Plussing as which,

I heart Kendra Lumm.

She ain't no Anna Karenina. (Well, actually, I wouldn't know since I haven't read Tolstoy. Just wanted to say that. Harhar. But who knows, she could be.) But I do picture a 17 year old Michelle Rodrigues playing her in my fantasy indie feature adaptation of the book. I don't know why.


[read]:Modern Ranch Living
by Mark Jude Poirier

Anyhow, Modern Ranch Living by Mark Jude Poirier is a delightful, easy read. Set in a long, hot summer in the southwest, the novel tells of how two neighbours' seperate lives and its coincidental (and a tad predictable) intertwine at the end. Kendra, a 16 year old 'hyperathletic' high school girl; contrast with her thin-rid loser brother who stays home all day. Down the road lives Merv, a 30 year old lifeguard at Splash World who still lives with his mother. Someone went missing and suddenly their lives took a change.

Mainly you'll read the novel from Kendra's and Merv's point of views in different parts. Poirier goes into details about their thoughts and idle thoughts, providing two different insights yet somehow similar. The parts about Kendra will make you laugh. Like when she goes into her Ally Mcbealesque moments about kicking someone's ass but stopped when she remembered happy thoughts her counsellor Franny had proposed to her and read the part where she host her fantasty fitness show with Hetta, her Mexican neighbour whom she called fat at the supermarket aisle. It is Kendra's honesty that made her so endearing. And her grammar. (I think mine, too.)

The climax, though, reminds one of Wes Craven's Scream trilogy or I Know What You Did Last Summer. Mrs Hunter's (Merv's mum) rather rapid recovery from insomnia and certain psychological trauma seems unbelievable. Well, prescription drugs really do seem effective. And I wished there was more about Kendra and R.T's little love story towards the end other than some lines like 'her first serious boyfriend', or after the 'third date'. Come on, a little loveydovey won't hurt. The novel seems to be in a hurry to end.

Still, a dark comedy you can read. I actually finished it in a day. Because it was raining and hence no training. Well, yes. Safety should never be compromised. Rather apt, I must say, since it was all blazing hot in the book. (You will be able to identify with the weather complaints the characters had and will head straight for Wild Wild Wet. But the weather is kinda erratic lately.) Weather by the way, is symbolic in the story so look out at the beginning of each chapter.

To Kill a Mocking Bird is currently on hold since the narrator's southern accent is killing the bejeezus out of me. I don't know why I had it in my mind.