Ok, well, I saw the film a couple of years back. I remember thinking 'ooh, this is nice, I'm enjoying this'. Then it finished and I haven't watched it since, which is probably a good way of saying it was alright. Nothing great, nothing astounding or astonishing or any of those other excitable words that get thrown around. It looked pleasant enough, and Eugene Hutz's performance as Alex was a particular delight, but I wasn't exactly blown away. The book however, was absolutely glorious. From beginning to end, it was probably the definition of 'absolute delight'. It was continually hilarious, sad, beautiful and thoughtful. Pretty much everything I would want a book to be. It encourages curiosity, love and bravery. It is naive, in a youthful excited way.
The story is told in 3 separate parts, one of which is a series of letters sent by Alex to Jonathen (the hero, as Alex calls him), another being Alex's interpretation of events, and finally a sort of historical prose for the area in Ukraine they are searching in. Alex's letters are probably my favourite aspect of the book, with his less than perfect English providing some genuinely funny moments. You could say it is premium.
I'll be re watching the film when I get home, definitely. The fragility of the book is so endearing, it just makes you sad in a completely wonderful way. It has been catapulted into my prestigious top 10, without doubt (See you later Kundera!).
No comments:
Post a Comment