Day 18, Oh dear

[fabrisse]

I managed to miss meeting up with neotoma today. It was my mistake, and it didn't help that I forgot to put my phone in my purse. *sigh*

The Library of Congress Book Festival was this weekend, and Mark Helprin was one of the speakers.

I consider his book, Winter's Tale", to be the best book written in English. Years ago, Ben Stiller bought the movie rights, but that film was never made. Apparently, there is a movie coming out in 2014. I'm already appalled by what I've read on imdb about it. Those of you who've read the book probably understand why I think it's terrible that Russell Crowe (who I think is a wonderful actor) is playing Pearly Soames. I also couldn't find the name Marratta anywhere in the character list.

If you haven't read the book, please do so. It's in love with language and a gorgeous look at a future that's now in our past.

Helprin gave up writing magic realism after this book. His father hadn't liked it or understood it. I think that's terrible. I picked up my copy in a German train station. I missed my city because I was so engrossed and had to wait an hour in Karlsruhe for a train going back to Mannheim. It's the only book I've ever started again the moment I finished reading it.

Comments

[siderea]

Oh gracious. Have we eeped about this? It's one of my favorite books too, though I haven't read it in about twenty years and am afraid it won't stand up to time. Also, as you note, it's past its due-by date; it seems almost like cheating to read it now.

I don't see the trouble with Crowe as Soames, but I don't see how you can make a movie about a book about four virtues, each of which is represented by a character, and cut one of those characters.

ETA: Also missing are most of the important 20th cen characters: Praeger de Pinto, Jackson Mead, or whassisname [ETA] Craig Binky! the owner of The Ghost (rival of Mr. Penn's The Sun). And who was the other woman, there was Virginia Gamely, and then there was the woman who came down from ME, right? ETA: Christiana Friebourg!

Also what about Reverent Mootfowl?

ETA3: And Asbury Gunwillow!

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

We've done a little eeping. *G*

The problem with Crowe playing Soames is it means Soames is a major role. Pearly is a catalyst, part of the greater balance of the city, but we don't spend much time with him in the book and what we do is almost entirely from Lake's POV.

None of Mead's group, including Mootfowl, is on the list.

HARDESTY MARRATTA, who plays the most perfect game of eight-ball in order to experience faith, is not listed.

This is not the book I know (and damn, I'll miss Praeger de Pinto's run for mayor). When Helprin said he was contractually obligated not to say anything about it, I heard a little alarm bell ringing in the distance. It's now a klaxon.

*sigh* I always hoped I'd get to play "blue-eyed Beverly in her claret scarf."

[siderea]

I would have thought that, by now, Hollywood would have figured out that famous source texts are golden-egg laying geese, and that the route to making obscene amounts of money is not dismembering them. Has the world learned nothing from HP and LotR?

Now, I don't know its possible to produce a movie from a chiliastic book about NYC, and do it after 9/11. But heaven knows there's no point to doing this thing half-assed.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

Based on my experiences in LA, I don't think many people have really grasped this whole "book" concept.

LOTR was made and financed in New Zealand, and, based on "Half-Blood Prince," the only thing Hollywood understood about Harry Potter was the dollar signs.

[eanja]

I have started this book at 3 times, and every time I get a little bit further. And then I stop, because I keep reading, I will eventually finish it, and then I won't have it waiting to read any more. This is not my normal reaction to books I really, really like, but there you go.

Even based on the part of it I've read, i really can't see how you'd make a film out of it. A miniseries, maybe, but there's just way too much stuff. I suspect it will be something like the neverending story, where they grab some portion of the plot and entirely strip it of all it's meaning.

[fabrisse.livejournal.com]

I have a few fictional characters with whom I'm in love (D'Artagnan is one), but Hardesty Marratta is the one I most want to know.

And yes, my fear from the cast/character list is that they've taken, at most, a quarter of the book and decided that's their movie.

[eanja]

I don't think I've got that far yet- I pretty much stopped right when it got to present day, so I don't know that character at all.

Clearly I may have to pull it out and read a bit further.

[neotoma.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry I missed you, but I did get to hear Rick Atkinson's talk, which was pretty fantastic.