After reading two very dark depressing books I had to
escape a bit.
When I heard a newscaster state
that the “Beautiful Creatures” movie was “like Twilight, but good,” I knew I
had to read it.
This supernatural
romance is, indeed, far better than Twilight in terms of literary merit.
Right from the beginning, I was engaged – it
has a male protagonist (very unusual for this type of book), quick pacing, and
actual descriptions and sentence structures that lend flow and understanding to
the storyline!
As time went on, however,
I found myself having a kind of love/hate relationship to the novel.
There is a lot to love:
a complex tale with unexpected turns, a lead
character who you want to see succeed, subtle humor and excellent research
which gives authenticity to everything from the Civil War themes to the Latin/Welsh
translations.
There is herb-lore, a
Harry-Potteresque style library and realistic portrayals of what people face
when losing a loved one.
All of which
make this a deep-level book far more enjoyable (to me, anyway) than some of the
other popular titles out there.
That’s
the good news.
On the down side, the
book is written by two people.
Unlike
other books written by a duo (“Will Grayson, Will Grayson” or “Sorcery and
Cecelia”) this is a single narrative voice, which means there is some
inconsistency in pacing and some “circular” writing – which is why the novel
stretches to 563 pages when it really doesn’t have to (it is also one of three
books in a series … the next two books are equally as weighty).
Descriptions go from rich to wordy, even Dickensian now and then.
Time is
important here, and in one instance a five minute period stretches over 30 plus
pages.
There is also the tired and somewhat bigoted supposition
that those with Southern accents are ignorant and stupid.
And yes, as readers of my blog know, I’m not
a huge fan of romance. I don’t mind the lovey-dovey stuff when incorporated
into a larger tale, as this is most of the time, but I have little tolerance for the
angsty “I love you but disaster awaits and I can never be with you” stuff.
About a third of the way in, Lena’s character got so whiny I wanted to kill her
myself.
She’s not a wimp who needs to be
saved all the time, but clearly, there are “issues.”
The book starts well and ends well, however,
so some mushiness in the middle isn’t horrible.
I’m told the film is “very different” and have qualms about the fact
that the crew was specifically told to “avoid reading the book.”
This is never a good sign.
One reviewer mentioned that the outstanding
cast makes it a good movie, but it bears so little resemblance to the novel
that it is likely to be unsatisfying to those who have read it.
Fortunately, or not, the masses are
increasingly seeing films based on books they have never heard of, so perhaps
it isn’t an issue.
If I ever get around
to seeing the movie, I’ll write up my take.
In the meantime, it’s back to dark, depressing, “downer” books for
me.
For those seeking a new series with
romance, magic and a sort-of, kind-of vampire, dig in.
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