108 - The Micehigan Daily Weekend Magazine Thrsdc*, v xry .,aI 997 0 The Michigan Pay Weeken a Spend a racy Valentine's D ay with A Spanish Lover' The Hartford Courant While it sounds as though it belongs on the Harlequin Romance rack, "A Spanish Lover" is no bodice ripper. A romance, yes, but a romance in which real life - with all its hopes, disappointments and every- day annoyances - intrudes at shockingly frequent intervals. But if every now and then real life is generous enough to.;, throw us a dizzying love: affair, why not? Fans of England's< Joanna Trollope, a descen- dant of the prolific Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope, know that real life is her bread-and-butter as a writer. She writes readable novels about real peo- ple, with real foibles, real desires and the real capacity to act in surprising, even churlish, ways. An appealing dash of soap opera enlivens her books, which include "The Men and the Girls," "The Rector's Wife" and "The Choir," the last two of which have been dramatized on "Masterpiece Theatre.' Trollope has a wonderful way with char- acterizations, possessing the facile ability to sketch an outline in a few quick strokes and then vividly flesh out her por- trait as the book goes along. She does something intriguing, character-wise, in "A Spanish Lover." Her two main characters are twin 37-year-old sisters, iden- tical physically, but as unalike emotionally as the average man and woman. She does a deft job differentiating the fecund Lizzie Middleton, an overachieving "supermom," from her unmarried twin, Frances Shore, who owns her own business, a small travel agency. Frances is the more interesting twin, at least ini- tially, because she is the more mysterious, the more elusive, the more emotionally remote. Lizzie feels vaguely sorry for Frances, because she is single. Lizzie thinks Frances must be unhappy, and in one way, this satisfies Lizzie because it keeps Frances somehow vulnerable and therefore attached to Lizzie. And yet Frances, who is quite astute, knows that she and her sister are two separate beings. "We are twins, so we are a unit," Frances thinks, "we have a kind of joint wholeness, together we make up a rich, rounded person, but we are like two pieces of a jigsaw, we have to fit together, and to do that properly we can't be exactly the same shape." As Frances' mother observes, Frances is "an unsuit- able person to be a twin" In "A Spanish Lover," "sensible" Frances proves that she is indeed her own person, and in doing so she shakes up the status quo, alarming her family with her sudden plunge into a love affair with a man she meets in Spain. Luis Gomez Moreno is charming and gorgeous. He is also 10 years older than Frances, married (but long separated from his wife), Catholic and "a for- eigner." With things going swimmingly for Frances, life abruptly falls apart for Lizzie and her husband Rob. For many years they have owned a successful gallery that specializes in trendy crafts. But with the economy in the doldrums, the gallery is faltering, and the bank now wants the Middletons to repay a huge loan on their beloved old home, the Grange. Rounding out the family portrait in "A Spanish Lover" are the lively brood of Middleton kids - convincingly portrayed by Trollope, from their bouts with chickenpox to their bouts with teenage obnox- iousness - and Frances' and Lizzie's parents, William and Barbara. Barbara once ran off to Marrakesh when the twins were 10, and she's been brooding ever since she returned a few months later. Lovable but passive William has carried on by keeping a mistress on the side, whose existence is acknowledged by all. Frances, by now deeply in love, decides to get pregnant, against Luis' fervent wishes. How will the various domestic crises resolve themselves in "A Spanish Lover"? The answer is best expressed in the words of William, who believes "that nothing lovely was ever, somehow, wasted, even if it came to an end." Like her previous books, Trollope's newest novel is commer- cial fiction topped with a dollop of sophistication. By Bryan Lark Daily Film Editor Love. It makes the world go 'round. It's exciting and new. It's soft as an easy chair. It's a many-splendored thing. It's a good thing. Sometimes, it lifts your spirits. Sometimes, it ignites your hor- mones. Sometimes, it sucks the life out of you and kicks you to the curb. Whatever your style of love, there is a romantic film to match it, and there is no better time than Valentine's Day to rent that special movie, tailored to fit your romantic needs. Feel your romance is doomed? Your problems with love won't look so bad next to those of Tony and Maria in the Oscar-winning "West Side Story," where showtunes and ballet are practiced amongst love and death. Don't forget the Kleenex. Is a good, cathartic cry what your relation- ship needs? Try the Streisand-Redford schmaltz that is, "The Way We Were," or "An Affair To Remember," that three-hankie chick- flick classic with Cary Grant, the King of Romance. Is Cary Grant your cup of romantic tea? Get the love triangle farce that paved the way for all modern