Daily Archives for: October 11th, 2015

Mandala: A Novel of India by Pearl S. Buck (1970)

Mandala: A Novel of India by Pearl S. Buck (1970) is unusual among this author’s novels, which are most often set in China or the U.S. In this story, Maharana Prince Jagat and his wife, Moti, learn that that their only son, Jai, has been killed by the Chinese in a border dispute.

The distraught parents wish to bring their son’s spirit home. It’s an exploration of Eastern and Western thinking, how they overlap, and the ways in which they conflict. The plot weaves in the mysticism and mysteries of life in India in a time and place that was contemporary to when the author wrote this book.

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Strangers on a Train (1951 film)

From an original review of the film, based on the 1950 book of  the same title by Patricia Highsmith in The Bridgeport Post, July 1951: 

Warner Brothers presents Strangers on a Train, a screenplay by Raymond Chandler; from a novel by Patricia Highsmith. Starring Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, and Robert Walker. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

An offbeat story of murder, Strangers on a Train draws its appeal from the suspense it creates rather than from cold-blooded killing. The audience knows the slayer from the start, so interest is created through a series of tense situations and unexpected twists that keep the action moving toward the climax. Read More→


Categories: Film & Stage Adaptations of Classic Novels Comments: (0)