I went through this book like a hot knife through butter. Seriously. I am not a particularly fast reader, and I read this in 3 days.
Christine wakes every morning with no idea of where she is, who the man sleeping next to her is, or even her age. Christine is an amnesiac and every night her brain wipes any memory she formed that day.
I don't want to say too much. The author drip feeds information to the reader, so that he/she is left to gradually piece together what has happened, mirroring Christine's own painful detective process.
Ok, perhaps it may not count as great literature. And there were some occasions where I felt the difficulty of a male author writing from a female perspective. But is was definitely entertaining.
Will I go to see the film? Perhaps. If I do, I will have to make sure that I do not ask for too much. I have noticed from the trailer that they have made some changes that may irk me. While in the book Christine is 47, they have Nicole Kidman playing Christine as closer to 35. Nicole Kidman, beautiful and talented, is closer to Christine's 'real age' anyway. Why should both actress and audience be forced to go through this charade? Is it so inconceivable that an audience can maintain sympathy with, and interest in, a woman over 40? They have also inexplicably doubled the Doctor's age. Perhaps again, the filmmakers felt that no one would want to watch a 20 something man interact with a 40+ year old woman for any length of time.
Perhaps I might wait for the DVD.
But please don't let my mini rant deter you from the book. This is a taught thriller; you feel keenly for Christine in such a desperate and vulnerable situation. With only a limited number of sources from which to piece together her lost years, what confidence can she have that she is getting a clear picture? Are those sources even reliable? And what will happen tomorrow?
Overall, I really enjoyed the book and will definitely be reading S J Watson's second novel Second Life when it comes out later this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment