Thursday, December 19, 2013

Four novellas

OK, the obvious question first: Which was your favorite, if you had a favorite, and why?
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5 comments:

Erin said...

I love the story of Shawshank, although I kind of wish I had read the story before I saw the movie. The movie was quite loyal to the book, and I couldn't help picturing the movie (and hearing Morgan Freeman's voice) as I read. I feel like it reduced the emotional impact somehow.

"Apt Pupil" really struck me. It was maybe the creepiest thing I've ever read.

2:57 PM, December 20, 2013
cl said...

Shawshank is my favorite and will always be an easy reread. I agree there's the movie's influence now. I read it a few times before the movie came out, and I'm sure I loved it then, but the film has overshadowed the story for me because it was so brilliant. Kind of like The Shining.

10:21 AM, December 21, 2013
cl said...

I think I told kc I was excited to reread all of this except Apt Pupil, hehe. But that's still a great read even if it's not a comfortable one.

10:23 AM, December 21, 2013
kc said...

Shawshank was my favorite too. I had the same thoughts about the pre-emptive effect of the movie, too. What did you think of the departure in the film script of having Morgan Freeman's character seriously contemplate suicide. In the book he got to a "what is the point?" mood, but not suicidal per se. I suppose they did that in the movie to ramp up the drama, as if there weren't enough already.

I thought it was interesting how he really did kill his wife and Andy really didn't, but we somehow see them both as moral, stand-up people. So did it really matter to the story that Andy was innocent?

And I like the play of good and evil. The more evil and hypocritical and criminal the prison administrators were, the more forgiving we are of the prisoners.

Apt Pupil had some interesting good-and-evil themes going on too — like I thought it was pretty skillful how King made the evil, despicable Nazi stand in judgment of the evil, despicable kid. Sometimes it seemed as though Dussander truly was judging him morally and disapproving, and at others it seemed that he was mainly objecting to Todd's lack of manners or something — more an aesthetic judgment than an ethical one.

12:45 PM, December 22, 2013
Erin said...

I don't really remember the suicide thing from the movie. I do remember a different character committing suicide after being released, which isn't shown in the book. I found it pretty heartbreaking in the movie.

That's a fascinating point about innocence or lack thereof. Red's guilt in killing his wife is pretty irrelevant. Maybe because we don't hear much about his wife or his story? Maybe because it's irrelevant to him?

11:52 AM, December 23, 2013

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