Movie vs. Book "The Maze Runner": Action Trumps Heart

By now, I suppose most people are either on the YA train or they don’t give a shit about it. I happen to be on that train, and not only do I inundate my reading repertoire with YA fiction, but I also watch the movies that studios have been popping out to a diminishing demand. Statistics, like hips, don't lie. YA movies, with the exception of The Hunger Games and that long ago saga of glittering vamps, consistently underperform in the box office. However, The Maze Runner actually came out on top at the box office its first weekend with $32.5 million, targeting a mostly male audience.

I’m glad teenagers are reading, and it makes sense that Hollywood would want to tap into the trending dystopian and paranormal fiction that dominates the genre. I mean, we need only look back to the explosion of the Harry Potter universe to understand that there is something magical behind books coming to life on the screen. It’s this adaptation from written story to screen that I want to focus on, because I find the adaptation of works of art through several different mediums absolutely fascinating. What makes the cut in the film? What parts of the story are molded differently to fit a tighter timeline in cinema? What depth from narrative can be portrayed through a well configured scene? What tones and themes can be relayed with nothing more than cinematography and score?

Book Review: "The Maze Runner" by James Dashner

If you haven't tired of young adults in peril in dystopian worlds, then James Dashner's The Maze Runner may be worth your attention. The book is packed full of action and fast paced turn of events that keep the pages turning. The Maze Runner definitely suffers from characters who are seemingly erratic and inconsistent in their emotional reactions to the events that unfold, and while I'd like to contribute this to the life threatening situations that arise (and hormones), I really felt this issue was embedded in the writing and wasn't true to the characters.

Despite some of these character attribute shortcomings, I was immediately drawn into the plot of the story. We follow the perspective of a teenager named Thomas as he wakes up in an elevator lift with no memory of his personal past. He knows his name and he thinks he knows his intuitive self, but as the lift doors open and he is thrust into a group of sixty teenage boys - his internal propulsion to find out what is going on goes against the society these boys have already constructed.

Book Review: "Fifty Shades of Grey" by E.L. James

The infamous Fifty Shades of Grey. Perhaps it was curiosity or blunt force trauma to the head, but this former Literature major decided to go slumming. My motivation doesn't really matter, what does matter is the fact that not only did I read this book, but I am also reading the second book in the trilogy. My enjoyment of the text has little to do with the quality of writing and everything to do with mindless entertainment. Sometimes you just need an escape, you know, an escape into a virgin's mind when she meets a man of god-like attractiveness who lures her into an erotic sexscape of bondage/discipline, dominance/submission and sadism/masochism (BDSM).

Anastasia Steele is about to graduate from college when she interviews Christian Grey, a young corporate billionaire, as a favor to her journalism savvy roommate, Katherine Kavanagh. If those names make you want to roll your eyes then welcome to my head. Ana is an innocent who has never had a boyfriend, never had sex and never masturbated. Meeting Christian is like flipping a light switch, and suddenly Ana becomes very aware of her own sexuality in proximity to him. Christian, for whatever reason (I suspect virgin radar) is intensely attracted to Ana and commences stalking her. Christian is well aware of his dark and twisted ways and warns Ana that he is dangerous and she should stay away from him, but then he continues to stalk her. Talk about mixed signals.

Book Review: "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs

Photo: Metrokids

Ransom Rigg's debut novel is an interesting exploration of young adult dark fantasy. With a narrative that is more focused on the art of an unfolding mystery and less with the speed of an action or thriller the novel feels like a gentle introduction to a new world of peculiar experiences.

The novel's protagonist, Jacob Portman, is a believable loner who doesn't feel connected to his teenage existence. Jacob's emotional angst isn't foreign to the teenage experience, but Riggs navigates this disconnection between Jacob and his assumed path in life so that the emergence of the peculiar feels like it was lurking there all along.

After propelled into motion by the horrific death of his grandfather, Jacob goes to Whales in an effort to understand his deeply rooted emotional and psychological connection with his grandfather. The inciting incident is well crafted and the trip to Whales feels like a natural choice in trying to introduce Jacob to his grandfather's origins. Jacob's grandfather, Abraham, was sent to an orphanage on the Welsh island from Poland during World War II.

"The Knick": Uncomfortably Unique

Photo:  Mary Cybulski/HBO/Rolling Stone

A free trial of Cinemax allowed me the unexpected pleasure of watching the premiere of the Steven Soderbergh period piece and medical drama, The Knick. The show takes place in New York City circa 1900. The choice of time period creates a raw and moody atmosphere in which the examination of the foundation of the health system provides viewers with not only a tense viewing experience but also an insight into how our current medical complex came to be.

