books and movies. movies and books. sometimes they fit together like double stuf and oreos; other times its like trying to get the square peg into the triangle- just not going to work. i've been thinking about this lately because i've been getting much more pleasure out of reading than watching tv. here's what i've been perusing with all my free subway time:
Motherless Brooklyn, Jonathon Lethem: about a petty mobster with tourettes- a guy with a heart of gold. well written, interesting viewpoint, brilliant language play. nothing makes you think more about words than a lead with tourettes. could never be a movie though b/c it so textually rich
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold: the absolute favorite of the books i've read this fall. very melancholy, rich with emotion, tender and brutally honest. very visual, and the kind of book that moves in the rhythm of the character's grief and growth, without restricting itself to the classical plodding forward action- circular, lovely
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini: already a movie! i liked it for its Afghanistan subject. it doesn't hurt when a really good book also fills in some holes in my ignorant brain. it was also quite refreshing to focus the book on a male character who isn't alpha male. Instead, Amir is incredibly human, revealing all the strains of cowardice and guilt that everyone already feels and doesn't want to admit to. quite a page turner as well, although a little sagging in the middle (Amir might be too much to deal with in the same way no one wants to stare at their own flaws in the mirror for too long).
So what makes this a movie? Well, for one its about children and children are always easier to deal with when talking about a sensitive subject. it adds a dash of instant humanity. also, the US comes out looking pretty good, San Francisco the safe, regenerative harbor for the boys/men damaged by the "axis of evil."
I'm not going to read The Atonement. First of all, its a kiera knightly movie. so no. i enjoyed her in bend it like beckham...and that's about it. so many stupid books get made into movies! and the good ones are hard to transform on screen.
Did you know that The Lovely Bones is a film now with Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, and Susan Sarandon? I've only read Lucky which is the memoir, but I'm intrigued. They're making Nicholas Sparks' Nights in Rodanthe and Dear John into films as well. His seem to translate over very well, I guess because of their almost lack of uniqueness. Everyone enjoys a good ol' fashioned love story!
ReplyDeletebut there is always something lost, isn't there, in the transition between mediums? there's something about holding a story in your hands, re-reading the same line over and over again, imagining the faces in your head that a film cannot produce. its always a let down.
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