Trick or Treat by Richie Tankersley Cusick

This book was one of the 3 titles that are part of my challenge from BD to read this year. The challenge is to read at least one of the titles but you can read all 3 if you wish. This one, part of the Point Horror series from the 1990's, was one of my friends favourites, and he was a fan of the Point Horror books when he was younger.

Sadly, being older, the whole Point Horror phenomenon passed me by. I hadn't even heard of them (I am about 20 years older than BD). In my day it was Armada Ghost Books and Nancy Drew. So this was my first ever encounter with Point Horror and I can see from the many fans on the net, they have quite a following. Even in work, when BD brought this in for me, there were others of similar age reminiscing about these titles and comparing favourites.

Trick or Treat is about Martha, whose dad has just remarried and she is to move in with her new step mum and brother Conor. The house, in the country near a small town, needs a lot of repair. Her step mum is excited by the challenge but Martha feels uncomfortable and unnerved by it from the start. It is not helped by the old graveyard in the grounds, and Halloween is only days away. At her new school she makes friends easily with Wynn and Blake, who she fancies. It is not long before the history of the house reveals itself. Obsession and murder are in its past. Then Martha and Conors parents have to leave for Hawaii suddenly, and the teenagers are alone in the house. Its mysterious past is replaying with terrifying consequences.

This is a entertaining read (even if some of the plot is implausable - parents leaving children alone in a house they have just moved into), with lots of jumps and starts in a multi-layered plot that is creepy and compelling. I can imagine loving it when I was young but even as an adult it was good fun. It is very straight forward to read and the writing style reminded me of books that I read as a teenager which was pleasantly nostalgic. I enjoyed the cheesy suspense and there were a few creepy moments. I can see why the Point Horror books were favourites of a whole generation of kids.

I read the book in a day, and enjoyed the fun of it and the nostalgia.

I found another Point Horror Fan Blogger and you can reminisce along with her by using the link.

We Need To Talk About Kevin: Book to Movie Comparison

You may have read my review of the book We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver in my last post. The whole time that I was reading the book I had a strong compulsion to write to Eva, the mother, and narrator of letters to her husband, and tell her how I felt about what she was saying about her son after he had become a killer, hence the letter form of the review. You may know too that the book was made into a successful movie that was released last year.
As part of this years challenges I wanted to compare some books that had been made into movies. I totally loved the book and only read it after seeing the movie last October at the cinema. So I have to thank the film for encouraging me to read the novel at all.
I thought that the casting of Tilda Swinton as Eva was brilliant. An unusual looking lady, gangly, independent and strong, plus more European looking than American, perfect as Eva. I also liked the various incarnations of Kevin, good looking but with a slyness that matched his emotionless exterior. The part that I had a problem with was Franklin played by John C Reilly. It wasn't his performance which suited the all American dad, but his look did not go with the book descriptions of him. I thought (my apologies Mr Reilly) that Franklin was supposed to be extremely attractive, to explain why such a strong willed, unusual woman like Eva married him, and continued to love him while he became unsupportive and alienated from her as he became obsessed with Kevin. I couldn't imagine them having any kind of relationship.
The movie is dictated by Eva's point of view but without the letters. It successfully conveys all of her emotions that are in the book. The sense of unease is communicated by imagery dominated by the colour red. Conjuring disgust excellently in the viewer, this is one of the things that I took away from the film. The use of food in messy, served up in horrible ways, which added to this, as well as building tension throughout. There was a continual build up of nausea while watching.
I found the incidents of Kevins behaviour coupled with Swinton's passive face really had me wound up in a coil throughout. The screen was quite colourful, but the bleakness of the story and her situation clashes wholly with this. The discordance is felt throughout and is what I most enjoyed about the movie. A cleverly used device in this film.
The book has more detail than the film, and I was quite glad about that. It gives you enough so you can imagine the rest. It is easier to take when it is words on a page. The film is largely faithful to the incidents in the novel, including many details I recognised along the way.
This is a disturbing subject for any book or movie to tackle and I enjoyed both. I related to the Eva in the book more, but she is talking to you directly. It is this that I enjoyed more than the film. Tilda Swinton was in my head throughout though.
A brilliant book, and a very good movie adaptation with many strengths, intelligently made, and leaving a tangible impression after it has ended. Both are recommended, but especially the book.
You can read about We Need To Talk About Kevin - the movie, by using the link.
There is a Reading Group Guide to We Need To Talk About Kevin, use the link.
Also, there is an interview in The Guardian with Lionel Shriver about the book and film. Use the link.

We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

Dear Eva,

my friend lent me your book about 2 years ago and I have to admit I was unwilling to read such a dark story, especially when she herself had given up on it. I did however hang on to it with a view to reading it when I felt ready to, having heard great things about it.

It was the film that gave me the push (covered in the next post), and also a colleague at work reading it. It was finally time. I needn't have worried to be honest. I was sucked in from the start, and your story and your voice did not let me go until the last page.