The pilot is perhaps a bit overloaded with turn of the 20th century references which feels a bit like an Upton Sinclair and Jacob Riis mash-up at moments. However, all of the right production elements come into play to make this pilot episode, Method and Madness, a captivating hour of television. 

Book Review: "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn

I haven't read a mystery/thriller novel in ten years. Why? Well, even before I got wrapped up in the demands of my Literature degree I had gone off mystery stories for one main reason: predictability. I found the plots were no longer able to sustain my interest because the structure felt formulaic. I openly admit that I was probably reading only a fragment of good mystery writing available, but that was my experience.

So when I heard about Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, I had my reservations. However, like so many of my recent book choices - I saw that the movie was coming out and I wanted to hop on that pop culture wave. Let me just say - I'm really glad I did. I can honestly say that I haven't felt shamelessly hooked to a book the way I was to Gone Girl in a long time. I'm talking sneak-reading while I'm supposed to be getting ready to go out with friends; wondering what these characters were up to while I was at work. The entire journey felt justified...until the last couple of pages.

Book Review: "The Leftovers" by Tom Perrotta

I wanted to read this book before the HBO series based on Tom Perrotta’s dystopian novel premiered, and I finished a mere two hours shy of the deadline. (If you’re watching the show, you can check out my reviews of each episode here: www.hobotrashcan.com.) Okay, back to the book. I was intrigued by this idea of 2% of the world’s population vanishing with no explanation. What happens to those who are left behind? What happens to societal structure and the role of religion beneath the weight of the unknown?

The story picks up three years after the "Sudden Departure" of 2% of the world's population. In the story we get to travel into different character perspectives to gain a wider scope of the impact of the Sudden Departure. Most of the characters we follow are from the Garvey family. Kevin Garvey is the Mayor of Mapleton, which serves as a microcosm for what is occurring on a world wide scale. Kevin is struggling with raising his teenage daughter Jill in the aftermath of all that has happened. Jill is trying to make sense of a world with an uncertain future, as is much of the youth in the story. All of the previous societal expectations seem absurd when you don’t know if tomorrow is guaranteed. Jill’s perspective provides a glimpse into her broken world filled with hedonism and a slow growing discovery that not even extreme explorations of pain and pleasure can fill the void.

10 Quotes from Writers about Books

Originally posted on Interesting Literature:

I came across these quotes today on a blog I follow and had to re-blog them here because I write a lot about books I've read. I am of the opinion that the bond between writers and books is a very unique one. What writer have you ever known who didn't read? Books influence our ability to be creative and imagine entire worlds inside our minds, and I am always trying to put the worlds I create inside my mind down on paper. It’s a natural bond and cycle of influence for writers who are readers.  In a world that is filled with status updates and tweets that make us limit our words - these quotes are reminder of the life changing journey that can occur by simply reading a book. Today we lost a very important writer of our time, Maya Angelou, and so I would like to add a quote to this list in her honor:

Any book that helps a child form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him. – Maya Angelou

Book Review: "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green

When I decided to read The Fault in Our Stars, I was coming off a reading hiatus. You know that empty space between books that no book seems capable of filling? I was stuck there in the thick of the reading hiatus malaise. Then, thanks to an Entertainment Weekly subscription I received for Christmas, I read there was a movie coming out based on the Young Adult book, The Fault in Our Stars. And of course there was one of those BuzzFeed lists that told me what I should read before the movie comes along. One can argue that reading a book first can ruin a film experience, but more often than not I find that having read the book enhances my viewing pleasure, because I know more of the story than the medium of film can portray.

While the book falls into the Young Adult genre, the intellectual complexity of the novel really surprised me. John Green is not a man who writes lightly. There's nothing I love more than being completely surprised by a story. References to Kierkegaard, T.S. Eliot and William Carlos Williams elevates this epic cancer romance. An epic cancer romance sounds just how it feels while reading it. And if you should endeavor to take this story on then you should know that it possesses the capacity to make you laugh and cry within a three page spread. 

Harry and Hermione? I'm Not Sold.

If you're a Potter fan you have undoubtedly heard J.K.Rowling's recent interview comments indicating that with the distance from the beloved Harry Potter series she has changed her perspective on their epilogue destinies.

Here, in an excerpt from the British paper The Sunday Times, Rowling discusses her decision:

“I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment,” she says. “That’s how it was conceived, really. For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione ended up with Ron.”

