Brian - By Jeremy Cooper - 5/5

"Brian" by Jeremy Cooper

Brian’s life proceeds through routine. At the start of the book, he works as a bookkeeper in a firm that has something to do with real estate. Then, he decides that he needs to expand his horizons. He thinks he may like film and so he starts attending movies presented by the NFT two or three times a week and then every night. And he gets to know the other attendees, and he slowly gravitates towards the post-viewing discussion amongst fellow nightly attendees. At first, he just listens and then, as his confidence rises, so he begins making the occasional observation, at first hesitantly with all kinds of post-comment introspection, then, with greater frequency and self-assurance. Jack invites him over to his place and, although filled with awkwardness, eventually they become accustomed to one another’s company.  

Occasionally, change forces its way into Brian’s existence. First, Wilson his boss sends him to a conference in Leeds. Then, his favourite café that he visits between work and the nightly movie at the NFT closes for renovation and he must find another for that allocated period of time. Fortunately, he finds one around the corner in the National Theatre. In fact, it’s even better than the previous one. From this, he concludes that change can actually be good. Except for prostate cancer from which Denis Hopper had recently died.  

The story meanders to an end. With age, Brian’s eyes begin to fail yet he continues to go to the BFI to watch movies with his fellow buffs. It highlights how meaning in life can be derived, not from an occupation or family, but from a hobby or interest, in this case movies. Apart from the movie buffs, Brian doesn’t have friends, he gains no meaning from his work, he doesn’t care about his place of residence so long as it doesn’t change. He just loves movies. It’s a very odd book about a man with only one passion, movies.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"And All Hell Broke Loose" by Richard Engel

Image
 The formula for success in life is hard work and dumb luck.    So it was for Richard Engel, now chief foreign correspondent for NBC news.    His father was a Wall Street banker who could afford to take his family on many trips abroad.    It was on one of these holidays that Richard’s decision to become a foreign correspondent was germinated.    He was leafing through an International Herald Tribune newspaper in Moroccan hotel when he made up his mind.    After graduating from Stanford, he pulled out a map and attempted to figure out where the next “action” was going to take place.    It was 1996 so the Cold War was over.    Eastern Europe was not the place to be and neither was Vietnam.    China was a happening place however the focus of any correspondence out of that country was economic and he had no interest in economics.    So, he chose the Middle East.   His first destination was Eg...
Read more

“Barbarian Days: A Surfer’s Life," The best memoir I've read since "Angela's Ashes."

Image
Surfing has an appeal that’s certainly been appealing to me. Being alone, in your own head,  conquering waves on your own terms, the rush of speed, the skill of carving a path that seems to go on forever, coming out of a tube still in an upright position. The lifestyle of hanging out on the beach, chilling with friends and never being cold. After all, people only surf where it's warm.  Of course, I discovered my impressions to be very wrong after reading William Finnigan’s new book, “Barbarian Days: A Surfer’s Life.” In San Francisco where he surfed some of the biggest waves in the world, he got so cold he had to get strangers to open the door of his car.   Mr. Finnigan’s surfing life begins as a child and continues right into his sixties when he’s writing the book. His dad worked at various jobs in the film industry eventually becoming a producer and director of television and so, lucky for the author, they lived first, along the coast of Los Angeles and later...
Read more