Welcome to Perhaps Reviewed, the sister blog of Perhaps We Learned Something
On this blog you will find original reviews for books, movies, television shows and more written by Kaylia Metcalfe.
...
Don't forget to visit Kaylia's Official Website where you can get information about Kaylia's upcoming events, and learn more about her publications.
Clayton's novel about a sisterhood of housewives in Palto Alto California in the late 60s is everything a book about a sisterhood should be.
We have five different women who while being distinct enough that almost every female reader can find someone to identify with also have enough in common to make their eventual bonding not only believable but encouraged.
We have the end of the 60s and the turmoil of the US in terms of Civil Rights, Women's Rights, and the world at large changing.
We have the theme of empowerment that ties the Miss america pageant into the quest for self expression and drive.
We have a shared dream that is illustrated in a variety of ways... but is no less powerful for being done differently (This, is perhaps my favorite bit about this book... the focus is following your dream, not anyone else's So what if your dream is to write something no one else might ever see.... if your goal was to write it and you did, then you succeeded!)
We have female bonding over typical "female" issues of children, marriage, etc... and then we have female bonding through cancer. Through it all we have the focus being on the bonding itself andthe challenges play second fiddle to the strength that the women find in each other.
If the ending is a bit cavity inducing, well we can forgive it because sometimes, even in the midst of drama or turmoil, we cna find a moment to laugh with our friends and in that freeze frame second, we are living in someone's happily ever after.
Clayton does a great job of bringing five different women to life and making each one someone to root for. All in all, the book is a quick read with messages of hope, perseverance , and above all, the importance of close friendships, a funny and mostly light hearted read that is well worth the time.
This book takes place in the not too distant future where the government has been privatized and people (even children) take on the last name of their employer/school. Yes, it is satire. Yes it deals with with globalization and marketing craziness... such as Nike hiring a hit man to kill the first person to buy their new shoes as a way of making the shoes desirable... but thankfully it goes beyond the shtick and tells the story of the people living in this semi dystopian world; namely single mom and government agent Jennifer Government and struggling villain turned hero Hack Nike.
I loved it.
Witty, sharp, poignant, and short this book has everything you want in a speculative fiction novel; compelling unforgettable characters, dark humor coupled with sobering realities, and a perfect ending.
One of those books that will stay with you and inspire rereading long after completion, this book is not to be missed.
I wrote a review for Perks of Being a Wallflower in which I gushed about it... because really, it is a very well written book.
And then I saw the movie... as one does when one likes the book and has a major crush on the actress in the movie adaptation.
Anyway....
Adaptations are always hard because if you loved the book you are bound to find something you hate about the movie even if that something is that no one looks the way you had imagined.
(I had it easy, my copy of the book was released after the movie was in the works so everyone looked exactly they way I had pictured them.)
A wise woman once said that comparing books to movies is like comparing fresh apples to apple pie. They are both apple in taste, but one has gone through remarkable transformation and is something altogether different. And sometimes, despite you love for apple pie… you crave an apple pure. They are different things and should be treated as such.
Well ok then... you know I lied the book (and if you need a refresher, here's my review.)
What about the movie?
The Movie on its own merits.
- Well done! The pacing is smooth, the drama is gripping, the character development is pristine!
- The acting was superb!
- The use of flashbacks was a bit awkward, but the lead up to the climax was very well shot and executed.
- Marvelous story, we really feel for Charlie and his desire to fit in and stay connected to his friends.
...
The Movie in terms of being an adaptation of the book
- Great use of music.... they kept the spirit of the times with the needed modernization .. ie, they didn't bring it into today's world but let it stay where it needed to be with the right amount of emphasis placed on the indie bands.
... but they made changes (how could they not?). I guess I am disappointed in the changes because they seemed to be unnecessary and to change, in small ways, the overall feel of the story.
- They took out almost all of the family stuff... and while that is understandable it is disappointing The scenes with Charlie's father and the MASH episode, the story arc of his bonding with his sister.. these are elements that made the story more than just a coming of age story like so many others.
- A subtle change, but one worth noting: Early in the book Sam tells Charlie to not fall in love with her... and so he tries not to. This results in him not chasing her, not asking her out etc. Towards the end, Sam asks him why he never pursued her and he reminds her of what she told him... and this worked on a few different levels. It showed us how Charlie is so literal, it showed us that he was so determined to maintain that relationship that he never acted on feelings even when the situation had changed and it might have been okay to do so. In the movie, which lacked the early instruction from Sam, his inability to ask her out is painted as more of shortcoming, a social awkwardness, a failing on his part to "get" that she might have been interested in him rather than a intentional choice on his part to respect her wishes.
