The Book
For those who don’t know anything about the Newberry-winning story, Lowry created an incredibly creepy dystopia before they were popular. In the Community, everyone is safe. Climate is controlled, there’s no war, or pain, or hunger. To achieve this, there are also no choices. You are assigned a job. You are assigned a spouse. You have no privacy. When Jonas, the 11/12-year-old main character, is assigned the job of being the next Receiver of Memories, he begins to learn the price the Community has paid for their sameness. He receives haunting memories of pain, but he also sees color, hears music, and experiences real love for the first time. Jonas begins to desire more than life in the Community can offer him, and then he discovers the darker side of life there when he learns what it means to be Released. Lowry created a whole dystopia and well-paced plot in a book that took me about two hours to read. I couldn’t help comparing the world-building she accomplished in so few pages to some of the monolithic YA series that couldn’t manage in 900 pages what she did in under 200. Then came the last few chapters. I won’t spoil anything for those who haven’t read it, but there is a very open ending to this story. I know there are companion novels/sort-of sequels, but seriously, it was the type of ending where you turned the last page hoping a hidden epilogue would appear.
The Movie
I am not a filmmaker, nor do I aspire to be, but I do tend to visualize books as I read them. Which means I have to coach myself going into movie adaptations: Get behind the filmmaker’s vision; this isn’t your head, Carrie Jo. Most of the time, it works. Occasionally, (**cough, cough** every Harry-Voldermort interaction filmed from the fourth through eighth movies **cough, cough**) I just can’t do it. So I was a little trepidatious* when I clicked the link to view the trailer:
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My initial thoughts:
- Isn’t Taylor Swift supposed to be in the movie? **I click through the links the lovely PR rep sent, and find this picture of her in a wig**
(Not QUITE as bad as K-Stew’s in this picture, but here’s hoping that without photo-shopping we’ll have lots to make fun of!)
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Apparently, she’s going to play Rosemary, but they wanted to give her a blink-and-you’ll-miss-her cameo in the trailer. Maybe so you have to go looking for more info about the movie? - How did Taylor Swift make it into a movie with Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges etc.? I mean, I like her and everything, but she’s a singer, not really an actress.
- I’m relieved that they’re going to show some of the movie in black and white.
- The boy who plays Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) is really cute. But I know I’m getting old because Alexander Skarsgard (who plays his father) is more attractive to me.
- Katie Holmes is 3 years older than me. Why is she playing the mother of a teenager?
- Wait, Jonas is 12 in the book. They must have aged him up a bit.
- They have some very cool tech in this movie.
- Hmm, this might be a very good adaptation–with wigs to make fun of. Sign me up.
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So what do you think? Did you love or hate the book? Are you looking forward to The Giver movie–even if all you care about is making fun of TSwift’s wig?
*Many academics insist this is not a word. I think that if muggle has made it into the OED, they should give in on this one.
