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...much about this kind of rosy optimism, and the era that spawned it, as it is about the woman. Set during the Great Depression, the film is, nonetheless, pure escapism, offering the glamour of this summer’s “Public Enemies” without the grit. A perilous moment on one of Earhart’s flights is never excessively troubling; somehow she always escapes the danger and lands among fawning crowds or the occasional confused shepherd. She pursues her ambition to be a “vagabond of the air” without fear, barreling through...
...Custom House No. 8,” a dilapidated lodgment by an unnamed river. Much of the plot is chaotic or simply unclear. The novel takes for granted its unconventional structure; it frequently jumps from character to character, with each delivering bizarre and fanciful episodes. The narrative treats characters without any semblance of sympathy or logic. During the first half of the book, Aslan barely carries a significant role. All the reader knows about him is that he is an aspiring writer who repeatedly copies works of canonical German writers and that he has written a four-page-long novel...
Lind’s language is vulgar, again without variation. Toward the end of the book, Leo says, “We pull on God’s cock therefore, we are. Penem Dei tractamus ergo sumus.” This declaration is presumably an important sentence, considering the fact that the title of the novel “Ergo,” which means “therefore” in Latin, is derived from the quote. However, the redundant use of crude language and even the purpose behind its use, which is always the same, become an annoyance...
...throughout the breadth of reading. Instead of delivering on this front, Jakov Lind limited the artistic potential of the novel by consciously designating a purpose to it. “Ergo,” unfortunately, is like a long, repetitive commentary on postwar terror that can never stand alone without its historical context...
...above all others it is John C. Reilly who steals the show. Clad in a flowing red cape and tight showman pants, Reilly as Crepsley manages to control the flow of the plot without sullying himself in its clichés. In addition to supplying the quips that help to develop the comedic aspects of the film, Crepsley’s cynicism also provides alternative messages to the film’s more obvious moral points about diversity: as a vampire who has lived for 200 years, he philosophizes that “life may be meaningless, but death...