The Great Gatsby

I've just been to see The Great Gatsby movie in the cinema and I've come away both slightly disappointed and also completely loving how some scened turned out (key word being some).  I had read The Great Gatsby once before I had it thoroughly dissected before my eyes in my English class and I have to say I completely hated it by the end - not the story or the writing, both of which I thought were compelling and brilliant but the characters.  I loathe pretty much all of them - I know I'm probably supposed to like Gatsby but at best I feel weakly sympathetic towards him.  Maybe it's a result of reading and analysing the book too much, maybe I'm just too disenchanted with that whole lifestyle to be able to sympathise much with the people themselves - who knows.  I went to see this film partly out of curiosity and partly because I needed an excuse to stop revising for a bit!

Given the path that was chosen this film, I did think that the writer made good job of rationalising Nick writing The Great Gatsby and I even quite liked the idea.  I just found the narration a bit odd. I understand that they probably wanted to get in those great phrases of Nick's and keep the feeling that you're only observing the story from his point of view. However, there were a few times when I just wanted Tobey Maguire to shut up.  Yes I know it's not the beautiful shirts that are upsetting Daisy, Carey Mulligan is doing a pretty good job of showing that with her acting and I don't need you to tell me *humpf*.  Although in actual fact, in terms of the narration it was something else that got on my nerves.  Fine, we hear Nick's voice over the top of the scene through the narration, but when you look at him in the actual scene he didn't look like he was thinking it - I felt like behind his eyes he didn't look like the same man that comes up instantly with the witty, sardonic phrases and analyses that you read in the book.  To tell the truth he looked to me just a bit vague, vacant almost - I suppose I imagined him pretty sharp and alert and having those analytical thoughts at the time not just in retrospect. I just couldn't shake the feeling that this man couldn't write a book that well.

I also thought it went a bit over the top - it's difficult to describe but I felt like some things were emphasised more like the green light - what was a passing comment in the book became a complete fixation of the film.  Then there was the first time Nick meets Gatsby at the party, even then, not so much the meeting as the introduction: Gatsby's face is revealed and he reaches out to Nick with a glass of champagne as fireworks explode in the background.

I half expected him to keep that cheesy grin on his face a second too long and then drawl "the name's Gatsby - the great Gatsby".  I don't know, it just seemed a  bit much - the gaudiness of the party, the loud, riotous sense-grating explosion of noise and colour I can accept because it's just the party being what it is and giving the watcher a nudge towards the "whoa, these people are pretty crazy" perspective (personally anyway), but that image, with the voice over turned what could be dramatic and impressive into a laughable scene for me.  This feeling of falseness was intensified for me by all the computer generated shots - I don't know how much of this film was CGI but I don't think it was really necessary, all it did for me was make my stomach lurch.

One of the things I like about the book is it's underlying themes - there's the class thing, which challenges the self perception of Americans (not trying to make a sweeping generalisation here - it's just one of the themes) that there is no class bound system and the American dream that anybody can make it if you just work at it.  I thought this came across really well for all that the scene with the horse riders was left out (one of the times when I do feel really sympathetic towards Gatsby).  There was the moment when Tom just stated simply "No, you're not like us, we're none of us like you, we were born into this - it's in the blood" (not the exact quote I know) which was possibly one of the most powerful moments in the film for me.  However the other theme of materialism and capitalism I felt was slightly sidelined - I'm not saying it wasn't there because it undoubtedly was, with the harsh telephones and Dr T.J.E's eyes.  Now I probably am being picky, there's a lot of things to get into this one film and I'll stop complaining now I promise ;)


OK big moan over.  That's why I was disappointed, but like I said I actually really loved some scenes particularly the clock scene and the parts just before and after it.  I could not imagine it better - that tense uncomfortable silence, them perched on there chairs amongst all the flowers (a wonderful original phrase from Daisy: "My goodness Nick, did you raid a greenhouse!" - something like that anyway) and best of all Gatsby's attempts to fix the clock - it was hilarious in a tragic way which fitted wonderfully with the book. 

Similarly the appearance of Gatsby at the door "pale as death, with his hands plunged like weights in his coat pockets".  I also thought that the crash scene was fantastic in a shocking kind of way - it captured the suddenness and the shock that you get from the way it's described in the book without having some silly narration over the top.  I think that's why these scenes appealed to me - they didn't force the similarity with the book by rigidly repeating it but changed them subtly in some places, made it new and original and achieved the same affect as you get from reading the book.  Personally, if the whole film had been like that - just a little less exaggerated and allowing the actors to just act, I think I would have enjoyed the film more.

I think my overall favourite scene was when Nick comes to visit Tom and Daisy for the first time - with the white curtains billowing.  I thought it was perfect and so true to the book when Tom comes stamping through and slams all the windows shut - I was also pleased to see Elizabeth Bebicki (Jordan Baker) manage to keep her nose in the air without looking completely ridiculous.  I actually thought the casting was really good Elizabeth Bebicki as Jordan was perfect in my opinion - she is the 20's flapper down to the tips of her perfectly curled hair and she played her really well, if a little softer than I personally imagined her.

Everyone told me that Myrtle was too thin but although I wasn't immediately sure about her, I thought Isla Fisher managed to play Myrtle wonderfully - her gaudy, flirtatious vulgarity sitting in perfect contrast to Daisy's elegance.  I also loved Carey Mulligan as Daisy and Joel Edgerton as Tom - I believed them all the way through; Tom with his idiotic, bigoted opinions and Daisy with her lilting, murmuring voice - I thought they were wonderful.

Finally, I think one of the reasons I did actually leave the cinema fairly happy was that in the end a few of my favourite quotes from the book were used - and I love them so much that my mind was completely taken off the over dramatised ending and the words being spelled out of the screen.
“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
I recognised the beginning and was just pleased but my friend with her ridiculously good memory was mouthing it next to me and pointed out afterwards that apparently they misquoted slightly - not that I even noticed but that does seem slightly pointless.

