Page 2 September 13, 2018
Reviewed by Tommy Vinh Bui,
MLIS, Associate Librarian,
Inglewood Public Library
The leaves shiver and fall and a gentle wind
circulates through Inglewood. It’s autumn and
the perfect season to nestle up under an oak
and lose yourself in a good book. And I’ve got
just the book to chase away those post-summer
blues. Let’s delve right in and get all roused
with reverie for leisurely literature again.
Beck by Mal Peet is wholesale heartrending
and a host to many narrative highs and lows.
This historical novel follows Beck, a young
orphan vagabond traveling across the continent
during the Depression, as he struggles with the
racial inequalities of the era and the hardships
of life on the road. It’s a story propelled by
well-wrought emotions, fully-realized characters
and a protagonist who embodies determination
in the face of abject desolation.
The plot will pitch your wellbeing through
the emotional wringer. Beck undergoes tremendous
trials and tribulations and, willingly or
not, finds his resolve and character hardened
by it. Hunger and discrimination are constant
companions with him throughout his travels,
but he manages to find solace by novel’s
end. Circumstance and chance batter the boy
incessantly, but he learns to persevere. He ekes
his way from one harrowing situation to the
next. Survival becomes a knack despite some
gut-wrenching close calls. Beck finds himself
testing the very limits of luck with his constant
freight-hopping, illicit hardscrabble careers, and
irreverent denunciation of authority.
The writer is adept at conjuring vivid paragraphs
of description. We’re transported from
the gloomy docks of Liverpool to the frigid
tundras of Canada to the desolate amber prairies
of rural America. It’s a story that spans
many lands and locales. Displacement and
social decline are strong themes page after
page. It’s a Dorothea Lange portrait writ large
across the page -- bleak and howling gray. But
embedded in the nigh nothingness of descriptive
deprivation and famine, we catch sight of
lyrical glimmers of poetry with soothing and
sorely sought sustenance for the soul. Scattered
are easily-missed, microscopically-mentioned
mementos that remind readers of the beauty
in disconsolate environs. Though seemingly
barren and unforgiving, we must make an
earnest effort to dust off the dolorous to find
the shoots of green hope dormant underfoot.
It’s a challenging book, dark and sublime in
its devastating portrayal of chronic indigence.
This is not your usual Young Adult fare that
strikes all the conventional plot points and
culminates in a tidy, saccharine ending. This
tale expects more from readers. It prods and
poses difficult questions regarding race, class
and an outsider’s waning place in the world. It’s
a book that has the courage to not opt for the
easy answers and presses you to find comfort
in a lack of resolution or sense of closure.
The long and short of it: Beck is fine reading.
Stark and powerful in its craft of storytelling.
It’s a thick borsch of The Grapes of Wrath,
Angela’s Ashes and Great Expectations. This
is a tale as steadfast, unsettling and mosaiclike
as America itself. So brandish that thumb
and hitchhike a ride on this rich and harrowing
literary odyssey. It’s a ride that’s sure to be
itinerant and eye-opening. •
Check It Out
Beck by Mal Peet.
Entertainment
Beck Renders Readers Haunted
and Hopeful at the Same Time
Tommy Vinh Bui.
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South Bay-Based Age of Summer
plant in exchange for information about
his stolen bike. Every experience that
Minnesota goes through leads up to one
moment -- meeting a man known by the
locals as The Rock God (Peter Stormare).
The spiritual character, dressed in hippie
garb and sporting a beard, reveals that
an opportunity for a “cosmic do-over” of
Minnesota’s life is forthcoming. This is a
welcomed premonition.
There are many things to enjoy about Age
of Summer, but those who are familiar with
the South Bay communities and Hermosa
Beach in particular may get even more from
this hometown indie film than the average
viewer. There are a few Easter eggs that are
sure to make any local smile…like a cameo
of The Beach Reporter newspaper and the
missing boy “Davie Harris,” whose name
sounds awfully similar to the film’s writer,
Dave Harris. A sweet nod to childhood, Age of
Summer is ultimately enjoyable and charming.
Age of Summer is not rated. 89 minutes.
Now playing at the Laemmle Monica Film
Center and on VOD. •
Film Review
Morgan Rojas.
By Morgan Rojas
for www.cinemacy.com
Hermosa Beach, 1986. Although it was
two years before I was born, the nostalgia of
coconut sunscreen and bright neon activewear
is timeless for any South Bay native -- myself
included. Director Bill Kiely and writer Dave
Harris bring this feeling of endless summer
to the big screen this Friday in the comingof
Age of Summer, Courtesy of Freestyle Digital Media.
age comedy Age of Summer, which is
both a story about teenage self-discovery
and a love letter to the beautiful beaches of
Southern California.
Doug Mills (Percy Hynes-White), who
goes by the nickname Minnesota, is a teenage
transplant from Chicago who finds himself in
Hermosa Beach after his family was forced
to relocate. His awkwardness isn’t lost on
his peers. His scrawny build and boyish
features make him an easy target for more
mature kids, who steal his rare and expensive
bicycle and flaunt relationships with girls in
his face. However, things begin to look up for
Minnesota when he makes the cut as a junior
lifeguard -- a coveted opportunity among
the locals. In order to secure his position on
the team, he must complete a week of boot
camp put on by the intimidating Australian
tough guy Tony (Diarmaid Murtagh). Here
begins Minnesota’s summer of learning as
his perseverance is tested both psychically
and mentally.
The exercises are tough, but the bonds
that Minnesota begins to build with the
other kids in the group, including the scenestealing
Woods (Jake Ryan) and his love
interest Brooke (Charlotte Sabina), slowly
give him the confidence to live authentically.
Of course, his journey of self-discovery
isn’t without hiccups. His friendship with
Woods is tested when Minnesota starts hanging
out with the “cool” kids, and his moral
compass drifts when he steals a marijuana
“At the beach, life is different. Time
doesn’t move hour to hour but mood
to moment. We live by the currents,
plan by the tides and follow the sun.”
– Sandy Gingras