BOOKS

[saffronlie]

It hit 36 degrees today, so when I went to swim laps after uni the pool was massively crowded and even in the slow lane I had people bumping into me by swimming on the wrong side of the lane, or being asshats and walking and talking in pairs instead of swimming. My laps were therefore not as relaxing as usual, but afterwards I went and floated

Comments

[pandorasblog]

Agree so much on White Oleander. I found the film first and really enjoyed how they rendered Astrid's inner experience visually; it could be viewed as just another troubled teen movie, and (in the UK at least) was packaged and marketed like a Daytime TV Weepie For Mums (SO FAR OFF THE MARK), but they succeeded in making it a bit special. Watching it first worked out well for me because coming to the book afterwards meant I was constantly being pleasantly surprised by its greater depth and further strands of plot and character development. I pass on good-but-hopefully-appealing books to a 17-year-old friend, and this one was a huge success.

[saffronlie]

Oddly enough, I can't remember which one I experienced first. I think it may have been the book, but I'm not really sure. One of those happy occasions where I didn't feel any over-investment in the adaptation, and was quite satisfied with the result. I think it was mostly overlooked here too, or marketed clumsily, but I realise it's not a particularly accessible story. Murderess mothers are hard to stomach, even when played by Michelle Pfeiffer. But of course, that's what makes the book so awesome!

[pandorasblog]

That's a good point - I think people have been conditioned to have a much higher tolerance level for immortality or amorality in male than female characters...

Btw, after you said you loved Hilary Mantel, I noticed from an old newspaper that she'd published a new short story in the Guardian recently. Turns out she contributes there quite a bit, so here's her page in case you didn't know about it already:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/hilary-mantel?INTCMP=SRCH

[saffronlie]

Thank you! Thank you!

[pandorasblog]

You're welcome! And oh my god. Has the VC really infiltrated my brain so completely that I referred to readers higher tolerance for immortality in male characters?

[saffronlie]

Apparently, yes. But I didn't catch it. Dude, did you read "Winter Break?" Ten minutes later and I'm still WTFing. Mantel rules.

[pandorasblog]

Not yet; probably will do over breakfast tomorrow as I still have some Review sections from the December Guardians to read, and that's in one of them.

Oddly, I've accumulated several of her books and her autobiography without having actually read any of them yet. But I always enjoy her journalism. I need to dig in to the rest!