Martha Marcy May Marlene

Elizabeth Olsen, sibling of the famous Olsen twins but a screen identity now in her own right delivers a brilliant performance in this harrowing story of how quickly and easily a naive mind can become swept up in to an unknown world.

It is a fantastic demonstration of the subleties of manipulation whilst also asking the viewer to question their own affinity to or detachment from the main character on the screen. Olsen gives such a believeable performance of a lost soul, a drifter yearning to be grounded but who then sets down her roots in a dangerous cult.

The movie is frightfully realistic and resolute.

5 stars.

Inspiration for writing continued...

So I would listen to these stories my mother would tell me without too much interest. Unfortunatley my father's stories suffered the same immediate fate. Nothing seemed to strike a chord when I was young. But the world didn't stay young for long. I grew up, experienced life in multiples ways, some good, some bad. Because of these experiences I began to search for my place in this world and funnily enough located myself within the world my parents had come from and the world within me. The stories were a key to my past meant to be resurrected, reshaped and retold. So I embarked on my biggest feat ever; to tell the world of a love story grounded in as much fact as there is fiction, coupled with myth and legend and tales of the lineage of demi-gods told in the traditional style of royal families, politics and the age old friend, conspiracy.

Inspiration for writing

When I was a child, growing up in New Zealand in the 70's and 80's was not the easiest time, especially if you were a migrant or the child of migrant parents.

It was difficult because it was a place that my parents had chosen to settle away from their cultural roots for the chance of a better life. At the time, the country was still defining it's identity as it still does today with so many different cultures here, but it was an especially sensitive time historically for people who didn't originate from New Zealand because this country was not immediately prepared for how much it would need to adapt to these other cultures.

Anyway, as a child I remember being told stories about my mothers' life growing up. I also remembered stories about my father growing up but not as much as mum. It wasn't until I became an adult that I understood why I was told these stories so often and it was because my parents needed to find a way to hold on to their identity and a life and custom that they knew in a land that they did not know.

As a young child, mum was sent to live with her grandparents and raised as one of their own. The union of her grandparents was so important to the history of Samoa bringing together some of the most significant chiefly titles ever joined under the one marriage at one time, both from the male and the female side, but interestingly, the female deemed the more higher ranking by way of pedigree and titles that she brought into the marriage.

To be continued.....

About the writer

So with the few posts I've made over the years, I guess I've not really told you much about myself. So who am I? I'm a newly found emerging writer who only discovered I had a passion in the area about four years ago when I began writing the first part of a series of novels. Named after an Aunt of mine in Fiji whom I've never met who is a writer and journalist, my maternal grandfather hoped that in naming one of my five names after her, that I would one day eventually follow in her footsteps. I grew up in West Auckland New Zealand, the youngest of six children in the 1970's. My parents migrated from the Islands and were part of the first wave of the Pacific Migration. My father was an avid fisherman who spent most of his adult working life as a Welder, my mother in a local supermarket until her health took a turn. She now enjoys a quieter life watching grandchildren and the like. Dad represented Samoa in the very first South Pacific games representing for basketball and volleyball. Dad loved sport and fishing. The two loves of his life. He now gardens. Dad doesn't fish much anymore because his knees are too weak to make the trek up and down the stairs at Muriwai beach and I know it kills him not to do what he loves. I graduated from Massey University with an undergraduate Arts degree, majoring in Psychology then returned some years later to complete a Masters in Social Work (Applied). I've worked in retail, in a paint factory, in afterschool care, hotel house keeping and community holiday programmes but for most of my professional life, I've worked with young people in a residential home, as a Youth Worker in High Schools, a Family Violence Social Worker, a Teen Parent Case Worker, an external Social Work Supervisor and as part of the leadership team of a local community volunteer youth initiative.

So where did the inspiration for writing come from you ask?

Book Review: The White Queen

Who doesn't like a story about the rise to the Throne? Philippa Gregory in all her glory with a gripping story inspired by the alluring mystery of the two prince brothers whose bodies were never recovered nor their whereabouts ever explained in the famous Tower of London. Great use of historical knowledge and the power of suggestion. Not without controversy, ambition and conspiracy: Two houses, Two Kings, One Throne. Great read. 5 stars.

The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins writes a riveting action novel with all the hallmarks of great entertainment i.e tragedy, love, loss, fear, hope and triumph.

I particulaly enjoyed the deeper psychological elements that Collins toyed with, delving into the most primitive/primal instincts of survival and protection of family. The only difference was pitting human against human.

She asks of her readers to openly challenge themselves on what they believe to be moral versus immoral if they were faced with the dilemna of not only fighting for their own life, but the survival of their families and villages.

5 star read.

Book Review: Alive

This is the story of the Uruguyan Rugby Team who flew over the Andes Mountains en route for Chile but never arrived.

A gripping tale, told beautifully and honestly by Paul Piers Reid that captured the trials and tribulations of the few who survived, who were faced with the most unspeakable conditions and harrowing dilemna of no food supply for months but that of their deceased friends, family and supporters who were on board the flight.

What would you have done?

5 star read.