Book Review: "Love Medicine" by Louise Erdrich

Louise Erdrich’s first novel, Love Medicine, is anything but a light read. The read is so heavy at times it seems that to get back to reality you have to peel away layers of poetic prose and cultural nuance. Erdrich makes modern Native American life accessible, but that does not mean it’s easy to read. Love Medicine follows different characters in the Kashpaw and Lamartine families on a Chippewa reservation in Minnesota.  The chapters are all told by various characters connected to the two families and the reader has to pay close attention to who is narrating the chapter and at what point in the timeline the chapter is taking place. Though mostly told chronologically, the beginning of the story is sprung into action by one family member's death and then the subsequent chapters go back in time and pan out chronologically until the initial death is surpassed in the narrative. Phew!

In this beautiful story exploring multiple themes, one of which is modernity vs. tradition,the most pressing theme is the idea of and the boundaries of love. Love is examined through continual intersections of characters in the story and how they are thrown together in fits of desire, passion, desperation and even deep disconnected sorrow. It is a family saga that spans generations (and novels).  

Mortal Instruments: A Disaster

I am a fan of YA Fiction: compelling stories, coming of age character arcs, young love triangles and some
sort of necessary decision making that borders the line between good and evil. Needless to say that when I heard Mortal Instruments was going to be made into a movie - I felt that I owed it to myself to read the book prior to the Hollywood manifestation.

It doesn't happen very often that I become so irritated with the protagonist of a story that I am glad when the book is done (with the exception of David Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius which I set down and abandoned without completing). But in Mortal Instruments, Clary Fray was just too oblivious. The whole story centers around the fact that she has a gift of some kind. We find out that she is the offspring of two Shadowhunters, and so she too is a Shadowhunter.

Her gifts are buried beneath a Warlock's mental block built in her mind to keep her from seeing the world as her Shadowhunter nature wants her to see it. I just don't see the scenario of Clary transitioning into a Shadowhunter going very well, because Clary seems totally incapable of piecing things together.

Book Review: "The Giver" by Lois Lowry

Before today, I had never read this book. Apparently, it's quite popular on reading lists, but I was never required to read it when I was younger. I think I turned out just fine, however, I'm really glad to have read The Giver as an adult.

I watched an interview with Lois Lowry after finishing the book in one afternoon sitting. In the interview, Lowry discusses the perplexing fact that since the book was published in 1993 it has been listed on the nation's "most challenged" book list. People challenge the book's inclusion in schools and in public libraries. I didn't know this fact while reading the book, but I can understand why this book causes people to feel ill at ease.

The story begins with Jonas facing the prospect of an impending Ceremony in his Community that will set him on his path toward adulthood. The Ceremony will announce what occupation he will be trained for and work at for the duration of his adult life. This decision is based upon years of meticulous observation. During this time of Jonas' introspection, the reader learns that this Community is different. We are led to assume that the story takes place in the future in a society that has been structured to secure peace and safety. In order to secure peace and safety the Community has elected transformation into Sameness.

Book Review: "Life After Life" by Kate Atkinson

I just finished reading Kate Atkinson’s novel “Life After Life,” and I thought it was a great book. I read quite often and I was a Lit major in college, but after the years of academic analysis I stopped writing about the stories that I experienced. I write my own stories now, but in thinking about how lonely my blog is with its sparse postings – I have decided to write a bit about what I read. If I were to take this on as a task of critical review I would tire after the first sentence. I am not a critic, just a reader. So here we go.

“Life After Life” follows Ursula Todd through many different versions of the same life. It always starts with her birth, a snowy night on February 11, 1910 (Aquarius! Which I feel is purposely symbolic). Ursula is born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. The story explores all versions of this evening by focusing on multiple character perspectives and the different outcomes all spurned from choices made by each character involved. From there Ursula’s story takes many different paths. In one version of her life she drowns and in another she is saved from the ocean by an artist who was painting her and her sister. In other versions she falls out a window, succumbs to the Spanish Influenza, is raped by one man and later marries an abusive man who kills her – all because she makes a single decision. And with every new life she makes a different decision somehow haunted by premonitions and intuitive urges that steer her in a different direction.

I'm a Believer

When I was in college, I took senior year “elective” courses that I thought sounded fun. One of those was a philosophy course called “Metaphysics.” Now, I feel the need to preface this by saying I was raised by a woman who told me we could believe in God better if we didn’t go to church. So, I have only been to church services a couple times in my life, but was raised with a moral code based in Christian principles. 

Meta, meaning beyond, and physics, meaning the physical science of what we can see, seemed like just the juice I needed to fuel my spiritual quest to discover just exactly what I believed in. Through my intellect and logic I arrived at the stunning conclusion that I did in fact believe in a god, an ultimate source of energy, some sort of cosmic intelligence that willed all life into existence starting with a creative burst a really long time ago. 

