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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
reflective
slow-paced
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Why?? Why did I wait so long to read this book?? I saw the Hallmark movie version of the story before I knew it was based on a book. This book has earned a spot on my all time favorites shelf. A touching story of love and forgiveness. There were moments when the prose took my breath away. So glad I bought this book to read. Now it's mine forever.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This is a review for the people that have watched the movie, "The Magic of Ordinary Days," and are debating whether to read the book version.
I finished this book in one day. I'm not sure if that's the norm for GR members as this is my first review. The reason why I signed up for GR is because I just accidentally watched "The Magic of Ordinary Days" on the Hallmark channel, and wanted to read the reviews on GR to see if the book was just as good as the movie. Normally, my belief is that the book is ALWAYS better than the movie, except for "The Notebook" by Nicholas Sparks. So clearly, I was excited to see what the book was about. However, I didn't want to read the book and then just feel disappointed that the movie clearly deviated from the book, and the movie was better. That was the last thing that I wanted to have happen, since in essence, these are Creel's characters. I don't normally watch the Hallmark channel, so keep in mind that I am not always up for schmaltz/schmalz. Now on to the review, my apologies.
I read many reviews suggesting that the protagonist, Olivia Dunne, was too self-centered, too absorbed in her own regrets. To counteract that, in the book, it's 1st person narrative from Olivia's perspective. I feel like it's inevitable for people to think that, since clearly, Creel really wanted to depict Olivia's struggle of losing her past academic life and her attempts at reorienting herself to where she ended up (on a farm). On the other hand, Keri Russell playing Olivia in the movie, demonstrated a true struggle between how she felt about her past "love" and the predicament that she was in now. The story line between Olivia and Edward (which is the first guy she meets) is played out somewhat differently between movie and book. The second guy, the guy who stole the show (and book) in my opinion, was Ray Singleton. His character did not deviate between book and movie...much.
Another consistency between book and movie is how the director of the movie and the author of the book both demonstrate Olivia's yearning to venture out from the farm and meet other people that were more similar to her academia-wise.
I also read from reviews that the ending in the book was more tragic than in the movie. I was scared by the use of the word "tragic." I thought it meant that nobody would be happy in the end in the book. I'm not trying to not give too much away, but that is not the case here.
So, to answer, is the book better? And I'm sorry to conclude with this; I can't answer that. Like the Notebook, Kerri Russell and Skeet Ulrich (Ray Singleton)-like Amy McAdams and Ryan Gosling did, brought so much life to the characters. Also, there were less twists and turns in the movie that I can't promote the book over the movie. Creel's "The Magic of Ordinary Days" was just as good, and gave me a little more to think about in the end.
I will agree that in many reviews, there was some agitation that the book ended too swiftly. The same can be said for the movie. On the other hand, sometimes that is what makes a story so good, this feeling of wanting to imagine, and then eventually giving way to imagining your own story about what happens to the characters long after it ends.
I finished this book in one day. I'm not sure if that's the norm for GR members as this is my first review. The reason why I signed up for GR is because I just accidentally watched "The Magic of Ordinary Days" on the Hallmark channel, and wanted to read the reviews on GR to see if the book was just as good as the movie. Normally, my belief is that the book is ALWAYS better than the movie, except for "The Notebook" by Nicholas Sparks. So clearly, I was excited to see what the book was about. However, I didn't want to read the book and then just feel disappointed that the movie clearly deviated from the book, and the movie was better. That was the last thing that I wanted to have happen, since in essence, these are Creel's characters. I don't normally watch the Hallmark channel, so keep in mind that I am not always up for schmaltz/schmalz. Now on to the review, my apologies.
I read many reviews suggesting that the protagonist, Olivia Dunne, was too self-centered, too absorbed in her own regrets. To counteract that, in the book, it's 1st person narrative from Olivia's perspective. I feel like it's inevitable for people to think that, since clearly, Creel really wanted to depict Olivia's struggle of losing her past academic life and her attempts at reorienting herself to where she ended up (on a farm). On the other hand, Keri Russell playing Olivia in the movie, demonstrated a true struggle between how she felt about her past "love" and the predicament that she was in now. The story line between Olivia and Edward (which is the first guy she meets) is played out somewhat differently between movie and book. The second guy, the guy who stole the show (and book) in my opinion, was Ray Singleton. His character did not deviate between book and movie...much.
