Rum Punch).

Stuart Little, by E.B. White

(pb; 1945; pictures by Garth Williams)

From the back cover:

"Stuart Little is no ordinary mouse. Born to a family of humans, he lives in New York City with his parents, his older brother George, and Snowbell the cat. Though he's shy and thoughtful, he's also a true lover of adventures.

"Stuart's greatest adventure comes when his best friend, a beautiful little bird named Margalo, disappears from her nest. Determined to track her down, Stuart ventures away from home for the very first time in his life. He finds adventure aplenty. But will he find his friend?"

Review:

Bizarre-ish, unpredictable, quirky children's novel, this.

White avoids obvious character set-ups, with chapter finishes that almost seem to dead-end, rather than build to more "meaningful", life-changing events.

White is also subtle about certain things that might raise obvious, awkward questions with children reading the book. In some ways, this is a sly, borderline subversive, treatment within the children's book genre.

This is a good, distinctive read.

Check it out from the library before you buy this. It's appropriate for children, but White seems to have done away with the usual resolutions here.

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The live action film version was released stateside on December 17, 1999. Rob Minkoff directed the film, from a script by M. Night Shyamalan and Greg Brooker.

Michael J. Fox voiced the CGI'd Stuart Little. Geena Davis played Mrs. Eleanor Little. Hugh Laurie played Mr. Frederick Little. Jonathan Lipnicki played George Little.

Nathan Lane voiced Snowbell the cat. Chazz Palminteri voiced "Smokey, the Chief Alley Cat". Steve Zahn voiced "Monty the Mouth". David Alan Grier voiced "Red the Alley Cat".

Bruno Kirby voiced Mr. Reginald "Reggie" Stout. Jennifer Tilly voiced Mrs. Camille Stout. Jeffrey Jones played Uncle Crenshaw Little. Brian Doyle-Murray played Cousin Edgar Little. Julia Sweeney played "Mrs. Keeper, the Orphanage Owner". Dabney Coleman played Dr. Beechwood. Jon Polito played Detective Sherman.

Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

(pb; 1999: YA novel)

From the inside flap:

“Melinda Sordino busted an end-of-summer party by calling the cops, so her old friends won’t talk to her, and people she doesn’t know hate her from a distance. It’s no use explaining to her parents: they’ve never known what her life is really like. The safest place for Melinda to be is alone, inside her own head. But even that’s not safe. Because there’s something she’s trying not to think about, something about the night of the party that, if she admitted it and let it in, would blow her carefully constructed disguise to smithereens. And then she would have no choice. Melinda would have to speak the truth.”

Review:

Alternately acerbic, vulnerable and moody, Melinda’s first-person account of traversing the minefield known as adolescence is amusing and relatable; Anderson’s writing, pace and tone consistently rings true, grabbing the reader from the opening page. The fact that Melinda has been raped is evident early on, and while Anderson layers her novel like an onion, revealing salient facts over time, she doesn’t pretend that the rape is a revelation; rather, she's showing how Melinda is processing the rape-event in her head. Speak is a sensitive, wow-worthy novel, surpassing any Afterschool Special cheesiness that it might’ve possessed, given its subject matter, and because of that, it’s important.

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This became a television film in 2004.

Kristen Stewart played Melinda. Elizabeth Perkins played Joyce Sordino. D.B. Sweeney played Jack Sordino. Steve Zahn played Mr. Freeman.

Jessica Sharzer directed and co-scripted the film. Annie Young Frisbie also co-scripted.