Has this ever happened to you?

2013-04-10

One time I walked into an opportunity shop (a charity shop which sells second hand items) and picked up Lionel Shriver’s much talked about novel, ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ and found it on sale at bargain price. I picked up the book, took it home and sat down ready to immerse myself into the world that this woman had carefully created.

I had read many reviews of the book which hinted at its dramatic themes. The reviews had given me a general overview of some of the terrific events that this woman had penned in her internationally bestselling novel.

In this story, a woman slowly reveals that her son had committed a very serious crime, one that the family would pay dearly for. I sat down with this book in hand and wanted so badly to become totally engaged with the material and thanked my good fortune for having found the book so conveniently at such a good price despite its recent release status, but I soon found that I just could not get into the book. The narrator’s voice was sarcastic, patronising and condescending. I was completely deterred from getting further on into the material.

A year or two later I borrowed the film version on DVD and was completely blown away, the whole film from soundtrack to performance to cinematography had me completely spellbound, I loved and hated it at the same time – in the way that one does when viewing material which makes them both upset and totally enthralled in equal measure.

Kevin’s crime was pretty bad and the film makers had done a terrific job at capturing the complexities of the crimes. The actor’s performances were also completely convincing and gripping. I have since watched the movie a few times. I am still unable to bring myself to read the book.

movie a few times. I am still unable to bring myself to read the book. Recently, however a strange thing happened; I found another one of Lionel Shriver’s books on sale for even less than the previous purchase I had made and since the purchase price was almost free I decided to give another one of her books a go.

This book is called ‘Double Fault’ Would you believe that it is about tennis and that I am not even remotely interested in tennis or in sports in general and yet somehow I truly became hooked with this story’s plot and character development?

Suddenly, I understood why tennis could be viewed as such an engaging sport. The writing in this book is superb. The book is truly spectacular and page turning, gripping and unputdownable. I was shocked that I could have such contrasting reactions to the very same writer and that I would prefer the film version over the prize winning story ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’.

Has this ever happened to you?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >>次の10件