The Lovely Bones

[abcdefz]

...anybody else read this? I liked it quite a bit; a couple parts were really moving, too.

It's about a girl, Susie, who was raped and killed. From "her heaven," she watches the lives of her family, friends, and the killer in the years afterward. Good stuff.

It's going to be Peter Jackson's next movie after King Kong, which could be interesting. There will be a few adaptation challenges as well as casting stuff.

[ScarySquirrel]

This sounds really interesting... I might have to pick it up.

Who's the author?

[abcdefz]

Alice... Alice Seborn? Something like that.

[hpdrifter]

Never mind...

[enree erzweglle]

I read it and remember thinking that it was a little depressing but uplifting at the same time. It was a fast read.

I always cringe a little when I hear about a book going to movie.

[abcdefz]

Alice Seborn (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316168815/qid=1122332745/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-7546104-2131900?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)

[abcdefz]

I read it and remember thinking that it was a little depressing but uplifting at the same time. It was a fast read.

I always cringe a little when I hear about a book going to movie.



Cross yer fingers. :D

[enree erzweglle]

Cross yer fingers. :D
I'm always conflicted about projects like this. I don't want a bad movie to ruin a good book, and I don't want to read movie reviews that'll bias me. So I never quite know whether to see the movie or not. I usually wind up giving in and seeing the movie and, like you said, I keep my fingers crossed & hope for the best. If Peter Jackson is involved, then that's one point in the movie's favor.

I do hate it when I give in, see the movie, and while I'm watching it, I reach the oops factor--the one thing that happens that's bad, & that signals that the movie was handled poorly and that the rest will be a trip down the drain.

[enree erzweglle]

Sounds Interesting. I wonder how they'll show the perspective from 'heaven'?
That's the sort of thing that'll make it or break it.

Given what Peter Jackson did with LoTR, I'm thinking that he'll handle it beautifully and appropriately.

[wavin_goodbye]

i heard that he's planning on writing in a medieval war scene.


i've heard of this book... not sure if it's my kind of thing (the person who praised it has poor taste) .. but i might just check it out now... thanks for the tip

[Documad]

I am rarely able to finish a fictional book but I finished this one.

I mostly liked it. It was an interesting concept but I got tired of the concept.

[Nuzzolese]

Sebold, not Seborn.

I didn't like it very much at parts. I thought it got ridiculous and overdone towards the end, I thought it was sappy in many parts, amateur. It was alright, a compelling story with a good idea but it got stale and dragging with lazy excessive character illustration - the kind of details she added that made you wonder why she added such details without really telling you what you needed to know to care enough about the scene or character to really think about it. Nothing amazing. My opinion.

[Nuzzolese]

I think it could have been something submitted to seventeen magazine.

[HEIRESS]

I have to force myself to read non-fiction

but I might give it a whirl since my friend got it for her birthday and is currently reading it

[Documad]

I didn't like it very much at parts. I thought it got ridiculous and overdone towards the end, I thought it was sappy in many parts, amateur. It was alright, a compelling story with a good idea but it got stale and dragging with lazy excessive character illustration - the kind of details she added that made you wonder why she added such details without really telling you what you needed to know to care enough about the scene or character to really think about it. Nothing amazing. My opinion.
I like that review. Can you recommend some novel you liked?

The modern one I flat out loved was the Curious Incident of the Dog . . . . So anything other than that. :)

[wavin_goodbye]

even though you didn't askme , i suggest ishmael by daniel quinn..it was the last fiction i read (i'm a philosophy/history kind of guy) it has nothing to do with this thread or the subject matter.. but it's a good book :D

[Documad]

even though you didn't askme , i suggest ishmael by daniel quinn..it was the last fiction i read (i'm a philosophy/history kind of guy) it has nothing to do with this thread or the subject matter.. but it's a good book :D
Thanks! I'll take the advice. I've never been smart enough for philosophy, but I love history, so I'm writing it down on my library list. (y)

[Documad]

Documad...please tell me youve read "life of Pi" ?
No. :o

Other than children's books, and my big trip in January, I read maybe two novels a year. I'm all about nonfiction. :o

[wavin_goodbye]

Thanks! I'll take the advice. I've never been smart enough for philosophy, but I love history, so I'm writing it down on my library list. (y)


sorry for being unclear, i mentioned the philosophy and history because instead of reading novels, i read books about history and philosophy... although Ishmael is somewhat philosophical - but not in a snobbish, complicated way. i think you'll like it

[wavin_goodbye]

Yann Martel wrote life of pi.. i liked it

[Documad]

I put both Life of Pi and Ishmael on reserve at the library. (y)

A long time ago, my best well-read friend strongly recommended that Irving book. I never read it. I might actually own it. I own a lot of books I'm not going to read. Irving just seems wrong for me. I think because that friend was so pretentious about him.

