I have finally finished the first book and movie off my summer list. I chose this book at my library mainly because it was one of the few available at that time. I have requested several from my list that our library needs to get. We have a pretty small library, but I love that I can request a book, and they usually get it for me. I've done that with many books for Anthony.
I really am not sure how I want to approach blogging about this "project" of mine. I don't want to ruin anything for anyone who want to either read these books or watch the movies. But if I'm writing a "review" of them, I suppose there will have to be some sort of spoiler alert. So, here's your only warning.
When I saw previews for this movie, I knew it was about 3 friends who reminisce their childhood of being in a boarding school, but I didn't know much else about the story. After reading the first half of the book, I was still a little confused about what the real story was. That's how long it took in the book to finally get answers about what was going on with these 3 people. I'm not sure if I like books like that. I like suspense, mystery and thriller books but I wouldn't really categorize this book that way. It is categorized as a sci-fi book, but that didn't seem appropriate to me either. It just didn't have that sci-fi feeling to me. It was more just fictional.
Basically, the book skipped around way to much for my likes, even though it is divided in three parts. There seemed to be a lot of back-tracking of memories, when all I want to read was what happened going forward. And it did so in a way that never explained much until the latter part of the book. It is also told in a reminiscing way, with the memories of one person. For me, I would rather it be in a story-type mode. Instead, there are parts of the book that read like the story teller isn't really sure of some of her memories. And so you're kind of confused on what is true or not to her.
Anyway, in the end I did like the story that the author was trying to convey. It is about a type of boarding school where children are brought up with one goal in mind. As they grow up they find out they are meant to exist for one thing...to become organ donors. They basically are clones of others. I just wished the story had a little more conflict it in. It's about friendship and love, but where's the part when the people make a run for it? If I found out that's what I was in existence for, I don't think I'd be a-okay with it. I'm pretty sure I'd fight it. But that's me.
The movie followed the story of the book very well. But I think this is one of a few times I will say I liked the movie better than the book. It flowed so much better. The movie didn't keep jumping back in memories. It started when they were young and moved up until they were adults. You understood what the story was about within 20 minutes of the movie, and so your focus was on the characters the rest of the movie, not trying to figure out what the plot was until the movie was almost over.
I thought the actors did a great job. I absolutely love Carey Mulligan. She received praise for her role in An Education and was also in Wall Street:Money Never Sleeps. I'm glad she had the lead role over Keira Knightley (even though I enjoy her acting as well) who of course has been in two of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Atonement and she also received praise for her role in Pride and Prejudice. And Andrew Garfield seems to be one of the next up-and-coming actors, and I thought he also did a great job in this film. He had a part in Lions for Lambs and received praise for his role in the Social Network.
Carey Mulligan always seems so easy-going, so playing this part seemed perfect for her as Cathy, the main character, just seems to accept things and moves on. Tommy, played by Andrew Garfield, is more of a fighter and tries to figure out ways to "defer" his ultimate destiny. And Ruth, played by Keira Knightley, is the outgoing character. She definitely adds some drama to the story.
The author is Kazuo Ishiguro, who also wrote The Remains of the Day which received the Booker Prize. I will read another one of his books at some point to compare his writing styles and see if he's an author I will continue to read.
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