Book: The White Pearl

Author: Kate Furnivall

Set in Malaya during World War II, Connie Hadley’s world is turned upside-down and the fight for life is on. On the surface, everything appears successful, but Connie is haunted by the dark secrets of her past, and the pressures of a failing marriage. Tragic everyday events build up to the eventual attack on Pearl Harbour. Suddenly the Japs are in the game, and death is too close for comfort.

Connie plans an escape from the ravaging war. On board her boat, The White Pearl, are her husband and son, three friends, two native siblings, and a mysterious man named Fitzpayne. Almost everyone has motives of their own, and Connie is never quite sure who she can trust - including herself.

This, a war story not without death and heart-wrenching action, is also a love story and a journey toward freedom. The frequent cussing is forgiven by the intensity of war, but the book is not for the faint at heart. I loved the intermingling of action, romance and mystery.

By Sandi Mallinson

Artist: Florence and the Machine

Album: Ceremonials

When Lungs was released a few years ago I fell in love with a new kind of music. Florence and the Machine immediately became one of my favourite bands and I have eagerly awaited the release of their next album. I listened to every song on Ceremonials as soon as I could and came to the conclusion that they are still as good as I had hoped. Florence Welsh, the lead singer and actual icon of the band has outdone herself in so many respects with this album. The alternative rock, folk and pop that she performs has been toned down into a mellower and darker album than Lungs, which is a welcome addition to their sound for me.

Some songs are louder than their first material, like ‘Shake it Out’, and they pull this off very well. Some songs are also a lot softer, like ‘What the Water Gave Me’. So in many respects Ceremonials is a polarisation of their sound. However, I doubt it will cause a polarisation of the fans.

The music still has the same essence and feel, the same quality and beauty. Welsh’s voice reaches new even greater heights and the music is written seamlessly and is hauntingly beautiful.

This band is not for everyone – their sound is really quite alternative and even unnerving for some. However, if you are a fan this is a must-have addition to your music collection.

By MartinetteLauw

DVD: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

I cannot recall too many films that have seen a fourth instalment. Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Alien, Predator and Indiana Jones come to mind, but only because their fourth instalments share one thing in common: They were awful.

So, common sense dictates that Ghost Protocol, the fourth in a series of films that were not necessarily masterpieces in the first place (the first was good, the second was horrible and the third was refreshingly adequate), would be equally as bad. On the other hand, the crazy optimist in me wanted to believe that this could actually be the movie that fully harnessed the potential of the Mission Impossible franchise and blew the critics out of the water. And against all odds, it has done exactly that. Brad Byrd (the director of the first Mission Impossible) has returned to the chair for this final instalment. He and his team have taken all the good parts of the series and removed the bad parts. They have also done it so explicitly that it shows some humility on the side of the Mission Impossible film team. They have clearly admitted that the plot cannot be extremely convoluted just to make the film look more intelligent and spy-like (like in the first film) – and that the action cannot be hammy and over-the-top to attract a younger audience (like in the second film) – and that romance can no longer form the backbone of the story (like in the third film).

However, this does not mean that they have forgotten what parts of Mission Impossible are just fantastic. The intrigue, the thrills, the tension and the savvy of it all have been incorporated perfectly in a kind of apology to the audience for not doing it before. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol tells the story of Ethan Hawk, a secret agent for a special task force known as the IMF (which unfortunately stands for Impossible Mission Force, but you can’t have everything). The IMF, through a complex but somehow easy to follow series of events, is set up and made to look as though they bombed the Russian Kremlin.

It really is utterly, unequivocally, staggeringly brilliant. Obviously it isn’t an art house masterpiece, but it doesn’t claim to be that, and that is where it hits the spot: It’s honest, it knows that Russia isn’t actually going to try launch nuclear warheads and that one man won’t save the world, but it is so much fun that you want to believe all that (yes, even the warhead part, because you know Ethan will save the day and he also needs a reason to do so while looking stylish)!

By Matthew du Plessis