- Which leads us to another Sam and Charlie change.. in the movie he helps her with her studies which leads to her getting to go to college... and this dramatically changes how they relate to one another. He helps her academically and she helps him socially .. and while it isn't done as a quid pro quo thing, the elements are there In the book, Sam likes him and includes him into her circle of friends for not other reason than she likes him and wants to include him.
- The sex. In the book, Charlie and Sam don't have sex. In the movie it is strongly implied that they do. This is a huge difference as the lack of sex (but the sexual touching) in the book is the catalyst for Charlie's breakdown and the book's climax... where Charlie learns about his past. Changing that changes the breakdown to be one stemming from guilt or from seeing her drive away... not brought on by the sexual touching... and if it isn't a PTSD moment of panic that leads Charlie to realize his own abuse but rather the loss of a friend and romantic interest that gets him to that dark place, well, that is a loss as well because it siply isn't as powerful.
All in all the movie was well done and had I not read and loved the book as much as I did, I would probably have enjoyed it more.
However... I would advise the reading of the book and the skipping of the movie because in the end, the elements that made the book so well done are important enough to warrant the extra time of reading rather than watching. And, like I said before, the book is an incredibly quick read.
There you have it... read the book... (maybe while listening to the soundtrack from the movie). You won't be sorry.
A Chick-Lit with enough heart and mystery to overcome its almost cavity inducing sweetness and light.
The Peach Keeper is the story of women... old women, young women, women from a forgotten time, women of today... women who hate each other and women who would go to the ends of the Earth to protect each other. In short, this book is about the bonds that women can form when they decide to stop competing with one another and work together.
What worked:
- The perspective change between the two leading ladies. While the author's voice didn't change, she never left you in doubt of who's part of the adventure you were seeing.
- The build up of the mystery and eventual conclusion.
- The supporting cast of characters, most notably the character of Rachel who really deserved her own book.
What didn't work... at least for me.
- The Rom/Com pairing off of couples. As soon as our cast of characters had all been introduced, two men and two women, the thought of a double date and living happily ever after was not just obvious, it was a forgone conclusion that sapped a bit of the tension from the story.
- The injection of the supernatural. Yeah, it's a pet peeve, but supernatural stuff always takes me a bit out of the story especially when it is introduced rather late in the game. It simply wasn't needed to tell the story.
- The "is he or isn't he" in regards to the sexual orientation of a character. For goodness sake people, just ask. (But wait, you might be saying... isn't it rude to ask if someone is gay? No. Asking because you are curious is rude. But if you want to sleep with / fall in love with the person, then it is not only not at all rude, it is sort of a necessary step in determining comparability. And he was part of the little happy foursome mentioned above... so the only person who didn't know he was into the woman was the woman herself, which was just annoying.
*Ok... another pet peeve... she has a laundry list of reasons she thinks he is gay but never EVER considers the possibility that he is bi. So.. yeah.. she saw him kissing another boy back in high school. I'm sorry to burst your bubble but high school sexual explorations does not equal sexual orientation... and even if he was madly in love with the boy in high school that doesn't mean that he couldn't also be madly in love with her... because, again, he might be bi. A mystery easily solved by asking.
Grrrr
Ok.
But besides all that, the book was a quick read and I enjoyed the fact that though the two main women characters where set to be rivals, at least in the beginning the author managed to make them both fully rounded out and sympathetic. She didn't cut corners and make the rich perfect girl all evil or the more plain Jane character the heroine. I appreciated that.
So.. worth reading for sure... in fact if you need a book for the beach or the plane, consider this one a perfect fit. Yes it is chick-lit (with all the pros and cons that entails) but it is full of heart, has a good message, and was well written.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
I really enjoyed this book!
Perks is a coming of age story that focuses on the tapestry of the coming of age experience rather than the introspective focus that is often found in such tales.
The story isn't just about Charlie and his first year of high school, it is about his friends going through their final year of high school, about his sister going through a personal struggle that will define her for the rest of her life, and about a single moment in time that will never come again.
But mostly, yes, the book is about a wallflower named Charlie.
Charlie is special... today we would probably put him on the autism spectrum (although more in the Asperger's Syndrome end) and there is something else as well.. something dark that lies just below the surface, something that leads Charlie to have panic attacks and to be unable to stop crying.
There are some beautiful moments in this book, moments that resonate past the pages of cliche high school troupes and predictable love triangles. Moments when Charlie's ability to see the truth of the situation because he is somewhat removed, because he is the wallflower are so expertly written by Chbosky that you want to break down and cry.
In the end, that is the greatest perk... and through Chbosky's use of the narrative structure of letters, we are able to capitalize on that perk as well.