The peace I felt at the end of this course and its accompanying insight let me know that I had found a truth. Yet, that wasn't the end. I was still hungry to find out more about this feeling inside. I had been circling a spiritual hole for my entire life, and now I was ready to fill it. 

Adventures in Juicing

Juice. Who doesn't like juice? The sweet nectar of manufacturing gods filled with enough sugar to kill a mouse. For years I thought the only way to drink juice was from a pre-packaged container with a sanitary seal. I have never been more wrong.

I took some time off work recently over the Holidays and did what most people do: cleaned my house real well and watched Netflix. It was here that I discovered a world of documentaries about our food crisis and obesity in America. To escape sounding preachy, I will only say that in a commercialized culture we run the risk of feeding our bodies poisonous foods under the false impressions sold to us through diet advertising. Can we really help it when we are all branded by age two? This means that by age two we know how to associate items with their brands, and this is only the beginning of how we fall into the greedy hands of advertisers. Why should they tell us the truth when the lie is so delicious, the lie is so pretty, the lie makes our bodies our enemies until we're weak, and then we become prey for the pharmaceutical companies. Why should they tell us the truth when they get so rich by making us believe the lies?

Harry and Hermione: More Than A Dance

So, after the billionth time watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I (my favorite in the series of movies) I began to really pay attention to one particular relationship and character dynamic within the film. We all know that Harry, Hermione and Ron have a powerful friendship, one that we have watched grow and change throughout their stay at Hogwarts. Harry and Hermione have always been the intense duo; Harry being scarred and ‘the chosen one’ and Hermione with her unwavering intellect and focus. Ron has always provided them with a comical and very necessary lightness, which balances out the trio. Ron is the foil to their feminine/masculine intensity; Harry is able to let loose with Ron and embrace his youth, and Hermione lets loose as well, which allows Ron to connect with her on a much more emotional level elevating their friendship to something else.

Rick Santorum, Please Shut Up

I was going to let him prattle on and talk himself out of the Republican nomination for presidency without investing my thoughts and written words. He’s so ridiculously drastic in his right-wing ideology that I thought he would never be taken seriously. Why waste my breath pointing out the obvious when there are so many other stimulating things to write about that don’t make me question which century I am living in. However, I find myself no longer able to keep my mouth shut.

Our Relationship with Food

In general, I would like to say that this is something that has been beating at the back of my mind for quite some time. So, in light of today’s Occupy Food Supply movement I thought I would contribute some thoughts. I have always struggled to gain the upper hand in my relationship with food. It’s a perplexing situation, and in this commercialized capitalist age it is an absolutely daunting truth to dig into, research, and wrap your mind around. In an obese America we also have to contend with food addictions and the food advertising goals to brand children by age two and have them hooked for life to a High Fructose Corn Syrup existence supplemented by MSG laden side dishes and hormone rBGH ridden meats all washed down with a gluten heavy prestige. Fast food and pre-prepared meals packed with preservatives and additives are sold to us on the basis of convenience, not to mention they are more affordable than the healthier alternatives that cost more than money, they also cost time, and to some – time is very precious.

My 'Hunger Games' Melancholy Conclusions

I have been waiting for a while to express my views on Book 3 of The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay. I really enjoyed this series, I have a soft spot for young adult literature and dystopian apocalyptic literature, so needless to say, I devoured these books, and by devoured I mean one-click-buy for my Kindle and reading during every spare moment of the day. My mind was filled with Katniss Everdeen and her hard edge, her ability to defy an oppressive dictator by obeying her instincts and innate capacity for human compassion, a compassion that was at the whim of her stubborn mind, an easy switch to turn off and kill when deemed necessary. The conflicting inner states of Katniss was much more appealing to me then say that of Bella Swan, but in the third installment of the series I was left with a bit of muddled regard for one of my favorite heroines in recent years.

How I'm Like "The Doctor"

Apart from my unparalleled intellect and impeccable fashion sense, The Doctor (from the BBC’s behemoth of sci-fi awesomeness Dr. Who) and I share something else in common. Now, if you haven’t been watching this show, I recommend you suspend all American pretensions and settle down to invest those hard earned hours of evening time freedom. Your relationship with The Doctor may even feel like a betrayal of any romantic commitment you may be sustaining; there are enough seasons and regenerations of Doctor personalities to keep you well entertained and occupied, which is likely to distract you from other obligations. I recommend either sharing your Dr. Who experience with your significant other, or explaining that you will return to them after your mind blowing foray with the British time lord has made you a whole person.