Again I found myself with the opportunity to watch the “movie based on the book” before actually reading the book. When I was younger I used to prefer the book first then the movie; it gave me a slight feeling of superiority over the other viewers to have extended plot knowledge, aka left out sub-plot lines, extensive character backgrounds, etc. Now I’m just happy to have the opportunity to watch something I want to see. Having seen the movie first I may as well give my run down on it first…I was completely lost at first & almost gave up. My finger was on the remote. It was visually jarring (as in the quickness of scene changes) & utterly beyond confusing. I remember thinking “Dammit, this is one where you have to read the book first in order to enjoy the movie!” & “Well you heard it was popular and good…hang in there, give it a chance”. So I did & I was not disappointed in the least. I have a bad rambling habit so I’ll try to keep my mouth as shut as possible; suffice it to say that by the end, the entire thing makes sense. It also causes you to look inside yourself & answer some glaringly bright “what would I do?” questions. Very good movie.
In all honesty I’m not finished with the book yet. But my memory is terrible & when I 2¢’d ‘Behind the Candelabra’ I had already forgotten a lot of things I’d wanted to mention…things you come across as you’re reading, or the style of writing…things like that. So I thought this time around I’d keep a running post, air my complaints or bestow my praise, and continue reading. Plus it’ll give me time to steal a few pictures from Google so my blog isn’t so daggone barren.
The first complaint I must air is regarding the length of the “monologue” type letters that the Storyteller (the mother) is writing, which is how the story is told. I know I’m a detail oriented individual but my God…these paragraphs are so long & the language so fluidly fancy that I soon realize I tuned out & have to skim it to get the basic gist! I’m okay with character history, things like that, but redundancy is not okay…it’s just down right effin’ boring. For example: Okay, we get it…you weren’t sure if you were ready to be a mother, much less want to be one; we understand that you partially blame yourself; we don’t- see: don’t -need you to continually drone on & on. We. Get. It. If I have to be fair I guess we could consider the fact that possibly I’m impatient because I’ve seen the film & know the plot & outcome…and that’s true, that could be the problem.
*So several days after starting this post I find myself off the original train of thought I was on when I started it. I’ve had a number of distractions preventing me from finishing this post, namely the 3 children & their nutritional & educational requirements I had to tend to. Also, I got the notion to research some of the school shooters mentioned in ‘Kevin’, to see if they were fact or fiction….the ones I looked up did turn out to be fact. I found myself engrossed with the horror of school shootings & kept reading more & more; meanwhile my Kevin post was pushed to the back burner of my brain. I eventually came across the historic (is that an appropriate word choice?) Columbine tragedy & really got obsessed, so much that I borrowed a book titled ‘Columbine’ and proceeded to read it. Now I’ve got Columbine on the brain & really should just delete this entire post, but I really wanted to put out into the universe that:
~It is an excellent book.
~It is an excellent movie.
~I think every parent (and non-parent) should read it….it forces you to think about so many different things (feelings, decisions, happenings, nature vs. nurture, etc) that would usually be too unpleasant or controversial to think about/talk about. It really opens your eyes to different situations.
~If you haven’t read it yet then please, when you’re finished reading this, make sure you get a hold of a copy somehow!
live. laugh. love. 