Joint Review: Oscar Nominated Movies Based on Books

Unsurprisingly, the Best Picture race is filled with films that were based on the book because the human race has probably used up all of its remaining creativity just short of using up all the oil and ozone (I kid, I kid! Positivity right?). We are kind of obsessed with both books and the Oscars, so here is a brief review of each book and movie (and whether or not you should read v. watch) after the jump.

Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures

  Laura Lamont's Life in Pictures

By Emma Straub

Genre: Historical fiction, Realistic fiction

tl;dr

Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures is a decent book, but it is just that- a decent book.  It’s not great or terrible.  Although I decided it was a good book, there are so few risks taken that it ultimately ends as a totally forgettable one as well.

            I’ve been trying to write a review on Laura Lamont for a while now, but it was a disappointing read for me and I have been trying to find a way to word my disappointment.  It started with great promise with some beautiful writing about a little girl and her family’s small theater in a town called Door County in Wisconsin.  Laura begins the book as Elsa Emerson, a precocious child with two older sisters.  Her relationship to her sisters is easily the most interesting part of the novel.  Although I understand the purpose they serve in the novel, I wish the author had delved deeper into their relationships and how they shaped Laura’s life.  The beginning of the book is wonderfully written, with turns of phrase that gives us a perfect child’s voice.  I could have read an entire novel with this setting and with Elsa.

            The book then travels with Laura as she makes her (new) name in Hollywood.  The book does include some fun golden age Hollywood characters, but they don’t last long enough to be truly entertaining.  There are actresses that are clearly based on some famous actresses- Laura’s best friend is a redheaded funnylady who makes a sitcom with her husband- but they don’t delve deep enough to be very interesting.  Laura’s husband and the love of her life is a bland, flat character whose only quality is that Laura loves him. 

            Additionally, the book promises to be about a fantastic and famous actress and her downfall.  It doesn’t really work like that.  Laura’s acting career isn’t nearly as impressive as the back of the book says, and her downfall is more of a slow amble into obscurity.  Maybe it is realistic, but it’s also boring.  It’s the last third of the book that truly disappoints. Although I understand that the author wanted to portray Laura’s whole life to mimic a true biography, it only serves to drag the narrative.  The book loses all its steam with her later life. 

tl;dr

            While Straub clearly has talent as a writer and the book beautifully written passages, it ultimately disappoints and, dare I say it, bores.

Rating:

 

2.5 out of 5 stars

review by laura

            

Joint Review! The Selection by Kiera Cass

We both read The Selection by Kiera Cass and spoiler alert, we did not like it. Below is a quick summary followed by a late-night IM discussion of what we couldn't stand.

Genre: YA, young adult, castles, princes, dresses, pretty covers, dystopia, love triangles

Set in a dystopian future with a caste system, royalty, and something to do with a rebel force, The Selection is the story of America Singer, a whiny teenage girl in one of the lower castes in love with a boy in an even lower one. Drama! It gets even more dramatic when the kingdom holds a competition for any eligible young lady to compete to win the princes hand. America enters to spite her boyfriend who breaks up with her because he “wants a better life for her” and… *SPOILER ALERT* she becomes one of the “The Selected” to marry the prince. Now, a silly decision has her roped in to all sorts of activities that she’s just not interested in. She could care less about the prince, but changes her mind once she meets him because he’s just so darn nice and understanding. Who will she chose!? This is the first of three-part series by Kiera Cass.

Casie: So Laura. To start, what are your biggest issues with The Selection? 

Laura: I don't even know where to start. The writing was terrible; the plotline seemed hot glued together. Ah! My biggest problem was how much I hated the main character, America.

C: Agreed. She was a lot like Bella Swan in a lot of ways to me, an empty shell of character that somehow I was supposed to relate to, despite her being a nothing-person.

L: She had no discernible character traits, but she continuously disliked and spoke down to and about the other female characters, even the ones that were supposed to be her friends. She struck me as a really negative character.