Another consistency between book and movie is how the director of the movie and the author of the book both demonstrate Olivia's yearning to venture out from the farm and meet other people that were more similar to her academia-wise.
I also read from reviews that the ending in the book was more tragic than in the movie. I was scared by the use of the word "tragic." I thought it meant that nobody would be happy in the end in the book. I'm not trying to not give too much away, but that is not the case here.
So, to answer, is the book better? And I'm sorry to conclude with this; I can't answer that. Like the Notebook, Kerri Russell and Skeet Ulrich (Ray Singleton)-like Amy McAdams and Ryan Gosling did, brought so much life to the characters. Also, there were less twists and turns in the movie that I can't promote the book over the movie. Creel's "The Magic of Ordinary Days" was just as good, and gave me a little more to think about in the end.
I will agree that in many reviews, there was some agitation that the book ended too swiftly. The same can be said for the movie. On the other hand, sometimes that is what makes a story so good, this feeling of wanting to imagine, and then eventually giving way to imagining your own story about what happens to the characters long after it ends.
emotional
fast-paced
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Book 93
I listened to The Magic of Ordinary Days. Set during WWII, Olivia is sent from Denver to rural Colorado to marry a farmer she's not met to legitimize her pregnancy. The characters are likable, and the relationships are sweet. The novel addresses the Japanese Internment Camps found throughout the US. I would read more by the author.
I listened to The Magic of Ordinary Days. Set during WWII, Olivia is sent from Denver to rural Colorado to marry a farmer she's not met to legitimize her pregnancy. The characters are likable, and the relationships are sweet. The novel addresses the Japanese Internment Camps found throughout the US. I would read more by the author.
I really should have loved this book, given that it's historical fiction (WWII homefront era, even -- my favorite!) and it's got a good message about finding happiness even when life doesn't go as planned.
Yeah, as a friend has pointed out: when I have high expectations for a book, I am usually disappointed!
The beautiful message I was looking for felt lost in the meandering story. And I didn't particularly like the main character (maybe if I could have seen more growth in her, I would have liked it better ... but mostly I just felt like she whined throughout the whole book). And the sentence structure was really, really awkward in places, and the paragraphs, too -- they were scattered and random-feeling (hopefully that wasn't just me reading in spurts, as has been happening lately). I read at the end how this author likes to study up on the history and then put the character and her story in rather than the other way around -- well, I could tell (there's lots of paragraphs of what Livvy reads in the newspaper or hears on the radio), and even though I rather enjoy history, I wished the fictional plot would have been stronger. The one thing I did think was interesting was the story of the German POWs near the end; apparently that was based on a real event, which was kind of cool.
And yeah, this took me weeks to finish when I thought it would only take a couple of days ... I guess that about sums it up, huh?
Yeah, as a friend has pointed out: when I have high expectations for a book, I am usually disappointed!
The beautiful message I was looking for felt lost in the meandering story. And I didn't particularly like the main character (maybe if I could have seen more growth in her, I would have liked it better ... but mostly I just felt like she whined throughout the whole book). And the sentence structure was really, really awkward in places, and the paragraphs, too -- they were scattered and random-feeling (hopefully that wasn't just me reading in spurts, as has been happening lately). I read at the end how this author likes to study up on the history and then put the character and her story in rather than the other way around -- well, I could tell (there's lots of paragraphs of what Livvy reads in the newspaper or hears on the radio), and even though I rather enjoy history, I wished the fictional plot would have been stronger. The one thing I did think was interesting was the story of the German POWs near the end; apparently that was based on a real event, which was kind of cool.
And yeah, this took me weeks to finish when I thought it would only take a couple of days ... I guess that about sums it up, huh?