Don't get me wrong, a lot of it was agony to read, horrific, a 'Thank God it is not me' kind of ride. A lot of your circumstances were not of your own doing. Did your son really turn out that way simply because you were not ready for a child? So many other mothers could say the same thing, but their children did not go on the rampage of murder.

I could feel your guilt, your despair seeping into the pages and through my fingertips. I heard your questions - 'Was it me?', 'Could I have caused this?' and, quite simply 'Why?' At least you tried to make an effort with a son who deliberately and systematically refused to co operate in any form. None at all.

Your husband, my goodness me, now there is a conundrum, chose to turn a blind eye. And what about his rejection, of your feelings, or any kind of understanding. What about his steady disregard, his slow annhilation of you and your personality, his lack of support, his obsession with his son representing the stereotype of American youth. He failed to comprehend who he was, a child who showed signs of cruelty in his rejection of others. I wanted to scream at him.

I did want to scream at you too.

Why did you put up with it all? You must have felt so alone, before and after. Your stoicism, your rigidity, your bloody mindedness, to take it all on yourself. Why stay in that town? You say it was for your son, who made it impossible to love him and then blamed you for not loving him. Your stubbornness let you down, like picking at a wound so it continues to hurt. Not many would have stayed, couldn't have. I know I would not have had the strength like you, blind strength of will and character. Only time will tell if your strength was your weakness.

I admire your honesty in all of this. I wish you well, you deserve some form of a small break, although I don't see one. I see the years of more of the same stretching before you, but not as clearly as you see it yourself. You have come this far which can be seen as a miracle, and you still haven't lost a sense of humour.

I thought this book was hailed because it tackled such a difficult subject, a woman whose son turns into a serial killer. This is only partly right. I am now sure it is hailed equally because it is written so brilliantly. Truly. I found your story moving and mesmerising, and I couldn't put it down.

Stop blaming yourself, the debt is not all yours to pay. I do not hope for your son, but I do hope for you.

Leah

February Roundup

The book sculpture on the left, and others like it, have been causing a stir in various locations in Edinburgh. I wanted to include a picture so as to illustrate how talented and delightful they are. There is a lovely story to accompany them and for more information see under Discoveries below.

February has been a very productive month as far as the books go...

Read - 2 and a half books

Completed -

We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver

Trick or Treat by Richie Tankersley Cusick (Point Horror #6)

Currently Reading -

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Notes From Walnut Tree Farm by Roger Deakin

The Organic Year by Patricia Gillmore

TBR Pile - currently at 121 (according to GoodReads) with 5 added...

Literary Genius: 25 Classic Writers Who Define English and American Literature edited by Joseph Einstein

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon

This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

Challenges -

As part of #1 of my personal challenges I haven't bought any books. All of the TBR additions above were presents. I have also kept to the TBR Double Dare (see my sidebar) by only reading books from my TBR pile too.

My last post was the first of my book/film comparisons (although it is actually a TV series) on North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell for #5 of my challenges.

I am currently reading Wuthering Heights for #2 of my challenges.

I completed Trick or Treat as one of the 3 titles recommended by BD to read during 2012.

Wishlist Additions -

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt

Girl Reading by Katie Ward

Deep Country: 5 Years in the Welsh Hills by Neil Ansell

Discoveries -

The BookCrossing e-newsletter included a link to an article about some beautiful and mysterious book sculptures in strategical literary venues around Edinburgh. The sculptures are lovely (see picture above) and curiously all linked to author Ian Rankin, but the story that accompanies them is also very touching. Use the link to read it for yourself.

I paid my first visit to the Persephone Bookshop in London and what a lovely place to call into. A tiny shop with a workshop at the back, where every surface is piled high with distictive Persephone titles to buy. If you are near Lamb's Conduit Street in the Bloomsbury District of London it is well worth a visit.

Events -

I have had some excellent theatre visits in February...

Propeller are touring Henry V (and A Winters Tale) by Shakespeare and I saw this brilliant version in The Lowry Theatre in Manchester.

The Liverpool Playhouse has an excellent version of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire on at the moment which I saw last week.

A very good version of Federico Garcia Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba is on at The Almeida in London.

I have also been accepted again as a World Book Night giver and this year my chosen title is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I am thrilled, it was great fun last year. It is on 23rd April this year and there are some great titles on offer.

It has been a full on month for book events, lets hope it continues on into March.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell on DVD

I totally loved this BBC series back in 2004 when it was first aired on TV. I remember being entranced by it for lots of reasons right from the first episode. I love a good costume drama, good Sunday evening fare before work on the monday, and Mrs Gaskell has provided us with lots of excellent material which have successfully translated to TV. In the last few weeks I have watched and enjoyed it all again.

This 4 part drama was on some time before Cranford hit our screens, a love story between Margaret Hale, the daughter of a clergyman from the south of England and John Thornton, a mill owner from the northern town where Margaret moves to after her father gives up the cloth.

At first Margaret struggles to adapt to the dirty industrial town, finding it course and savage, and judges its inhabitants hastily, especially Mr Thornton whose rough justice at the mill offends her. When a strike is looming across the town, all of them are involved with many lessons heeded on all sides.

