Carol's Comments June 2014

Carol’s Comments June 2014

Hello Everyone!  Welcome to another issue of Carol’s Comments. After a brief hiatus, I’m back online with my own blog! All my columns can be accessed at any time at carolscommentsreviews.blogspot.com. I’m very excited I can begin this new adventure with all of you.

After the St Joseph County Public Library’s One Book, One Michiana events ended, I still wanted to explore more books focusing on creepy, haunting themes. The first book I selected was Havisham by Ronald Frame. 

In this enthralling prequel to Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, Catherine Havisham, one of the most enigmatic characters in British literature narrates this tragic tale. As the only daughter of a wealthy brewery owner, Catherine becomes a very high spirited, self-confident and independent minded young woman. However, after meeting and falling hopelessly in love with the charming yet mysteriously elusive Charles Compeyson, she enthusiastically accepts his marriage proposal. Unfortunately, her whole world completely unravels when he jilts her on their wedding day.

The once gregarious and ebullient Catherine suddenly transforms into the hauntingly tormented spinster “Miss Havisham”. She is so utterly devastated by this traumatic event that she closes down her father’s brewery and retreats from the real world forever by always wearing her wedding dress as a symbol of the mockery of love. Time literally stands still for her because she sequesters herself in the family mansion Satis House and insists that everything remain just as it was on her wedding day.

As her delusions and insanity grow, she decides to adopt the orphan Estella as her daughter, At this juncture, Frame’s novel intersects with Great Expectations’ plot when Pip becomes Estella’s companion. This gives the reader Miss Havisham’s view whether Pip’s unexpected good fortune would make him a suitable husband for her ward. Frame also offers an alternate ending of what fates might await Pip and Estella.

Ultimately, Havisham is a great companion piece to Dickens’ original novel because it provides a compellingly intriguing backstory of one of Dickens’ most eccentric and complicated characters. This very absorbing novel reminded me Wide Sargasso Sea, Jean Rhys’ prequel to Jane Eyre. However, I  enjoyed Havisham better because I could empathize and identify with the title character more because her anguish is timeless.

After finishing Havisham, I really wanted to watch a movie version of Great Expectations. Although there are many fine adaptations of  Dickens’ classic including the faithful 1946 film directed by David Lean and starring John Mills or the 1998 modern update featuring  Ethan Hawke, Gyneth Paltrow and Anne Bancroft, I decided to concentrate on  two recent adaptations: 2011’s Masterpiece Classic’s production with Gillian Anderson and the 2012 film release featuring Helena Bonham Carter.

I began first with the three hour Masterpiece Classic miniseries. In this very faithful adaptation written by Sarah Phelps, all the characters ( along with the plot) are well developed and multidimensional, In particular, Gillian Anderson’s stunning performance as Miss Havisham is very hauntingly ethereal and utterly heartbreaking, Anderson creates a ghostly atmosphere in every scene without being campy. The viewer truly understands her torment and disconnectedness with reality. 

Unlike the spectacular Masterpiece Classic miniseries, the 2012 film adaptation directed by Mike Newell seemed condensed, disjointed and lacked any significant character development, Consequently, I felt no empathy for any of the major characters ---- especially Miss Havisham. For instance, Helena Bonham Carter’s outrageously ghoulish portrayal reminded me of a combination of Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and The Bride of Frankenstein rather than the hauntingly disturbed and mentally fragile spinster she actually is.

This film was rather disappointing after viewing the superior 2011 miniseries which successfully captures the true spirit of Dickens’ original story. I recommend skipping this movie and watching the Masterpiece Classic dramatization instead.

After reading The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey two years ago, I now really love novels that re-imagine classic fiction. So when I read a favorable review in the New York Times about Rachel Pastan’s new novel Alena, a modern re-telling of  Daphne Du Maurier’s Gothic mystery classic Rebecca, I couldn’t wait to read it.

Set mainly in modern day Cape Cod, the plot revolves around the contemporary art world. Narrated by an unnamed heroine, this young woman meets Bernard Augustin, an aloof, mysterious art director in Italy where he soon invites her to become the new curator at his contemporary art gallery called Nauquasset (aka “The Nauk”) . All is not well when she arrives there. She soon discovers that she is replacing Bernard’s charismatic friend Alena who mysteriously drown two years ago. 

Although Pastan desperately tries to evoke Rebecca’s mood by emulating Du Maurier’s original writing style, this book lacks the suspense, drama and mystery of the classic novel. I found it very dull, boring and lackluster mainly because the characters weren’t fully developed so it was difficult to relate to or sympathize with them --- including the heroine.

After such a dissatisfying reading experience, I longed to revisit Du Maurier’s beloved novel. But since I didn’t have enough time to read Rebecca, I treated myself to the 1940 Academy Award winning film instead.

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter, Joan Fontaine as the second Mrs. De Winter and Judith Anderson as the obsessively devoted housekeeper Mrs. Danvers, this magnificent dramatization co-written by Robert E Sherwood and Joan Harrison brilliantly captures the eerie atmosphere of  the original story. Everyone should see this marvelous movie at least once.

When Life After Life by Kate Atkinson became a wildly popular bestseller last year, I was very intrigued but rather hesitant about reading it. But after the New York Times Book Review selected the novel as one of the Best Fiction Books for 2013 and Amazon kept recommending me to read it, I decided to ignore my skepticism and plunge into it.

Set primarily in England from 1910-1947 and spanning two World Wars, Life After Life centers on Ursula Todd who is born on February 11, 1910, immediately dies--- and is born again and again on the same date while repeatedly dying in a variety of ways. Every re-birth produces different scenarios affecting not only Ursula’s life but all the people she knows around her. 

This very strange, metaphysical story which reminded me of a surreal combination of Downton Abbey and Groundhog Day strikingly demonstrates how even the most minor choices one makes can profoundly change and affect one’s life and others too.  I think Life After Life is one of the best inventive and imaginative novels I’ve read in a long time. I rarely re-read books, but I loved this story so much that I will definitely return to it very soon. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in thought provoking or unconventional fiction.

All the books and movies reviewed in my column can be found at most local public libraries. My readers from St Joseph County, Indiana can always visit the SJCPL web site at www.libraryforlife.org for further information.

Before I go, I want to thank Steve and Lori Sigety for helping me create my new blog. I appreciate it very much! Thanks for reading and your continued support. See you all next time!