love triangle farces like "The Truth About Cats and Dogs," "While You Were Sleeping" and "The Philadelphia Story," starring Katharine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart as pawns in Grant's game of love. Do you dig that kooky Hitchcock kind of love? "Rebecca" with Laurence Olivier, or "Notorious" with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman show that all in love is not what it seems when there are spies, deceased spouses and lesbian maids involved. Think your love will only be fleeting lust? You're right, and the wordy, intoxicating "Before Sunrise" with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy will prove that true love can last only one day. Think your love will last forever, even when your lover is dead? Yeah, right. But rent "Ghost" again anyway, just to get your hopes Check out these films to cuddle with P Do you feel that romance is full of surprises? Forget impulsive trips to Vegas and spur-of-the-moment gifts, the offbeat uncondi- tional love fable, "The Crying Game," shows that getting to know your partner is the ultimate surprise. Is your love a little too high for its own good? Sober up to the alco- hol-drenched, relentlessly depressing "Leaving Las Vegas." What could be more romantic than gambling, vodka and a hooker who looks like Elisabeth Shue? In love with your best friend? The paramount '80s romantic comedy, "When Harry Met Sally," will map out how to get from Point A to Point S-E-X. Is your love unavailable to you? Come up with an insurance scam that entitles you to money and a seductive woman, if you murder her husband. "Double Indemnity" and "The Last Seduction" will act as your instructional videos. Do you find masochistic activity romantic? Punish yourself and your lover with a Christian Slater cheese-fest featuring Christian as delivery boy-next-door in "Bed Of Roses" and Christian as, um, baboon heart recipient in "Untamed Heart." Wishing your love life were an Audrey Hepburn movie? Indulge yourself with "Breakfast At Tiffany's" or take a "Roman Holiday." Either way you can lose yourself in romantic fantasy. Is your idea of fantasy romance 10 minutes of preposterous underwater That classic romance, "While dolphin sex? Then the horrible "Showgirls" is the movie for you. Hey, a good lap dance can cure any romantic woe. Is romance giving you a tingly feeling down below? Suppress those naughty thoughts with the innocent, light-hearted road classic "It Happened One Night" featuring the marvelous sexually-tense bickering of Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. Do you like a ing? How about intensity of the I Is four hours quickie eroticisn starring either S the queens of the Not feeling r anti-romance re and ""The War o after your ass h1 stardom. The s ass is being kic monster trucks. Is your roman is the choice fo: new meaning to Rooftop rom you? Go classi au Were Sleeping ed showers, prin Regardless of sworn off love li you at your loca You, your lov beginning of a b: . Spoetry or ores? :Ya Literary Magazine. Short stories must be less than 2000 words; poetry must be less than 40 lines. Submissions accepted from undergraduates only. A committee of creative writing subconcentrators and Daily editors will judge entries. Selected works will be published in the Daily's Literary Magazine on March 13, 1997. Submission deadline is Monday, Feb. 24, at 5 p.m. Please e-mail submissions / questions to daily.literarvumnich. edi, or bring submissions on disk (Mac or IBM) to the Daily Arts office, 420 Maynard St. Call 76303 79 for more info. Employees of The Michigan Daily an judges are ineligible. up. Impotence got you down? Never fear, the gangster romance "Bonnie and Clyde" proves that even when you're shooting blanks, you can still be lovers on the run. .a Do you write poetry or short stories? Then submit your work for The Michigan Daily's Literary Magazine. V Short stories must be less than 2000 words; poetry must be less than 40 lines. Submissions will be accepted from undergraduates only. V A committee of creative writing subconcentrators and Daily editors will judge entries. Selected works will be published in the Daily's Literary Magazine on March 13, 1997. Submission deadline is Monday, Feb. 24, at 5 p.m. / Please e-mail submissions and questions to daily.literary @umich.edu, or call 763-0379 for more info. Submissions will also be accepted by disk (Apple or IBM). Bring them in to 420 Maynard St., second floor Arts Office. Employees of The Michigan Daily and creative writing judges are ineligible to submit. EN C i. 1_5'N g 6 A R D Are you an excellent writer with good people' skills? 1' ,,,- Health *Sports*Nutrition* *Herbs*Foodse *Vitamins.Books*Cosmetics* Formula Would you enjoy working with fellow students face to face and on-line to help them with their writing? Then become an English Composition Board Peer Tutor! Check out our web sight at http://www.lsa.umich.edu/ecb/ If interested, contact Kay Keelor at kkeelorsfumich.edu 10% Discount for Students 1677 Plymouth Rd.* Ann Arbor eTel. 665-7688 LWcated in,the Courtyard Shops atNorth.Camptjs Plaza _ s*.._.F-- # x