I'm really glad I went to see the film - but I can't exactly say I would watch it again - visually it was exciting but it felt a bit empty apart from that. What with the narration and the words appearing on the screen, I got the impression this film was really trying too much to be the novel instead of just being a new and unique film.

Well, if you're reading this and you completely disagree, or agree, or just feel like it, comment - I would love to know what you think.

Why not to read too fast

I recently read three books MUCH quicker than I really should have done, and I'm now getting the feeling that maybe I should read them again properly because reading fast is a good way to miss out things.  The books were: 
     Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
     Ultraviolet by R J Anderson
     Quicksilver by R J Anderson

I think I liked Ultraviolet nearly as much as Me Before You but I was more... affected by ending of Me Before You but I preferred them both to Quicksilver - not much though...  but I'll get back to that later.

The cover looks a fairytale I think - I didn't feel
that it really fitted with the book but I quite like it
otherwise, reminds me slightly of Rob Ryan
or Lotte Reiniger

Here's a tip, if you become emotionally attached to characters very easily, do NOT read Me Before You into the early hours of the morning because you can't sleep, leave the last few chapters for the morning because FINALLY by 3:40 you're feeling sleepy. And then, DO NOT read the ending at 8:00 because against your better judgement you've woken up at the normal time. Yeah, don't do that. Just don't, because you end up curled into a ball sobbing uncontrollably. UNCONTROLLABLY - for probably about an hour.

All that aside, I thought this book was amazing.  It's about Will Traynor who has been paralysed almost completely after he was hit by a motorcycle and Lou Clark who, after losing her job is employed by Will's mother to keep him company.  I didn't really like Lou (the narrator for most of the book) all that much at first,  but she grew on me.

I would highly recommend this book, but be warned, in case I hadn't made it abundantly obvious, it is SAD.  I don't think it takes anything away from it though because it's not sad in a bad way if that makes any sense.  The story tackles issues about assisted suicide and I feel like the author really did her research and it comes across really well.  I completely believed the characters and the things they said and did.  A lot of books with *big* themes have dialogue which feels really fake and contrived but I didn't get that with this book at all.

Still haven't made up my mind about this cover
I'm not sure if it's a bit-- pff maybe I'm being
too critical

Ultraviolet is about Alison, a girl admitted to a mental institute after she comes home saying she has killed someone - we find out that she has synaesthesia - a condition where some sensations can trigger others.  Alison can taste lies and see sounds but she thinks that this is just part of her having some mental condition, which isn't helped by her mother who has made her afraid to tell anyone about what she experiences.  Whilst an involuntary patient in this mental institute, she becomes part of research conducted by Sebastian Faraday (apparently Alison really likes the name, but personally I thought it was a bit pompous) who is looking into synaesthesia.  Alison begins to confide in Sebastian and her situation starts improving bit by bit.  I found the mysterious stranger thing a little bit predictable, but I didn't really mind too much because I was pretty much caught up in everything else. I don't want to spoil anything and it's hard to go into much more detail without revealing something, but what I will say is I really enjoyed this book - partly as a lover of (OK, small spoiler: sci-fi) but also because synaesthesia has intrigued me ever since I first heard about it.  If you don't know anything about it or have never heard of it, look it up, it really is fascinating - some synesthetes can literally feel things that they see other people experiencing (mirror-touch synesthsia).  Anyway, I really liked how R J Anderson included these unusual perceptions from Alison's point of view without it seeming really forced.  Sometimes in this book I felt SO frustrated for Alison, I think had it been me, I would have reacted much worse to some of the other characters - I'm talking about her mother and her doctor (damn, can't remember his name - I think this proves that I read it too fast!)

Same as before really, can't decide whether I
like it or not :S

Quicksilver is a follow up to Ultraviolet, though I agree with the author that they both work pretty well on their own - Alison isn't in this book much except at the end (although she is mentioned quite a bit) but one of the things that made me like this book slightly less is that the way Alison talked.  I might just be being fussy here, but I don't think someone who spent so long afraid of her synaesthesia would so quickly be saying things like: "he sounded really orange" (I don't think she says that particular phrase but she does occasionally say things like that) - I just didn't really believe it.  I don't want to give anything away about Ultraviolet which makes it a bit difficult to talk about this book so maybe I'll do that some other time in a separate post.

Oooh, but one thing I will say is that I liked how the chapters were laid out - I'm big on aesthetics and I like it when it feels like someone has gone to the trouble of making the book something complete - like it all matches up rather than just something to put the words on, it's one of the reasons I like reading actual books (although I do use my kindle quite a lot).

So, if anybody is actually reading this, I highly recommend these books and if you've already read them, let me know what you think (please comment please comment please comment - not to sound needy or anything ;) ) (hehe too many brackets!)

The next book I'm going to read is The Fault in Our stars which I realise could be a BIG mistake as I'm lead to believe it's not the cheeriest of books - Sme, I'm blaming you if this turns bad!!

Hello!

So, blooooog - yeah, I thought it would be fun. Also, since the chances of people really reading this are pretty slim, I can basically say crazy things that come into my head - like, hey if words were chocolates, what would "clandestine" be? - I'm thinking maybe some kind of dark truffle, perhaps with something inside - not a nut but maybe...  Anyway, not that that would be too different from normal - I'm not very good at editing my thoughts before they come out of my mouth, or as the case may be, fingers! Great, rambling already.

I can't really be sure as yet, but this blog will probably be about books, maybe some music that I'm playing (just piano - nothing AMAZING) and almost certainly some random things in between - in fact, that's just about the one thing that I can promise!