Nevermore: The 57 Bus, Dawn of Everything, Great Gatsby (graphic novel)

 

Reported by Garry

The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater. Two teenagers, one skirt, one lighter, and a single moment that changes both lives forever. Sasha is a non-binary teenager from an affluent Oakland subdivision; Richard is from the impoverished area of town. Their worlds cross over for 8 minutes each day on the 57 Bus, until one afternoon that left Sasha severely burned and Richard facing life in prison.  This could be a cut and dried case, but Slater delves deeply into the families, social backgrounds, and legal proceedings and paints a nuanced, hopeful story of forgiveness, compassion, a fractured legal system, and powerful human connections.  MR

 

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow is a new look at the history of humanity, based on the latest archeological findings from around the world.  Graeber is a Professor of Anthropology and Wengrow is a Professor of Archaeology, and as such bring the weight of authority to their writing.  Our reader says that this book could easily be a first-year textbook due to the amount of detailed information, but that it reads more as a narrative of the history of humanity for the past 300,000 years or more.  This book dismantles many of our myths about human civilization and the path that we have taken to today, and instead gives us a more complete, nuanced view of what “society” is, has been, and may be.  AH

 

This week we have a Nevermore staff review:

The Great Gatsby is one of those classic novels I was assigned to read in school, when I was a teenager who did not enjoy reading, mainly doing so when it was required. While arranging the new non-fiction section last month, I noticed the graphic novelization of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic. On a whim, I snatched it off the shelf. This was a good chance for me to re-familiarize myself with a classic story that is a cultural institution, as well as enjoy a new graphic novel (I am a sucker for a crisp, new graphic novel or trade paperback).

The book did not disappoint. The artist did a great job converting Fitzgerald's descriptive prose into actual images, using a simple, elegant art style that depicts the beauty and excess of mansions and apartments where the upper class spends its time, while also giving a contrasting picture of the grimy streets of the poor neighborhood where the mechanic--Gatsby's killer--lived. I recommend this book for anyone who loves classic novels or for those who just want to refresh their understanding of an important work in one sitting.  BS

Also mentioned:

Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder

Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy

The Pure Land by Alan Spence

The Wrath of Angels by John Connolly

Postal Séance: A Scientific Investigation into the Possibility of a Postlife Postal Existence by Henrik Drescher

Iron Lake by William Kent Krueger

Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

Out of the Silent Planet by CS Lewis

House by Tracy Kidder

Rachel Calof’s Story:  Jewish Homesteader on the Northern Plains by Rachel Calof

How To Talk To Your Cat by Jean Craighead George

Isaac’s Storm by Erik Larson

Roots by Alex Haley

Penny by Karl Stevens

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

Book into Film: Fiction

The summer movie season is heating up and as usual a number of the films are based on books.  Here are some of the most anticipated books-to-film:

“The Host” is based on the book of the same name by Stephenie Meyer—yes, THAT Stephenie Meyer, author of the immensely popular Twilight series books which spawned the equally popular movie series.  The Host  isn’t about vampires, though, but an alien invasion in which the aliens take over human bodies. Melanie isn’t about to let her consciousness go so easily.  Can she fight back and save those she loves? The movie opens March 29.  In pre-movie interviews, Meyer has said she’s writing a sequel.

Of course, there if aliens aren’t your thing but zombies are, then you’ll want to pick up World War Z by Max Brooks.  Brooks, author of The Zombie Survival Guide, sets the book up as an oral history from survivors, giving him a chance to give many different views of the disaster.  The movie stars Brad Pitt as a UN employee going to various places around the world as different areas try to hold off the undead and is scheduled for a June release.  (By the way, Max Brooks is the son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft.)

If you’d rather have a story about non-alien, non-zombie characters, there are some interesting choices available.  “Admission” stars Tina Fey as a college admissions office at Princeton who is challenged by a young man who shouldn’t quite measure up to Princeton standards, but who makes her question some of her past choices.  Paul Rudd also stars.  The movie is based on the book Admission  by Jean Hanff Korelitz.

Hollywood isn’t neglecting the classics, either.  A new version of “The Great Gatsby” is scheduled for a May 10 release.  Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jay Gatsby and Tobey Maguire is Nick.  If it’s been awhile, this might be a good time to pick up F. Scott Fitzgerald’s original novel just to get in the mood. I have to say that the costumes and automobiles look fabulous!


James Thurber’s story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, was first made into a movie starring Danny Kaye back in 1947, so it’s no surprise some think it’s due for an update.  Ben Stiller will be starring in the new version, due out in December 2013.

If thrillers are more your genre, look for Paranoia by Joseph Finder.  A young man is caught manipulating his company’s system.  He’s given a choice:  go to jail, or spy on a competing corporation.  He chooses the latter option and soon is on the fast track at his new place of employment, living the life of his dreams in a job he loves—and soon he’s going to have to betray everyone there. The movie "Paranoia"stars Liam Helmsworth, Gary Oldman, and Harrison Ford, and is scheduled for an October release.

