This second volume of Ridleys stage plays confirms him as one of themost imaginative; daring and unique voices currently working intheatre. All four plays collected here resonant with Ridleys trademarkthemes - East London; storytelling; moments of shocking violence;memories of the past; fantastical monologues; and that strange mix ofthe barbaric and the beautiful he has made all his own.Vincent River: ... a grieving mother and a traumatized teenagermeet as adversaries; rough each other up and eventually bond over abarbaric act of cruelty...Ridley asksquestions; lots of them; about how people respond to the loss ofinnocence in their lives; how they hold onto their sanity in the faceof savagery and how they fight to keep the bonds of humanity intact ina mad; mad world. VarietyMercury Fur: ...depicts a scary; post-apocalyptic London where; intheir struggle to survive; a group of youths are reduced to organisingparties that cater for the most perverted tastes. IndependentLeaves of Glass: There is a different kind of murder going on here:the murder of truth that goes on in all families to a lesser or greaterdegree. As with nations; a familys history is written by the victors. GuardianPiranha Heights: The extravagance of Ridleys dark vision suggests adangerously confused society in which individuals seize on randomgobbets of semi-digested information and use them to construct theirown personal narrative. TheTimes
#1324923 in eBooks 2013-06-06 2013-06-06File Name: B00D1Z58KI
Review
35 of 37 people found the following review helpful. Poor Technique leads to Sloppy ResultsBy Brenda R. LondonFirst I must preface this review with a notation that I love Patty Youngs fabrics as well as the patterns for girls dresses. I find them fresh; exciting; and perfect for childens wear. I was excited to see that she had a book out and eagerly ordered it. I am a very experienced seamstress but I was hoping to get a refresher in handling knits as well as learning some new technques. What I found was that the techniques in this book are just plain incorrect and the completed garments reflect that. Taking a look at how she advises readers to attach bands to arms and necks is one example and the result is that the garments have seam ends showing. New sewists; please pick up a good sewing instruction book to get the proper technique(which is actually not difficult) and you will be rewarded with a much nicer result. Also her use of all cotton knit bands lend themselves to stretched out bands; note how baggy the waists look on the tops with bands at the bottoms. Using a fabric with a bit of lycra and applying the bands correctly with some stretch solves that problem. I gave this book a 3 star since I can use the patterns and then apply correct techiques to turn out some cute garments; but I would not advise any new sewist to use the book for instruction; maybe just for inspiration. My daughter who is a novice sewist in her early 20s scanned the pics in the book and declared that she just plain did not like it; however I showed her the possibilities using different fabrics and techniques and she tentively agreed with my open minded approach.24 of 26 people found the following review helpful. Everything I expected and More!!By J LiebmannI have been anticipating the release of this book since October. I learned to sew with ModKids Frida pattern. I am huge fan of not only Patty Youngs style; but particularly her ability to take something complicated and make it simple and understandable... and turn out beautiful. Even my first sewing attempt with Frida was something I never thought I could do and real confidence builder! I knew if anyone could take knits; break them down in an easy; friendly; results driven way it would be Patty.This book did NOT disappoint.Just on the surface; its an absolute joy. It is very well thought out with the attention to small details that has made ModKid one of my favorite pattern companies. The book is sturdy and is spiral bound so it lays flat; it includes the thick heavy pattern paper that ModKid fans are used to and love; as well the brightly colored whimsical touches that are ModKids signature throughout entire book. But the real meat is inside. I spent an hour pouring over it... to be honest; I have tons of sewing books and the beginning of most of them with their technical jargon and over-inflated must have lists bores me to pieces. I like to dive right in to the patterns and get the creative juices flowing!! That is why we buy them; right? But I actually read through the entire first section without even realizing I was doing it and I learned stuff! It was easy to understand; interesting; and like having a conservation with Patty. It was down to earth and relevant. It was useful information that was completely pertinent to sewing with knits. No pretentious or boring page filler information. Admittedly I knew some of it already; but having it all in one place in an easily accessible format is really useful. And I have to say; understanding why one ballpoint needle is better than another for certain types of knits is something that I will actually USE in my sewing! I had all those different numbered ballpoint needles but absolutely no idea why; lol. I also greatly appreciate that she didnt dumb down the serger portion. So many books throw in the serger as an afterthought... oh; yeah you could use a serger here if you wanted to and thats it. And explaining how FOE can be used in something other than cloth diapers was a relief!! I had tons of that left over from our cloth diapering days and no idea what to do with it! I have been sewing for 2 years and never heard of the forceps idea either! Just a treasure trove of useful information for todays modern sewist!!So the patterns... will I actually use them? YOU BET!!! I have 3 girls ages 3; 7 and 11!!! The leggings; swimsuit (modest; but cute!! THANK YOU!!)and yoga shorts are going to be staples in all 3 of the girls wardrobes. The bubble dress is a MUST for my younger two and my older daughter is bugging about the fingerless gloves and headbands already :) :) :) The gored skirt is sweet and the knit quilt is so tempting; I may need to break out of clothing to try it!I will update after I sew some projects; ASAP; but in my experience with ModKid patterns; they will be be nothing less than quality; cute and easy to put together. So many sewing books are pretty to look at and sit on the shelf looking pretty; but I have a feeling this is going to look like my favorite cookbook after awhile; worn with lots of use!Completely worth the wait. This has moved to the TOP of my 5 all time favorite sewing books!2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. What a disappointment!By K. L.I ordered this book on the recommendation of a woman in a fabric store. Showed me some cute outfits she had made so I purchased the book. It came with no patterns so I requested a replacement copy which also came with no patterns. I went online to try to find a way to get the patterns and had no success. I was so anxious to make outfits for my granddaughters; but it is impossible without the patterns. What a disappointment!