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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
This is a tough one to comment on. It's a clever postmodern book— heavily satirical of Victorian Era novels and well written as such. It takes the elements of the literature (and attitudes) of that time and isn't afraid to turn them on it's head. Bella/Victoria does spend a lot of time being viewed though the eyes of men and some of it made my skin crawl (the idea of the childlike woman as the perfect woman being realized though her literally having a child's brain is both genius and gross). Of course, that was the point.
Giving Bella/Victoria her own voice in her letter at the end was very needed. Now I'm going to spend some time contemplating unreliable narrators.
At the same time, I can't really say I *liked* the book. But I admire the skill it took to pull it off. So I don't know if my rating is fair. I'll have to think about it.
Giving Bella/Victoria her own voice in her letter at the end was very needed. Now I'm going to spend some time contemplating unreliable narrators.
At the same time, I can't really say I *liked* the book. But I admire the skill it took to pull it off. So I don't know if my rating is fair. I'll have to think about it.
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Having watched the movie first I think that both mediums have things that worked and didn't work for me. On the one hand, theobie is lacking because it took the meat of the book, McCandless' narrative, and ditched the intro from Gray as "editor" and the ending of Bella's side of the story. While the movie had the makings of a good feminist narrative, by removing those elements that challenge and provide further societal context to the narrative, it instead reinforces tiring tropes that it was trying to subvert.
On the other hand, I liked some of the changes the movie made. I liked the old lady character from the boat trip, and I thought thatthe end confrontation between Bella and Blessington gave her more agency. I also liked that there was a little more emphasis on Bella as a queer woman. I do think both book and movie could have done better to learn on that more. I will never complain about a piece of media being made gayer, just saying.
I also feel that both narratives, while they make some pretty good commentary on colonialism and captialism, doesn't do enough to connect that to race. I think that the book does this better than the movie (I was not a fan of the scene in Egypt). I can't find the words to explain this right, but the movie, and to a lesser extent the book, shows such a charcature of Egypt and poverty that it feels like a gross oversimplification for the sake of making us the audience feel bad.
The book had much more time for Bella and Astley to discuss how the British empire relies on racist logic to justify their conquest and subjugation of other nations. And yet, neither book nor movie let Bella really confront this besides having her cry about it, and her goals of helping the impoverished still only reaches those on British soil, which could have been a commentary on her privelage as a white woman of wealth, but doesn't quite land that commentary well.
I still really enjoyed the movie, and this was a good book, though I don't have enough knowledge on modern Scottish/British issues to be able to gauge how that part of the book went over, I thought that it was a cool meta-narrative.
On the other hand, I liked some of the changes the movie made. I liked the old lady character from the boat trip, and I thought that
I also feel that both narratives, while they make some pretty good commentary on colonialism and captialism, doesn't do enough to connect that to race. I think that the book does this better than the movie (I was not a fan of the scene in Egypt). I can't find the words to explain this right, but the movie, and to a lesser extent the book, shows such a charcature of Egypt and poverty that it feels like a gross oversimplification for the sake of making us the audience feel bad.
The book had much more time for Bella and Astley to discuss how the British empire relies on racist logic to justify their conquest and subjugation of other nations. And yet, neither book nor movie let Bella really confront this besides having her cry about it, and her goals of helping the impoverished still only reaches those on British soil, which could have been a commentary on her privelage as a white woman of wealth, but doesn't quite land that commentary well.
I still really enjoyed the movie, and this was a good book, though I don't have enough knowledge on modern Scottish/British issues to be able to gauge how that part of the book went over, I thought that it was a cool meta-narrative.
reflective
medium-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
confusing, but well put together.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No