Book and Movie Reviews – Page 7

First Person Narrative in Books and Movies

July 6, 2013 by Adam Shields

I am not a movie reviewer. I am a not an expert in literature. I read books and what I enjoy, I enjoy. What I do not like, I do not like. Sometimes I know why, sometimes I do not.

This week I decided to watch the movie Remains of the Day because I wanted to compare it with the book. I enjoyed the book and I knew I had previously enjoyed the movie when it came out. But I wanted a closer comparison (since it has been almost 20 years since the movie was released.)

My short description is that the movie sucked. It was slow, boring and lost most of the power of the book because it rejected the intentional first person narrative style of the book. I know lots of people do not like first person narrative in books. And in movies, first person narrative is difficult unless the character directly engages with the camera or there is a lot of voice over.

Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

June 18, 2013 by Adam Shields

Summary: A Butler of one of the great houses in England reflects back on his life.

Remains of the Day ended up in my reading list after being nominated for a 2013 Audie Award. I watched the movie years ago and knew the had won a Booker Award in 1989 when it came out. So after Audible had it on sale I started listening to it.

It is an excellent audiobook. Simon Prebble was a very good choice as narrator.

Mr Stevens has been at Darlington Hall for 35 years. Lord Darlington, his long time employer, passed away 3 years ago and the great house was purchased by an American business man. While the new owner is away, Mr Stevens decides to take a trip to see the former housekeeper.

The Great Gatsby (Movie and Audiobook Review)

June 3, 2013 by All Old Users

The Great Gatsby is simply a an excellent work of American fiction. I don’t many people who will argue otherwise so I will not review the book itself. While I had read the book back in high school, I chose to listen to the book recently in order to get ready for the new movie. … Read more

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

January 29, 2013 by Adam Shields

Summary: One of the great classics on grace and the law.

Last spring my wife and I went to go see a student production of Les Mis that her cousin’s daughter was in. It was a very good student adaptation. Then last fall again my wife and I and some friends went to a traveling Broadway production of Les Mis.

It had clearly been updated from the earlier versions that I saw in Chicago. The set and use of video and lights really did make it seems like a new production even though I think it was my third time to see the traveling Broadway show.

Then this Christmas we went to go see the new movie (with the cousin, husband and their daughter that had been in the student version). In spite of some of the problems of the movie (I didn’t like Russel Crowe, but I did like the closeups), I thought it was one of the best presentations of the Christian meaning of grace that I have seen in the theater in a long time; maybe ever.

Goldfinger by Ian Fleming

November 15, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: An over the top villain tarnishes an otherwise decent Bond novel.

James Bond is one of those cultural items that everyone ‘needs’ to know. We know that Bond gets the girl(s), that he likes his vodka martini’s shaken not stirred (usually with a lemon twist). He always wins, he has cool gagets, cool cars, looks good in a tuxedo, always seems to be undercover, but still uses his regular name, etc.

Last year I read my first James Bond book, Dr No. It was more like the movie than I expected but I still basically liked the book. I am a fan of spy book, but more the John le CarrÃ©, Jason Borne, and Milo Weaver variety.

In the books, James Bond is racist, sexist and usually is against comic book style villains instead of other spies. In the movie, Goldfinger gathers together all of the mob bosses in the US so that he can get the man power to knockover Fort Knox. In the book it is similar but even more similar to a group of super villains from a kids cartoon.

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

October 25, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: Bilbo is recruited from his life of ease to become a thief to steal gold from a dragon.

I imagine a lot of people will be reading the Hobbit over the next couple of month. Peter Jackson’s movie comes out Dec 13. (I am still irritated that they are making this into a multi part release.)

One interesting feature of the Hobbit is that is has been studied academically quite well. One professor has released his academic lectures on the Hobbit online so the interested reader can listen in. (I listened to some of them.)

It is hard to remember, but I think I watched the 1977 cartoon before I read the book. So my current re-reading is probably influenced as much by my vague memories of the cartoon as much as my vague memories of the book.

I have never purchased the audiobooks of Tolkien’s books because until recently there was not an unabridged version available. I am glad that I listened to the Hobbit on audio. I have the bad habit of skimming Tolkien’s songs and verse. And the songs and verse are important to Tolkien. For all of the problems of the productions of the audiobook (lots of random blank space and poorly edited audio passages), Rob Inglis has a great voice for the book and masterfully sang all of the songs.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffengger

October 8, 2012 by Adam Shields

Summary: The paradoxes of a science fiction time travel books wrapped in the tragic story of a romance.

A couple weeks ago someone asked me what my favorite book was. I responded like I normally do and said I had two favorite memoirs of the last year (Surprised by Oxford and Jesus, My Father, The CIA and Me). We had been talking about memoirs, so it made sense in the conversation.

In general I think of favorite books in categories. How can you compare a theology book and a children’s book or a hard science fiction book and memoir? Even when I post my books of the year lists, I have a separate fiction and non-fiction list.

But when I went home that night I was thinking through the question again and realized I do have a favorite fiction book. It is Time Traveler’s Wife.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum

August 1, 2012 by Adam Shields

Takeaway: Books are never the same as the movie.

It has been a long time since I have sat down and watched the entire Wizard of Oz movie. My 3 and 4 year old nieces have been watching it lately.(I thought it was way to scary for them, but they seem to like it). So I have seen short segments of it recently, but not the whole thing.

I have also had my memory of the movie tainted by reading and watching the Wicked the musical (slightly different from one another).

A week or so ago, Audible.com gave away the unabridged audiobook for The Wizard of Oz (read by Anne Hathaway). I was surprised that the unabridged version was barely over 3 hours.

The movie is clearly an adaptation. A mean old woman does not try to take Toto away. Glenda the good witch is not young and beautiful, but old and shrunken. I also was surprised that when Dorthy throws the water on the witch and she dies there was still well over an hour left in the book.