[Nuzzolese]

I like that review. Can you recommend some novel you liked?


I loved The Virgin Suicides. It was so poetic and, now THAT was a novel that was well paced and the details impeccable and precise but just right, just leaking through the story, bleeding through the story almost so that you absorbed it all and didn't realize you were doing it. The narrative; reading it was like listening to beautiful music that enters your consciousness and leaves you with dreams.

[Documad]

^^ I saw the movie. :o

I am such a loser when it comes to good novels.

[beastieangel01]

I liked it.

[enree erzweglle]

I put both Life of Pi and Ishmael on reserve at the library. (y)

A long time ago, my best well-read friend strongly recommended that Irving book. I never read it. I might actually own it. I own a lot of books I'm not going to read. Irving just seems wrong for me. I think because that friend was so pretentious about him.
Irving lost me with A Widow for One Year.

Owen Meany. I read that when it first came out, so it's been a long time. I remember loving that book and the character. The movie ruined the book for me somewhat but I'm trying to forget that. :)

Life of Pi. Everyone raved about it and I resisted reading it until recently, when I decided that I read too much non-fiction and that that had to change. I'm maybe 1/4 through Pi's story. So far...I'm underwhelmed although it has its moments--occasionally, something in it stands out to me as being simple and beautifully written.

I also resisted reading The Corrections until recently (some thread here convinced me to stop the resistance). I'm liking that a lot. I can tell that when I finish it, I'll hate leaving the characters behind.

[HEIRESS]

uhhh fiction-wise, this my shit:

The 13th Valley (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312200811/104-6676880-6051137?v=glance)

King Rat (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0440145465/104-6676880-6051137?v=glance)

[beastiegirrl101]

I have read the Lovely Bones as well as Lucky Alice Sebold's other book. . . both were amazing ... .chiling at times but great. A fast read. . I highly reccommend it.

[abcdefz]

That's the sort of thing that'll make it or break it.

Given what Peter Jackson did with LoTR, I'm thinking that he'll handle it beautifully and appropriately.



I know how I'd handle it.

I wrote a script once with a man slipping in and out, and he would narrate events for people he imagined were there. It basically wound up treating the old man and the people not a special effects, per se, but stuck them in a scene, and the discrepancy between them and the mise en scene would be enough to give the proper effect.

John Sayles sort of did it in Lone Star.

[abcdefz]

The Author is Alice Sebold.

Atoz. You should read her first book "Lucky". It's autobiographical about when she was raped and everything she went through afterward. It's amazing.



Thanks for the tip. (y)


I thought Lovely Bones was very good -- not great, but very good. It's such a fast read. There's a little something missing, yeah, but it's the germ of something great.

[abcdefz]

Irving lost me with A Widow for One Year.

Owen Meany. I read that when it first came out, so it's been a long time. I remember loving that book and the character. The movie ruined the book for me somewhat but I'm trying to forget that. :)




Owen Meaney was really interesting, but the ending strains sooooooooooooooo hard.

Though I hate the "abortionist for God" bullshit, I think Cider House Rules is probably his best book.

[enree erzweglle]

I know how I'd handle it.

I wrote a script once with a man slipping in and out, and he would narrate events for people he imagined were there. It basically wound up treating the old man and the people not a special effects, per se, but stuck them in a scene, and the discrepancy between them and the mise en scene would be enough to give the proper effect.

John Sayles sort of did it in Lone Star.
I wonder how you'd treat that so that it wouldn't start to feel like a play that went to the big screen.

I've never seen Lone Star. Not a fan of the western in either books or movies.

And that's cool that you wrote a script. Hope it generated some interest or that you at least had fun putting it together.

[beastiegirrl101]

Sort of along the same lines is Wally Lamb...he wrote She's Come Undone and I Know This Much is True-both excellent books. . .and amazing how a man could write about a woman so well.

[abcdefz]

I wonder how you'd treat that so that it wouldn't start to feel like a play that went to the big screen.

I've never seen Lone Star. Not a fan of the western in either books or movies.

And that's cool that you wrote a script. Hope it generated some interest or that you at least had fun putting it together.



Lone Star takes place in the west, but it's not a western per se. Ther's stuff not to like about it, but most people think it's great. You might give it a shot.

