Synopsis: Chip Linton's life was irreversibly damaged the day a flock of geese flew into the engines of his commercial jet, causing him to attempt a water landing that killed thirty-nine of his passengers. No Sully Sullenberger this time. PTSD symptoms in the form of nightmares and phantom pains force he, his wife Emily and twin daughters to move from Pennsylvania to rural New Hampshire to regain their lives and sanity.
Except they don't find sanity, but an evil that begins to invade every aspect of their existence. The townspeople seem to have a cultish fetish about gardening and have taken an unhealthy interest in the girls. Their old Victorian home has a bloody past with a small wooden door in the basement, bolted shut. And Chip is being visited by his dead passengers, who come with a list of requests.
My thoughts: For those that have heard that the airplane crash scene was brutal (which not only haunts the beginning of the book but is pervasive throughout), they heard right. Bohjalian did his research because this was some graphic business, and one that will probably never ever quite be exorcised from my mind. Just, reader beware.
Beyond that bit of unpleasantness, the story was deliciously creepy. Ghosts, and weird townsfolk and twins and basements with dirt floors. The supernatural and the real collide, and both gave me the heebie jeebies. This was the stuff that fueled many a Stephen King novel, and its a good reliable recipe. And Bohjalian has the writing skills to pull it off. I'm being intentionally vague here, because you need to let this story invade your skull like it did mine, spoiler-free, but there were scenes, people. Ones beyond the plane crash, that made the hairs stand up on my arms and made me fear sleep.
I've seen some people question the ending, it's tone and direction. I loved it. It isn't what you would want necessarily, but it is appropriately chilling and twisted and something you will carry around with you for days.
4.5 out of 5 (Half point taken off for making me afraid to fly)
Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I am an apostle of the original version, so I was nervous about seeing the remake. This, my friends, felt like a set up for failure. But my daughter, who is 13, really wanted to see it (my son wouldn't have any part of it because he heard rumors there was hip-hop music and turned up his nose - he is a rock 'n roller).
Well, as much as I hate to say it, it wasn't bad. Some things were changed, but for the most part, the screenplay stayed true to the spirit of the story. Bad boy from out-of-town, rebellious daughter of local minister trying to stake her claim after the death of her older brother, goobery but lovable sidekicks, an angry ex-boyfriend, lots of dancing, lots of drama, lots of teens versus adults. Even some of the lines were word-for-word.
But it was modernized too. The teenagers were more "seasoned" (aren't they all?). The dancing was definitely...dirtier? There was a lot more skin. And yes, the rumors were true, there was some hip hop, but also some country, as well as the pop stuff. It was a nice mixture, and addressed various ethnicities, which we didn't get in the first movie. They played music from the original Footloose and had some new material of their own.
The dancing got you pumped up, Ren and Ariel were adorable, and there were some good messages. The cast is relatively unknown, except for Andie MacDowell and Dennis Quaid, who played Ariel's parents, but they all did their job. If you are an avid fan of the Kevin Bacon version, I maintain that you will not be disappointed.
Before I talk about our trip though, a few words about the earlier part of the week. My son's football team had an incredible experience playing at the Citrus Bowl, but unfortunately they lost. It was a bittersweet way to end the season, but these guys will never forget it. (Plus, there is always next year!) Monday was Halloween, and I'm sad to say that my kids were just not that into it this year. It could be overload of schedule, or it could be their age. They put about 10 minutes of thought into their costumes, then after a lackluster round of candy-gathering, they gave it all up to other kids. ???? Perhaps next year we will stay home and watch scary movies.
I had a book club meeting on Tuesday to discuss "Middlesex". What is not to love? Next month we will be discussing "Room" and will also be doing a fun book exchange.
The kids and I actually went on the Washington DC field trip last year, so we did have some overlap on activities from year to year, but for the most part, we saw many new things. In DC, we visited the Newseum (a relatively new museum dedicated to the history of journalism and news), the Smithsonian Museum of American History, the National Archives, the Capitol, the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials. Our favorite by far was the Newseum. They had a collection of newspaper articles from the very first printed newspaper through today, a wall of 9/11 headlines from all over the world, and all of the Pulitzer photographs. Had to drag the kids out of there.
We had walking tours of the Jamestown settlement, Williamsburg and Mount Vernon. We had these tours last year but it was in torrential rain, so this time we were actually able to enjoy ourselves. We also had an after-dinner story-telling session outside around the fire in Williamsburg, but my daughter and I surreptitiously crept out to do a little more shopping at those cute little shops. Williamsburg and Mount Vernon are totally charming and gorgeous with the fall foliage. I could go back to either of those places again and again.
