Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Reading Rainbow: Sara and Rebekah Maysles' Grey Gardens

It seems funny that although I've been on the reading train for the last few months, I haven't been able to quite figure out how to express what I loved (mostly) and what I didn’t love (just a little bit) about the books I was reading. Between Simone de Beauvoir’s Les Belles Images (total existential snore), Michael Chabon’sThe Mysteries of Pittsburgh (amazing and addictive as usual), Philip Roth’s Goodbye, Columbus (great but out of date in poignancy) and J.D Salinger’s Franny and Zooey (Franny kind of irritated me but Zooey sounds like a babe) – the one thing that really stood out as perfect for The Katie Girls is Sara and Rebekah Maysles’ ode to all things Edie, Grey Gardens.

The beautifully put together art book is half stream of consciousness sketches, collages and Edie to Edie dialogue and half memorabilia from their father and uncle’s archive (which apparently is in a pretty Beale-esqe state itself these days!)

The pages are full of even more Beale anecdotes and witticisms than in the film, like the evil prediction Little Edie got from a horoscope machine in Grand Central Station, "I'll never go near a computer again as long as I live. Never! I'll absolutely run!" Also, there is a disc at the back with even more forgotten Edie dialogue! Hilarious, enchanting and wild...I honestly couldn't love the Edies more if they were my own relatives!

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