The script I spoke of never got any attention, but a couple of others did. I still have a very nice letter from Max von Sydow when Cronenberg's company had some interest in one of the scripts. (y)

[avignon]

I loved The Virgin Suicides. It was so poetic and, now THAT was a novel that was well paced and the details impeccable and precise but just right, just leaking through the story, bleeding through the story almost so that you absorbed it all and didn't realize you were doing it. The narrative; reading it was like listening to beautiful music that enters your consciousness and leaves you with dreams.
Because of this post, this will be the next book I read.

I read The lovely Bones. It was pretty good. I think they will change the ending in the movie.

I loved the Life of Pi.

Irving lost me me with widow for one year too, enree. (n) I couldn't get through it.

[abcdefz]

...this may have been covered: was Widow for One Year turned into that movie The Door in the Floor? 'cause I couldn't finish that movie, either.

[enree erzweglle]

Lone Star takes place in the west, but it's not a western per se. Ther's stuff not to like about it, but most people think it's great. You might give it a shot.

The script I spoke of never got any attention, but a couple of others did. I still have a very nice letter from Max von Sydow when Cronenberg's company had some interest in one of the scripts. (y)
I don't know--if there's a tumbleweed blowing on by, I won't like it.

And (y) about your script and that letter. Dang that's interesting and exciting.

I didn't like the virgin suicides as a movie -- I never read the book.

[Nuzzolese]

I read The lovely Bones. It was pretty good. I think they will change the ending in the movie.
.

I hope so, I didn't like the ending in the book. I wonder why it was called The Lovely Bones.

[Nuzzolese]

I didn't like the virgin suicides as a movie -- I never read the book.

I liked the book and I also liked the movie. But the book was better. It usually is.

[abcdefz]

I think a cactus plays a big part, but I don't remember any tumbleweeds.

Calling Lone Star a western is kind of like calling Thelma and Louise a western. It's loike -- well, yeah -- thematically and geographically, I can see how you could call it a "western," but I think it's beyond that.

Does the western ethos turn you off of The Last Picture Show and McCabe and Mrs. Miller, too? I hope not. You'd be missing some great stuff.

[avignon]

I hope so, I didn't like the ending in the book. I wonder why it was called The Lovely Bones.
It seems I remember one very subtle reference to "those lovely bones" that were her lasting connection to earth, or some shit like that. No, I didn't much like the ending either. There just was no Big Finish.

[avignon]

Widow For One Year was a movie, but I don't remember what they called it. Definately not Widow For One Year. I think it had Jessica Lange in it.

[beastiegirrl101]

SPOILER ALLERT:
I loved the book but felt like her main thing, aside from finding the guy who killed her...was to get screwed in the end. . . what a horney little girl.

PS
so they are making this into a movie?

[enree erzweglle]

Does the western ethos turn you off of The Last Picture Show and McCabe and Mrs. Miller, too? I hope not. You'd be missing some great stuff.
Yes. Dang.
The last time you said something like this, I used all my pepsi lids on the clash.

I don't remember how The Lovely Bones ends. I do remember wondering why everyone was hot for the book. I was just lukewarm for it.

[avignon]

SPOILER ALLERT:
I loved the book but felt like her main thing, aside from finding the guy who killed her...was to get screwed in the end. . . what a horney little girl.

PS
so they are making this into a movie?
Yeah, too much emphasis in that consensual sex to offset the emotional trauma of having been raped and finally getting to leave childhood behind and become a woman even though she's um...dead. I didn't like the scene. It seemed forced and over dramatic.

[abcdefz]

Widow For One Year was a movie, but I don't remember what they called it. Definately not Widow For One Year. I think it had Jessica Lange in it.



The Door in the Floor.


And if you ever, EVER confuse Jessica Lange and Kim Basinger again, you go back three spaces. :mad:

[abcdefz]

Yes. Dang.
The last time you said something like this, I used all my pepsi lids on the clash.




...I never did find out if you (or your friend?) won on your bottle caps that one night...

[beastiegirrl101]

The Door in the Floor.


And if you ever, EVER confuse Jessica Lange and Kim Basinger again, you go back three spaces. :mad:

I rented that the other day and was like WTF in the end...so was she like his door in the floor???

[beastiegirrl101]

Yeah, too much emphasis in that consensual sex to offset the emotional trauma of having been raped and finally getting to leave childhood behind and become a woman even though she's um...dead. I didn't like the scene. It seemed forced and over dramatic.


totally (y)

[avignon]

The Door in the Floor.