By communicating with the reader through letters simply addressed to "Friend" we are both a part of the story and a spectator as well, unable to interact with the drama that is unfolding. We, the audience, become the quintessential wallflowers ourselves with all the perks that being so entails... perks like being able to see a bigger wider frame of the big picture.
And like Charlie we have the disadvantages of being an outsider... for even though Charlie is reaching out through his letters to "friend" the reader is powerless to stop the oncoming train of drama and disappointment In the same way, Charlie is powerless to stop the wheels of time from moving... he must face the reality that when one is a freshman and all one's friends are seniors, one is going to have to start all over again.
The book is surprisingly deep for being so short, surprisingly fresh for being a few years old, and surprisingly profound for being considered a "young adult" novel.
I highly recommend it!
... There's just this one thing....
(And really it has nothing to do with the writing, I'm guessing ti was a publishing decision, but there is an epilogue that is not only extremely long for an epilogue but is also vital to the story. It is more of the last chapter than the epilogue .. without it we would have been left at the climax instead of being allowed the falling action and conclusion.
I'm a bit fan of being manipulated by good writing to feel something anger, sadness, regret, etc. But the key is that the second I notice I am being manipulated, I become resentful and no longer really enjoy the book...
Edwards manages to manipulate you into feeling a wealth of emotions, but her writing is so good that you don't see the strings being pulled and that makes the novel's emotional wallop an even bigger gut punch.
I'm not ashamed to say I cried when I read this... or that I immediately looked Kim Edwards up on Amazon to see what else I could read by her.
The story, of twins separated at birth by a father hoping to spare his wife the trauma of raising a special needs child, is a powerful tale of love and family. Working with themes of regret, hard choices, and shocking family secrets, Edwards is a master of making each and every character not only believable but sympathetic.
In the end the story, in the hands of a lesser writer, could very easily have been trite and overly melodramatic... the sort of thing that you see on Lifetime at 3 am. However, Edwards manages to compel you to care and to keep reading even when it is almost painful to do so. The Memory Keeper's Daughter is a raw and powerful story... but not for the faint of heart.
***
Apparently there was a TV movie made in 2008... but as it isn't streaming on Netflix and costs 4 bucks on Amazon, I probably won't get around to watching / reviewing it.
First off let me just say that I have a hard time reading memoirs because unless you are a mighty special person or something mighty special happened to you or you did something mighty special or whatnot... I don't really want to read your memoir.
Getting divorced does not count as mighty special.
Finding a husband, raising a kid, starting a home business.... these don't count. (To me).
So... does having Asperger's Syndrome count? I was on the fence because I happen to know several people with the syndrome and most of them have had to overcome obstacles, have had to figure out the world around them differently than you or I, have gone through drama and trauma and have, somehow, survived to tell about it.
So, I was a cautious reader of this book to be honest.
... and I was right to be cautious.
The book itself is well written. It is a retelling of one man's life and his personal struggle with Asperger's. If you recognize his name it is because he is the brother of Augusten Burroughs the author of Running With Scissors.... so yeah John Elder Robison came from that same, now famously dysfunctional, family.
That right there was the crux of my problem... for while this book doesn't implicitly say "all Aspi kids are like this" it strongly implies that "all Aspi kids are like this" when the truth is that not all Aspi kids are like anything; the variety of ways that Asperger's manifests is one of the reasons it can be so hard to diagnose.
If you take the Asperger's part out of it, you have the life story of a man who lived an interesting life... but by no means an incredibly mighty specail life... and if you add in the Asperger's stuff you have what ammounts to one man's life with a disease that is vastly differnt depending on who has it, how early it was caught, the support system in place, and countless other factors.
Honestly, I don't know what sort of rubric to judge this book against.
It was a quick read. The flow worked for the most part. The anecdotes were clearly written and entertaining.
But.
But I had a hard time connecting to John. I had a hard time caring about John. I actually had a hard time finishing because while his personal story was interesting, it seemed like the sort of thing that would have been more interesting if I had actually known him... giving up part of my life to read about his just felt awkward and ultimately unsatisfying.
Writing this review a few weeks after I finished the book I suddenly started to wonder if I had actually finished it... I went back and checked. Yes. Yes, I had finished it... the ending, like the rest of it, just hadn't left that big of an impression on me.
I didn't learn anything, I didn't really feel anything except occasionally pity, ocassionaly confusion, and yes at one point a touch of disgust.
I sort of wish I hadn't bothered.
And to be fair .. again... I am one person who a)hates memoirs to begin with and b)already knows a fair bit about the thing that should draw the reader in and keep them interested. So, perhaps I should have known better than to have read / reviewed this book.
However, if you like memoirs, don't know much about Asperger's or want to know about this particular man's reality... then by all means, read it! I hope you enjoy it more than I did.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
