Monday, August 12, 2013

How I Live Now Trailer Reaction

Biblia on 6:19 PM

© Meg Rosoff
Meg Rosoff is one of my all-time favorite authors.  She crafts and molds words in ways that really speak to me.  (The one exception, I'm sorry to say, is her book The Bride's Farewell).  Here are some of my favorites from her novel What I Was:

  • "I know you are unable to imagine this. Nevertheless, I can tell you that you will awake someday to find that your life has rushed by at a speed at once impossible and cruel. The most intense moments will seem to have occurred only yesterday and nothing will have erased the pain and pleasure, the impossible intensity of love and its dog-leaping happiness, the bleak blackness of passions unrequited, or unexpressed, or unresolved.”

  • "At the time, I didn't have the insight to wonder at the transient nature of despair, but now that I'm older I've seen how little it takes to turn a person's life around for better or worse. An event will do, or an Idea. Another person. An idea of a person. ”
Imagine my surprise when I discovered today that How I Live Now is being adapted to film.  Usually I'm very excited about good books being made into (good?) films.  But for some reason, this trailer doesn't get me excited about the film.   But, why?  Have a look:

© Meg Rosoff

 Why am I not bouncing? Or at least interested?  Obviously, film adaptations can be hit-or-miss, but why does this one make me cringe a little?

 I think the beauty of reading fiction is that how people "see" the characters and action in their minds all differs.  The author can tell me that "Judy had blond hair," but that doesn't mean the character of Judy in my mind isn't the exact opposite.  Stories take on new lives for each reader.

 And for some reason, the film adaptation of How I Live Now completely contradicts my mental "movie" of the same book.  It doesn't look ANYTHING like how I imagined it.  Not one character or scene in the trailer.  I don't always understand every casting, wardrobe, or location decision directors make, but usually the film resembles my memory of the book.  This one baffles me.

 Time to re-read; will check back in later!

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