"We are familiar with people who seek out solitude"
Books I've read:
16½. What It Is by Lynda Barry
17. A Review of Korean History, Vol. 2: Joseon Era by Han Young Woo
18. Interior Space and Furniture of Joseon Upper-Class Houses by Choe Sang-ho
Books I'm reading:
Perfume by Patrick Süskind
Looking for Jake by China Miéville
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Meditations on Violence by Sgt. Rory Miller
Books I want to read:
Native Star by M.K. Hobson
Kraken by China Miéville
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
All the Anita Blake books that have been published since I came to Korea, by Laurell K. Hamilton. I know. I know. I cling to hope. Besides, I read somewhere that OLAF IS IMMINENT. Also, Edward♥.
Ugh, so, I've been trying to get through the English translation of Perfume for. like. months. I'd been avoiding it and the movie for a long time out of, I don't know, an anosmic fit of pique, but I finally did see the film and found it absolutely gorgeous. The color palette, the lighting -- enough darkness and soft highlights to make Caravaggio proud -- and even the slow mo all came together for an extraordinarily aesthetically pleasing film. And I'd read that Patrick Süskind did in writing what the filmmakers did in cinematography for the portrayal of scent.
Here's the thing: Unlike a load of online critics (who, despite the full title of both film and book being Perfume: Story of a Murderer, seem disproportionately disturbed/outraged that it is, in fact, the story of a murderer), I really, really liked Ben Whishaw's portrayal of the protag, Grenouille. There was something mildly autistic about his interactions with people and the material world, and rather sweet and innocent (or at least incompletely aware of the emotional ramifications of his murder spree). He was just so fixated on this one aspect of what he was doing that he didn't, or couldn't, understand what he was doing to the world around him.
Book-Grenouille just wakes up one day and decides that he's vastly superior to everyone else and that he's going to do evil things for the sake of being evil. Which, on top the reader losing entirely the weird fission of knowing this guy should be put away or executed but rooting for him all the same, is, as a friend succinctly summed up, quite boring.
It's not enough to put the book aside completely. And it isn't to say that the book doesn't have its own merits. It's just weird because while I've hated aspects of movies adapted from lit, or even (though more rarely) vice versa, I've never gone from loving a protag to find him deplorable. The opposite has happened, though, so maybe it really just depends on what order I read/see things.
Ffff. I really should try to finish this thing soonish, before I forget everything I've already read. :|
16½. What It Is by Lynda Barry
17. A Review of Korean History, Vol. 2: Joseon Era by Han Young Woo
18. Interior Space and Furniture of Joseon Upper-Class Houses by Choe Sang-ho
Books I'm reading:
Perfume by Patrick Süskind
Looking for Jake by China Miéville
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Meditations on Violence by Sgt. Rory Miller
Books I want to read:
Native Star by M.K. Hobson
Kraken by China Miéville
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor
The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
All the Anita Blake books that have been published since I came to Korea, by Laurell K. Hamilton. I know. I know. I cling to hope. Besides, I read somewhere that OLAF IS IMMINENT. Also, Edward♥.
Ugh, so, I've been trying to get through the English translation of Perfume for. like. months. I'd been avoiding it and the movie for a long time out of, I don't know, an anosmic fit of pique, but I finally did see the film and found it absolutely gorgeous. The color palette, the lighting -- enough darkness and soft highlights to make Caravaggio proud -- and even the slow mo all came together for an extraordinarily aesthetically pleasing film. And I'd read that Patrick Süskind did in writing what the filmmakers did in cinematography for the portrayal of scent.
Here's the thing: Unlike a load of online critics (who, despite the full title of both film and book being Perfume: Story of a Murderer, seem disproportionately disturbed/outraged that it is, in fact, the story of a murderer), I really, really liked Ben Whishaw's portrayal of the protag, Grenouille. There was something mildly autistic about his interactions with people and the material world, and rather sweet and innocent (or at least incompletely aware of the emotional ramifications of his murder spree). He was just so fixated on this one aspect of what he was doing that he didn't, or couldn't, understand what he was doing to the world around him.
Book-Grenouille just wakes up one day and decides that he's vastly superior to everyone else and that he's going to do evil things for the sake of being evil. Which, on top the reader losing entirely the weird fission of knowing this guy should be put away or executed but rooting for him all the same, is, as a friend succinctly summed up, quite boring.
It's not enough to put the book aside completely. And it isn't to say that the book doesn't have its own merits. It's just weird because while I've hated aspects of movies adapted from lit, or even (though more rarely) vice versa, I've never gone from loving a protag to find him deplorable. The opposite has happened, though, so maybe it really just depends on what order I read/see things.
Ffff. I really should try to finish this thing soonish, before I forget everything I've already read. :|