I found myself rooting for both of these characters who misunderstand each other greatly at first. This adaptation is filmed with beautiful shots and costumes. It was the scenes inside the cotton mill that stayed with me the most, and all of the parts are cast brilliantly. The two main characters, played by Daniela Denby-Ashe and Richard Armitage are compelling as are all the supporting characters played by Brendan Coyle (now in Downton Abbey), Sinead Cusack, Tim Pigott Smith and Pauline Quirke. After watching this series 8 years ago I went and bought the book and enjoyed the story all over again.

I have another reason to remember this series with such love...it was largely responsible for me researching my family tree. I was so entranced with the mill workers and industry in the series I had a voracious need to find out what my own ancestors did. No mill workers, but being from Liverpool there were lots of Dock workers, several generations of cork cutters, quite a few farmers who moved to the city in the early 19th century, a gun smith, some railway workers, merchant sailors and an Ostrich Feather Dyer. The more exotic jobs are fascinating, but it was the ordinary industrial workers that I related to most, especially as many of the buildings and landmarks can still be seen around Liverpool from way back, linking us to them. I have learnt such a lot, about the history and social history that my ancestors were involved with, and how I fit in with it all. On watching the series recently I could feel my need to take up my research again. I have continued my family tree since I originally saw this series back in 2004 with huge rewards.

This is a lovely story, emotionally involving and memorable. The music of the series also deserves a mention, adding a lot to the period and the feel of the drama. The novel and the TV series (now on DVD) are highly recommended, and the TV adaptation is particularly special to me.

You can read more about North and South on the BBC by using the link.

Visit to Haworth

A friend and I are going to Haworth, home of the Brontes, in April, and some other friends may be joining us for one of the days too. I have been to Haworth very briefly some years ago but have never done the whole Bronte trail.

By the time we go I am hoping to have read Wuthering Heights and my friend hopes to read Jane Eyre so that we can have some discussion, while adding context by visiting the major sites. Our other friends have been invited to read something by the Brontes so that we can widen the discussion.

Haworth is a lovely village in its own right (remember the old Hovis advert, pushing the bike up the steep cobbled street...), and it will be good to get some air straight off the moors.

There is a steam train on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway that takes you right into Haworth if you want the full on Victorian experience. The Bronte Parsonage Museum is a major draw for Bronte fans, and there are lots of walks to locations used in their novels.

I have wanted to do this trip for ages so it is great to be able to share it with some friends.

Generation X by Douglas Coupland

This book was one of the titles I was challenged to read last year by AR who recommended it. I bought it then but have only just got around to reading it.

Three young people in their twenties in modern day America have moved away from the rat race to re-write their own lives by moving to the desert and forsaking the conformist lifestyle. Andy, Dag and Clare enjoy being with their dogs, taking picnics and telling stories.

Andy is the narrator, and he reviews how they all came to be there and their relationship with each other as well as the fantastic stories they tell each other. It is filled with humour as well as pop art pictures and even its own glossary of phrases invented to describe the emptiness of present society that produces cliched inhabitants. The book is short with chapters of only a few pages, so quick to read.

Often the writing is more social comment than fictional novel, and it took a while for me to warm to the characters. Their observations are interesting, funny, and scarily accurate, but this can come over as a bit clever and smug. We worked it out, have all the answers, and left the losers behind. But do they have all the answers? Are they living the perfect life?

As the novel moves forwards it seems that the threesome are still looking for something...more. Each of them have flurries back into the life they turned their back on. None of them stay but I got the feeling everything was transitory. No one reaches a point in life where they have nothing to learn, however much they feel they know it all. There are other characters, friends who visit for a while, but they serve as types to illustrate what the three have left behind.

There were some beautiful moments that I loved. The chapter where they all tell of what the earth means to them was a particular favourite. Remembering her most poignant moment from when she was twelve, Clare says...

'...my brother Allan yanked at my sleeve because the walk signal light was green. And when I turned my head to walk across, my face went bang, right into my first snowflake ever. It melted in my eye. I didn't even know what it was at first, but then I saw millions of flakes - all white and smelling like ozone, floating downward like the shed skin of angels. Even Allan stopped. Traffic was honking at us, but time stood still. And so, yes - if I take one memory of earth away with me, that moment will be the one. To this day I consider my right eye charmed.'

It was after this chapter, where the characters seem to move from merely frivolous and a little immature, that I found something to connect with. Later on, when Andy revisits his parents for Christmas, it was one of the saddest accounts of generational awakening that I have read.

Not everything in this book had an impact, but the chapters that did have stayed with me. Towards the end of the book the cleverness made way for quite a lot of sadness, and although upbeat, and even a little sentimental, the ending held no promises.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves modern writing that takes a cynical view of Western society. The closest authors I could think of were Chuck Palahniuk and Carl Hiaasen. This one has a more poetic slant, and is less ascerbic.

To look at Douglas Coupland's website use the link.

To read an interesting article Generation X to Generation Next by Laura Slattery use the link.

The Guardian Book Club has some good discussions about the book too.