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Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:03 pm
by flipp525
Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 2:07 pm
by atomicage
flipp525 wrote:I think kaytodd's review of The Lovely Bones is completely on point.
Absolutely. Everything he mentioned, I felt the same way. Unlike Akash, I would not degrade the novel to "high school diary" quality; at the same time, though, I wouldn't necessary call it "art" either. That word means so many different things to so many different people, and I don't want to go into that. 
Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2007 3:34 am
by Akash
Well...at least we're disagreeing again Flipp. It was getting weird there for a while :p
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 3:53 pm
by flipp525
I think kaytodd's review of The Lovely Bones is completely on point.
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 3:43 pm
by Akash
atomicage wrote:I immediately got the idea of Oscar in my mind...it will definitely be a huge contender next year. Just you wait.
Akash, hate to disagree, but every single person (including myself) who has read the book has loved it.
Neither of these sentiments makes the book any more worthy.
It's typical American excess masquerading as art. Tell your life story without any nuances or interesting turns of phrases etc! It's like the Jewel and Alanis approach to songwriting -- high school diary entries that pass as poetry.
Steph mentioned The End of the Affair -- now THERE'S something artful. I couldn't agree more! I came to Graham Greene late and am still making my way through his novels, but the doomed love traingle of Maurice/Sarah/God is among the most indelible things you will ever experience in a novel.
Steph and Damien -- get a room! :p
Edited By Akash on 1196369382
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 3:02 pm
by Steph2
Damien my dear, this is so cool. I completely agree with you about Graham Greene. The End of the Affair is the loveliest novel I've ever read. Right down to its spiritual angst, the futility of inveighing against a Creator (is He an active Narrator or a passive Reader?) whose very existence is legitimized in the process. There's so much truth in Green's work, I'm humbled every time I read him.
Ah, another Columbia grad huh? School rivalries say we're supposed to hate you but don't worry I don't. Since I didn't get into Yale, I hate them more. lol.
I grew up in West Hartford and I was there for Thanksgiving with my family. I still have a fondness for my blue state, even if sensibilities are largely provincial. This weekend I'm taking the Metro North to New Haven to meet an old friend at Yale, and I get to meet Aakash too!
Haven't been to San Francisco or Seattle yet but I have been to Paris and I love it! It's my favorite city in the world. Well, thus far anyway.
LOL at the Hardy reference. God is there any author more depressing? By the end of that novel I wanted to trade places with Tess. The Polanksi film version is pretty good though.
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 2:26 am
by Damien
Steph2 wrote:Damien, I began my undergrad at Tisch but grew to hate it, so I transfered this year (my junior year) to the college. The books I referred to are stuffy 19th century British novels, which okay, I know it was the height of the novel, but I'd much rather be reading a new Sontag essay, or a Graham Geene novel, or finishing my Dorothy Parker short story collection.
Did you go to NYU by any chance? I know you mentioned in another post (I think) that you live in New York. I'm originally from Connecticut and I love New York. I want to stay here after I graduate.
Wow Steph, so many cool connections.
Graham Greene is my favorite author; no one else comes even close to speaking to me the way he does.
I grew up in Connecticut (New Milford in Litchfield County).
I went to Columbia for undergrad, but went to NYU for Law School. (I practiced law for two years but got to the point where I'd go to bed and dreaded waking up, so I knew it wasn't for me lol).
I came to Columbia in 1973, and have lived in New York -- which I adore, and am proud to have come to at the time which according to popular lore, she was at her lowest point -- and have been here ever since, except for one year in which I lived in L.A. (which I like, and could live in if I had to but would prefer not to have to -- the only cities I could really see living in besides New York are San Francisco, Seattle and Paris).
By the way, those stuffy 19th century novels will serve you well for making pity cultural references in the future, LOL. (eg "Oh God, my day was so D'Urbevilles-esque!").
Edited By Damien on 1196321563
Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 1:05 am
by Steph2
Damien, I began my undergrad at Tisch but grew to hate it, so I transfered this year (my junior year) to the college. The books I referred to are stuffy 19th century British novels, which okay, I know it was the height of the novel, but I'd much rather be reading a new Sontag essay, or a Graham Geene novel, or finishing my Dorothy Parker short story collection.
Did you go to NYU by any chance? I know you mentioned in another post (I think) that you live in New York. I'm originally from Connecticut and I love New York. I want to stay here after I graduate.
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 10:58 pm
by Damien
Steph2 wrote:I haven't read it yet but I will as soon as finals are over. Oh god, I can't wait to have the time to read books I actually want to read!
What books have you been reading for school? I forget, Steph, are you in Film School at NYU or in the college and taking film classes?
Johnny Guitar, who hasn't been around here lately, matriculated from NYU in 2005 and is now taking graduate courses.
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 9:48 pm
by kaytodd
I also thought The Lovely Bones was a wonderful book. I marveled at how Sebold was unflinching at presenting the horror of Susie's fate without being sensational or gratuitous. It seemed just right to me. Similarly, Susie's family and the people at her school and her neighborhood are good decent people and her childhood seemed so happy that it hurt me that she was taken from that world. I could understand Susie's not wanting to let that world go. But Sebold was, IMO (I know a lot readers disagree with me), able to just avoid mawkishness in presenting Susie's world. Susie's family, friends and neighbors seem very realistic to me. There is a precision to the details Sebold provides about these people and their world that made this story work. Considering the subject matter, it was an amazing achievement for a first time novelist.
I think we will be happy with what Jackson does with this book. The man who made Heavenly Creatures and The Frighteners should make an interesting film from this story. I am looking forward to see how he creates Susie's Heaven and the spirits that live there as well as the scene when Susie escapes from the scene of her murder to her Heaven.
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 7:47 pm
by Steph2
I haven't read it yet but I will as soon as finals are over. Oh god, I can't wait to have the time to read books I actually want to read!
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 6:55 pm
by atomicage
I have actually been following this book's adaptation for a while, and when I heard that Peter Jackson was buying it up, I immediately got the idea of Oscar in my mind. If he does this half as well as he has the ability to, it will definitely be a huge contender next year. Just you wait.
Akash, hate to disagree, but every single person (including myself) who has read the book has loved it. And yes, that review was (censored for children) harsh.
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:14 pm
by Akash
flipp525 wrote:but I'm glad that Mark Wahlberg has stepped in. He's really grown as an actor and I think he has the maturity now to pull this role off.
Here we agree. It's been fun and rewarding watching Marky Mark mature from sex symbol to sex symbol with charisma and limited acting ability. I don't mean limited here as a negative at all -- in a certain kind of role, he can steal the show. I still think he should have won the Oscar for The Departed.
Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 1:51 pm
by flipp525
Akash wrote:I hated the book and I think Sebold is a pretentious self-involved author.
Wow. I think Sebold was working out a lot of personal demons from her own rape through the writing The Lovely Bones which makes reading the book, on the whole, a richer, more authentic experience. And I have yet to meet a writer who wasn't self-involved. Your mileage may vary, of course.
While Ryan Gosling would've been great, I'm glad that Mark Wahlberg has stepped in. He's really grown as an actor and I think he has the maturity now to pull this role off. Judging from the Atonement scenes I've seen, Saoirse Ronan clearly has the acting chops to play the role of Susie Salmon.
Edited By flipp525 on 1202698909
Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 5:29 pm
by Akash
I hated the book and I think Sebold is a pretentious self-involved author.
Although the NY Times review of her new book was just BRUTAL. Even for me.