Book & Movie Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

I read The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger, about two years ago and aboslutely loved it! I would even go as far as to say that it's one of my all-time favorite love stories. So you can imagine my excitement when a) I heard they were turning this wonderful book into a movie and b) the movie would feature Rachel McAdams, whom I've loved ever since The Notebook. If you ask me it was a formula for success, which is I'm distraught to report that you're better of saving your $10 and waiting for this one to come out on DVD.

In all fairness, this is a difficult story to tell because, as you can imagine, the element of time travel requires a lot of jumping around in the story line. One minute you're in the present, the next you're in the future and a moment later you're in the past. The book pulled this off magnificently but the movie had a tougher time of it. Unfortunately, there were a few parts where I had to tell my husband what was going on because it wasn't overtly obvious that Eric Bana's character, Henry, had time traveled.

On the plus side, the movie was wrought with emotion and did manage to reduce me to tears a few times. Although, considering that I get weepy at those damn SPCA/End Animal Cruelty commercials with Sarah MacLaughlin's Angel playing in the background, I'm not sure that's really saying much :)

Book & Movie Review: My Sister's Keeper

So many people I know LOVE Jodi Picoult, but until a couple weeks ago I'd never read her work. So I was thrilled when I had the chance to read My Sister's Keeper right before the release of the movie. Normally, when I read a book and then watch the movie I tend to be disappointed. But when I heard that Nick Cassavetes, director of The Notebook, had directed the movie version of Picoult's novel, I was hopeful. The verdict? The movie was GREAT! It's one I'd consider buying and watching again and again. The only downfall was that some crazy person in the theater kept blowing her nose during the tear-jerking scenes...oh wait, that was me. (P.S. bring tissues!)

The movie definitely differed a lot from the book (don't worry, no spoilers) - certain characters were changed, a couple were left out, a few sub-plots never made it to the big screen and the overall story works itself out differently in the movie than in the novel. After the movie, Dave asked me which version I liked better and my honest answer was that I really loved and appreciated both. One thing that I applaud Cassavetes for was that he used a good amount of the author's voice and dialogue in the movie (he did this with The Notebook too). Picoult is definitely present in the movie, which made me like it all that much better.

Overall recommendation: Definitely worth the $10 to see it in the theater.

Book & Movie Review: Confessions of a Shopaholic

Every once in awhile a movie comes along that is so bad that my husband actually bans my movie choices. My worst offense of all time was when I dragged him to see Solaris (I've never lived that down). Unfortunately last night's rental of Confessions of a Shopaholic came in a close second.

I read Sophie Kinsella's novel about 7 years ago and LOVED it, but the movie? Disappointing, to say the least. My biggest complaint is that they changed the story line way too much. For example, the novel is set in London and the protagonist, Becky Bloomwood, is a cheeky Brit with a hilarious rationale for her spending behavior. The movie, however, was set in NYC and Becky came off more clumsy and shallow than her lovable literary counterpart.

The movie also fell short when it came to the relationships between Becky and the other characters. For example, her conflict with Alicia Bitch Longlegs was underwhelming and I didn't really buy the attraction between her Luke Brandon.

Bottom line: save the rental fee, read the book.

Book & Movie Review: Revolutionary Road

I recently read Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road and then rented the movie. The verdict...depressing, on both counts. In fact, a gray cloud literally hung over my head for a week after reading the book. And when I finally had the courage to rent the movie, the woman at Blockbuster tried to convince me not to because of how depressing it was. While I appreciated her advice, I completely ignored it and rented it anyway, determined to see for myself.

Not to sound cliche or like some sort of literary critic, but the movie wasn't nearly as good as the book. It wasn't nearly as depressing either, which was a major failure on its part because it's supposed to be depressing. I was also disappointed by the lack of on-screen chemistry from Leo and Kate. I mean, I bawled my eyes out at Titanic, but they didn't manage to pry even an ounce of emotion out of me in Revolutionary Road. Needless to say, when I returned the movie to Blockbuster, I warned the woman not to read the book. If she thought the movie was depressing...the book might actually push her over the edge.

I don't want you to get the wrong idea; the book was actually quite good. Richard Yates did a brilliant job capturing the characters' conflicts and his descriptions were so vivid you could practically taste each scene. If you're considering the book or the movie...go for the book, you'll get so much more out of it.

Book Review: "Belong to Me" by Marisa de los Santos

Marisa de los Santos recently released Belong to Me, the sequel to Love Walked In. I just read it and...I loved it!


Many have asked if you have to read Love Walked In before cracking open Belong to Me? Not necessarily, but I would. While Belong to Me stands well on its own, and de los Santos does a solid of job of providing the relevant backstory, reading Love Walked In first will carve out a little place in your heart for Cornelia Brown that makes reading Belong to Me all that more fulfilling. Plus, to feel the true impact of the storyline, you really need to understand the relationship between Cornelia, Teo and Clare, which only Love Walked In can provide.


Regardless, Marisa de los Santos' voice is captivating, no doubt the result of her PhD in creative writing and her extensive background in poetry, and Belong to Me secured her as one of my favorite women's fiction writers. If you haven't read her work yet, I highly recommend it.