And if you ever, EVER confuse Jessica Lange and Kim Basinger again, you go back three spaces. :mad:
:o

[enree erzweglle]

...I never did find out if you (or your friend?) won on your bottle caps that one night...
Yes I had a winning lid but then the contest was over. It was sweet and sour.

And about the ending to the lovely bones, I remember now. I remember complaining about it to my friends. Really dumb message to have sent, I thought.

Remember that guy who died of malnutrition a few months ago because he couldn't stop being online to eat? My lunch has been sitting next to me for 45 minutes. I blame it on the heat ("it's too hot to eat) but it's this place. It has its hooks in me and apparently my appetite too.

[abcdefz]

...would you be interested in a cold yogurt soup recipe for these hot days? It's really good stuff. When a good friend's wife was preggers (twice), it was all she could eat in the heat.

I can't remember what all's in it, but it's plain, non-fat yogurt, chicken broth, radishes, green onions, dill, black pepper, cucumber... some other stuff. I could dig it out.

It might even be in the recipe section here, come to think of it. :rolleyes:

[enree erzweglle]

Yeah, pass it along although I don't do kitchen stuff often.

When I read that, I laughed right out loud because not an hour ago, I got back from the grocery store where I spent more than $50 in yogurt. (I'm stocking up for my kid for while I'm away. He eats 2 a day. Between the two of us in a given month, we eat about 100 yogurts.) :o

So sure, I'm in the yogurt mood it would seem.

[wavin_goodbye]

The thing with life of Pi is that it doesnt start to get really great until about a 1/4-1/3 of the way in. I think you will notice it picks up (y)

but that's just my opinion.

interesting take .. i seem to remember really liking the beginning.. probably the most.. but i'm really interested in india and religion.. so that could by why

[avignon]

interesting take .. i seem to remember really liking the beginning.. probably the most.. but i'm really interested in india and religion.. so that could by why
Yeah, I like Pi as a kid trying to explain to his teachers to call him Pi, not Piss-whatever it was. And I liked his religious ferver and discovery, how something about all the religions reflected his faith in God. All in all, I liked the beginning a lot because Pi was such a cool character. The beginning was necessary to show how innocent and faithful in his beliefs he was before he became animalistic through survival instincts. He did a complete 180.

[wavin_goodbye]

Yeah, I like Pi as a kid trying to explain to his teachers to call him Pi, not Piss-whatever it was. And I liked his religious ferver and discovery, how something about all the religions reflected his faith in God. All in all, I liked the beginning a lot because Pi was such a cool character. The beginning was necessary to show how innocent and faithful in his beliefs he was before he became animalistic through survival instincts. He did a complete 180.

(y) (y) (y)

[beastiegirrl101]

Yeah, I like Pi as a kid trying to explain to his teachers to call him Pi, not Piss-whatever it was. And I liked his religious ferver and discovery, how something about all the religions reflected his faith in God. All in all, I liked the beginning a lot because Pi was such a cool character. The beginning was necessary to show how innocent and faithful in his beliefs he was before he became animalistic through survival instincts. He did a complete 180.


thanks girl. . .going to B&N after wokr to pick up a copy. . I pass it all the time at the book store. Good post. . makes me want to read it.

[HEIRESS]

I have a friend whose last name is Pye

she used to sign assignments with the pi symbol

ehehehehe

[abcdefz]

Yeah, pass it along although I don't do kitchen stuff often.

When I read that, I laughed right out loud because not an hour ago, I got back from the grocery store where I spent more than $50 in yogurt. (I'm stocking up for my kid for while I'm away. He eats 2 a day. Between the two of us in a given month, we eat about 100 yogurts.) :o

So sure, I'm in the yogurt mood it would seem.




That's a lot of yogurt. :eek:

Yeah -- I'll try to remember to grab the recipe from home. There's zero cooking involved; just a bit of chopping and one can or jar opening (for the chicken broth).

[venusvenus123]

haven't read it yet, but i intend to, some day.

[avignon]

thanks girl. . .going to B&N after wokr to pick up a copy. . I pass it all the time at the book store. Good post. . makes me want to read it.
Oops, sorry if I gave too much away. :(

[abcdefz]

Interesting Lovely Bones movie news (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/comments/?entryid=430635\)...


For those who don't already know, this is Peter Jackson's next movie.

So far, they've cast Ryan Gosling and Rachel Weisz as the parents.

Not bad.(y)

[beastieangel01]

nice! Gosling. Yes.

[abcdefz]

*crosses fingers*

Spielberg's got a hand in production, so I hope it doesn't get mawkish or anything.