Our last day was spent in Philadelphia visiting the National Constitution Center, Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and the Franklin Institute. My ears perked up when I heard we were going to the Franklin Institute because I knew that they exhibited THE Mallairdet automaton that inspired Brian Selznick's in "The Invention of Hugo Cabret". We didn't have near enough time at this completely cool museum, but I drug my kids in a beeline (as they rolled their eyes) to see the automaton:
Next year's field trip will be to Boston, and I'm really hoping that my son and I (daughter will be off to high school) will be able to participate. You want to hear what the teacher is working on for 2013? Rome!
Today I'm just attempting to unpack my suitcase, go to a high school open house for my daughter, get my son's hair cut, and take my daughter to horseback riding lessons. I'm hoping that for the next couple of weeks I will be able to chill out and get some things done before we head out for the beach for Thanksgiving.
Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday, helped for some of you by the fall-back time change!
And as always with me, the final straw. A narrator for the audio that is hard to resist - Wil Wheaton. Come to mama. I was told by those in the know that the audio was the way to go.
That is nice rhyme.
This puppy rocked my ever-lovin' geeky 1980's mall hair heart.
Synopsis: It is 2044, and the world has gone to hell in a handbasket, as it is wont to do in dystopia. There has been an economic implosion and an energy crisis that has left most Americans struggling, if not for OASIS, a massive online world where people can socialize, attend school, and earn a living, without ever leaving their living room.
OASIS was the brainchild of two eccentric and antisocial entrepreneurs, one of whom has recently died of cancer. An apostle of all things '80's, James Halliday has left his legacy of a gazillion dollars to the one person who can follow a series of clues and challenges within OASIS, testing their knowledge of '80's pop culture, and win the "game".
Enter Wade Watts, an over-weight, acne-pocked, orphaned teenager who prefers to spend all of his time in OASIS, where he is the savvy and buff "Parzival". He has dedicated his life to studying James Halliday and is an adept gamer, so why not give this challenge a go? It sure would be nice to have food to eat and a place to live that didn't involve his abusive aunt and her various boyfriends.
The only trouble is that everyone else wants to win too, and the race is on. Not all the participants are reclusive teenagers. Some are ruthless members of a conglomerate that owns half the world already, and will stop at nothing, even murder, to win.
My thoughts: Ernest Cline, I AM YOUR TARGET READER! I graduated from high school in 1984. I spent weekends with my sister and BFF in the arcades playing Pac Man, Tempest, Dig Dug, Burger Time, Q-Bert, and Gallaga. Hell, my husband and I still have an old Nintendo. I listened to Rush (especially 2112), with my impressionable mind being blown away with this whole story-on-an-album idea. I loved the classic movies like War Games, Back to the Future and Ferris Bueller. Additionally, I am now the mother of a gamer son, who amazes me on a daily basis when he tells me about the things he does in his games...his gates, easter eggs, and missions.
So the fact that all of this '80's culture that I lived through (and the geekdom that occurs upstairs in my household now) is this book's anchor? Almost an out-of-body experience for me. I was giddy.
But you really don't even have to know the '80's intimately, you don't have to be into gaming, or be a teenager, or even LIKE Sci-fi. We have a likable, underdog protagonist, a treasure hunt, lots of action, a mentor that is half Steve Jobs and half Willy Wonka, and a world that is really...not too far from what we have now.
This was an example of a brilliant mind that knows no boundaries, turned loose on the page. Ernest Cline let it rip and we are the beneficiaries. Thank you Ernest Cline, you will be a the top of my love list for 2012.
A word about the audio production: Audio book producers, take note please. This is an example of PERFECTLY CASTING A BOOK. If I looked the whole world over, there would not be a more suitable person to narrate this book than Wil Wheaton. Wheaton embodied Wade - his youthfulness, his enthusiasm, his self-deprecation. I've noticed that he has narrated other books, and I'm going to make it my mission to seek him out.
5 out of 5 stars
Ultimately, I listened to it because it was narrated by my new vocal crush, Robin Sachs. I had just finished listening to "The Snowman" by Jo Nesbo, which was narrated by Sachs as well, and I wasn't done with him. I needed more of that purring, rakish, accented voice in my ear.
Synopsis: Jake has been a werewolf for over 200 years, and it is getting pretty old. He has animalistic urges for food, sex, alcohol and drugs, even when he is "human" (he subscribes to the "f--k, eat, kill" mantra), he has plenty of money, he has all the creature comforts that one needs in life. But he is lonely. There are agencies out there created for the sole purpose of eradicating werewolves from the earth, and rumor is, he is the last. And they are coming for him.
He has seriously considered suicide. I mean, why fight? 200 years can wear on a guy, when he is driven to murder once a month, and when he longs to have an answer to the question of the purpose of his existence. If he isn't running from the groups trying to kill him, then there are the vampires who have their own agenda, and they are annoyingly persistent.
But then Jake is reawakened, and possibly finds a reason to live. The question is...is it too late?
My thoughts: Three discs into this story, I had a talk with myself. I asked, "Self, can you find the strength to get through this audio?". I looked for guidance from friends who had read it. Listening felt like an insurmountable task, like pushing a two ton boulder up a hill. The plot was slow, and I was mildly turned off by all of Jake's incessant "urges". But then there was Robin Sachs in my ear doing his thing, so I continued.
And I'm glad I did. I can't say that I was blown away by this book, but it grew on me. The plot did thicken, and I became a little endeared to Jake. Some humanity started to shine through.
I will warn you that if graphic sex on the page or in your ears bothers you, you might think twice before starting this one. There is alot of sex, and it is not implied. It is described in detail. Jake can't even sit and have a conversation with a woman without doing things with his body parts. He is always doing things. He is a multi-tasker.
The biggest surprise for me, however, was the brilliance of the words. Duncan's eloquence was the last thing I expected to hear in a book about a werewolf, but his words were stunning, taking something potentially trendy and even hokey and making it introspective and philosophical. It was hard for me to find the best quotes since this was a listening experience, but here are a few I found:
"You forgot sex could do this, cast the divine fragment back into the divine whole for a moment, then reel it out again, razed, beatified.”
“Just because life's meaningless doesn't mean we can't experience it meaningfully."
“The collective human unconscious can't stand it, the thought of stuff going on forever, so has decided (collectively, unconsciously) to bring the planet to an end. Eco-apocalypse isn't accident, it's deep species strategy.”
Interestingly, I'm seeing this on the IMDb calendar as a movie in 2014. I can't seem to get Gary Oldman out of my head. I'm not sure he is the right age, and it probably has something to do with him being a phenomenal Dracula but I'll be interested in the casting for this one.
A word about the audio production: You know what is coming now, right? If you like audios in general, please do yourself a favor and find something that Robin Sachs is narrating. You will thank me. If it weren't for his voice, I'm not totally sure I would have persisted past the third disc. He is amazing with his inflections and accents, and exudes an edge that was perfect for Jake's character.
3.5 out of 5 stars
The Gdansk city center is just full of little alleyways, such as this one, where you find people going about their daily lives. You also might find a little shop, or a quaint restaurant. Down this street, we found a tiny but upscale shop selling amber jewelry. It just begs to be explored.
Synopsis: Nine year-old Oskar Schell isn't like other boys his age. He is scary smart. He is precocious. He looks at life differently than most people, with an insatiable desire to understand. And he lost his father in 9/11. This gives him some "heavy boots", because he longs for an answer, a story, about how his father died. All he knows is that his father was in Windows on the World in the Twin Towers when the planes hit, and that he called and left messages on the home phone that he was OK. Messages that Oskar hid from his mother.
One day when Oskar was in his parents' closet, he finds a hidden key in an envelope marked "Black". Could this be a clue that will connect him with his father once again? He and his father had always played a sort of smart version of a scavenger hunt, and perhaps this will be a chance for one more game. Oskar embarks on a journey to figure out what this key opens, and in the process, encounters dozens of survivors from all walks of life that help this aching little soul to begin to live again.
My thoughts: I completely fell in love with Oskar. He delighted me with his combination of innocence and wisdom beyond his years. He also was the perfect representative for those who had lost a loved one in 9/11. He was confused, he was plagued with nightmares of his father's last moments, and he longed to move on with his life but at the same time couldn't let go. He spent hours looking at photos of people jumping, spent hours analyzing his father's voicemails, trying to find answers that made sense.
Oskar's story is supplemented with a creative use of photographs, scribblings, and notes. Things you don't expect in a novel, and this was exciting. Different is so so good. It brought Oskar's mission to life.
But I had one big issue with the story, and that was a part of the plot that I have yet to mention. The narrative jumps back and forth between Oskar's adventures, and the story of his grandparents. Sometimes the grandmother speaks and sometimes his grandfather speaks, recounting their past, how they met, their tortured relationship, their individual pieces of baggage that kept them forever psychologically stunted. Foer is brilliant, so I am sure there is a beautiful and meaningful reason for this plot thread, but in Oskar's words, it gave me heavy boots. These sections stopped me in my tracks, confused me, brought me down so low that I wanted to stop reading. I'll be interested to see how this section of the book translates to film (if at all).
So what of the movie? I had to show you the trailer. It makes me cry. I have very high hopes. Please watch:
4 out 5 stars (5 out of 5 for Oskar)
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