Reeling Through Life

November 24, 2014
Novelist and screenwriter Ison (A Child out of Alcatraz, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead) delivers an innovative blend of film criticism and literary memoir in this absorbing collection of 10 essays. Ison uses the films she discusses—sometimes as many as 18 in a single essay—to explore and illuminate her own experiences with death, sexuality, creativity, and other themes. The result is powerfully universal, and the author’s writing is at once intellectually razor-sharp and poetic as she delves into the most complex of emotions. “I watched my first person die when I was six years old. It was so beautiful, a lovely thing to see. And a loving thing, a moment of profound intimacy, honed by imminent loss,” she writes of seeing the 1970 movie Love Story. But what starts in film weaves into a touching personal story of her own experiences with death. Ison examines how the best films make us turn the lens inward, examining our own lives and experiences in a way we would not have without them. Patterns emerge throughout the Ison’s collection as she explores the art of writing and her own journey toward living on the page. These essays, combining cultural criticism with deeply personal reflections on love, religion, family, and the nature of art, offer brilliant analysis and food for thought for film aficionados and casual fans alike.

November 1, 2014
Novelist and nonfiction author Ison (Rockaway, 2013) unspools a montage of images that illustrate how her thoughts and feelings were channeled through lives on the big screen.Despite seven years as a screenwriter (Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead), the author freely admits she has little background in film studies, and she eschews an analytical bent, preferring the legerdemain of smoke and mirrors. True, artistic merit is not a prerequisite for a movie to exert influence, especially on the impressionable young mind, and movies did erect a platform for how Ison saw the world. The early chapters are rooted in her reactions to movies as seen through the eyes of a child or adolescent, which occasionally becomes a catalog of varied child-of-the-affluent neuroses. Readers may not be convinced that she was so precocious as a 6- or 12-year-old that she grasped the nuances of these movies at the time. Later chapters offer adult interpretations of films that shaped her, though it is not always clear when she is looking back or in the here and now. It may be churlish to label as "self-absorbed" a book based solely on the author and her experiences, but the confessional and navel-gazing aspects are very much a matter of taste and can get tiresome when contrasted with powerful recollections of her parents and perceptive takes on awakening female sexuality and romanticizing the writing life. Even sympathetic readers may weary of all the travails and catharses. By contrast, Ison is at her best when her self-awareness is administered from a slight remove. There are wonderful movies revisited here, as well as some dreary ones that blunt our pleasure. But all are mainstream entertainments (emphasis on melodrama) that tend to amplify and distort real life, risking superficial treatment. Though well-written and engaging, this is basically a book-length aphorism, something discharged by Paddy Chayefsky in a single passage from Network.

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January 1, 2015

Much can be learned from films, and screenwriter (Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead; Sweethearts) and novelist (The List; A Child Out of Alcatraz) Ison clearly illustrates their powerful influence in her life. Each chapter in this title dissects the characters and story lines of specific films within various categories describing how they provided guidance and food for thought in a multitude of ways. In the process, the author reveals much about herself as she analyzes the parallels, both subtle and strong, between her own experience and that of the individuals onscreen. Ison tackles such topics as going crazy (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; A Beautiful Mind); losing one's virginity (Romeo and Juliet; Looking for Mr. Goodbar); dying stylishly (Thelma and Louise; Million Dollar Baby); and more, ranging from sex to alcohol to religion. Her knowledgeable study of the films in terms of society and her own life are witty and right on target, and she offers readers much to ponder. There are no holds barred here. The author is admirably honest and sometimes over the top. It's an approach that some might find uncomfortable and others quite entertaining. VERDICT This is well written, absorbing, and thought provoking, with a highly creative approach to memoir and also to film as it relates to our collective culture. The title will appeal to a wide readership and is especially recommended for those who enjoy film.--Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, NJ

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2014
Ison, self-proclaimed child of the movies, was exposed to film at an early age, her young, impressionable mind absorbing the rich imagery, the larger-than-life stories, the bold characters, and the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) messages of the big screen. For Ison, going to the movies was an education, a primer on life's big events. Films like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest taught her about mental illness and, for better or worse, that film was a point of reference for her own bouts with depression. Watching Taxi Driver and Pretty Baby at the cusp of adolescence shaped her notions of sexuality and empowerment, while The Graduate, Harold and Maude, and The Last Picture Show informed her perspective when, before turning 50, a much younger man initiated a relationship with her. Ison is keenly aware of how cinema's massive power molds us, teaches how to love, to drink, and to die. We look to Hollywood for cues as to how to behave, for role models, she points out, but sometimes it comes up shortwhat films demonstrate how to be determinedly and happily independent? Confessional, honest, and humorous, Reeling through Life is an engrossing memoir and a guide to essential film, albeit one with plenty of spoilers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)