Other anticipated films from books are:

• "Catching Fire," the second installment of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy, scheduled for November 2013

• "Divergent", another YA dystopian adventure, based on the book of the same title by Veronica Roth, due out in 2014
  

• "City of Bones", adapted from the first book in Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series, in which a teenage girl suddenly develops the ability to see demons

• "The Hobbit:  The Desolation of Smaug," the second movie in the Hobbit trilogy, is from J.R.R. Tolkein’s book The Hobbit and is scheduled to be out in December 2013.

Read 'Em Before You See 'Em: Books Into Film

Lawless will be hitting movie screens August 31.  The film stars Shia LaBeouf as Jack Bondurant, one of the bootlegging Bondurant brothers who ran moonshine in Franklin County, Virginia during the Great Depression.  Some shady lawmen wanted a cut of the profits and the result was the bloody episode known as the “Great Moonshine Conspiracy.”  The movie is adapted from the novel The Wettest County in the World by Matt Bondurant—and no, the name isn’t a coincidence.  Though billed as a novel, it’s based on the true story of Bondurant’s grandfather and great uncles.  Incidentally, the writer Sherwood Anderson lived in the area at the time, and it was he who dubbed Franklin “Wettest County in the World” because of all the moonshining.  The cast of the movie includes Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman

Of course, one highly anticipated book into film has been hit by a bit more drama than the studio intended, but still Breaking Dawn pt. 2 is expected to be one of the more lucrative films.  Since this was the last book in the “Twilight” series, the next Stephenie Meyer book to be a movie is The Host, a science fiction story of an alien and a human who find themselves in an uneasy alliance—and a single body.

Charlie is struggling with love, death, and being fifteen in the novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky which will be coming to theaters this September.  Emma Watson plays Sam,  Charlie’s crush.  Fans are excited that Chbosky wrote the screenplay for the movie, so it should be true to the book.

Lee Child fans are awaiting the arrival in theaters of Jack Reacher.  How they’re waiting is another question entirely!  Some are eager to see the ex-MP troubleshooter on screen, introducing this fascinating character to a whole new audience.  Others are troubled by the casting of Tom Cruise for a character who is supposed to be 6’5” and … um… not Tom Cruise.   A third faction is going to ignore the movie altogether.  If you’re intrigued, the movie is based on the novel One Shot.

The Paperboy is based on the novel of the same name by Pete Dexter.  It stars Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron and Matthew McConaughey in this tale of a reporter working on a story involving an inmate on death row who was convicted of killing a local sheriff. The reporter is brought into the story by a woman who has fallen in love with the inmate via the mail, and wants to prove his innocence.

Dean Koontz has been wary of having his books filmed, but after reading a script and meeting the director he liked, he signed off on a movie version of Odd Thomas, one of his best loved characters.  Odd is a short-order cook who can hear the dead and occasionally is called upon to save the world.  The movie stars Anton Yelchin, Willem Dafoe and Melissa Ordway, and will be out in 2013.

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell was a bestselling book that brilliantly blended characters from different times and places to tell one interconnected story, and how actions have consequences that can last for years.  The movie has a great cast:  Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, and Susan Sarandan.

Tolkien fans are anxiously awaiting The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey, the first part of the book adaptation from Peter Jackson.  Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy received almost universal acclaim for his fidelity to Tolkien’s books and The Hobbit should be more of the same.  The movie brings back Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, Ian McKellen, and Christopher Lee and introduces Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins.

The Life of Pi by Yann Martell is something of a cult classic.  It’s the story of a young man, the son of a zoo keeper, who is sailing with his family and an assortment of animals to Canada.  Then the ship sinks, and the young man finds himself on a small boat with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a tiger.  The film is scheduled for a November  2012 release.

Oz:  The Great and Powerful is the story of how a young sideshow magician ended up as the Wizard of Oz.  James Franco, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz star in the adaptation of L. Frank Baum's stories. 

Pam aka Mrs. Neal aka The World's Greatest Librarian (and she has a sign from her teens to prove it!) is anxiously awaiting the film version of Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stolh.  It's a YA fantasy set in a sleepy little South Carolina town where 17 year old Ethan is counting the days until he can leave Gatlin in his rear view mirror.  Then Lena and her family move to town, carrying secrets and curses, and Ethan is changed forever.  The movie boasts a great cast, including Emmy Rossum, Viola Davis, Jeremy Irons, and Emma Thompson.

Jack Kerouac’s classic beat novel has never made it to the big screen before, so the December premiere of On the Road should break new ground.  It stars Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, and Viggo Mortenson.

Another modern classic book which is being made into a movie for the first time is Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game.  While it began life as a short story in 1977, the tale of Ender Wiggin was so popular that Card expanded it into a novel in 1985 and has tweaked it a bit since. Several sequels followed.  In the original story, gifted children are sent to Battleschool, where they learn military tactics to try to save the world from an insect-like alien race. Harrison Ford stars, along with Asa Butterfield, a talented young actor who starred in Hugo and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

On the other hand, there are a number of film remakes of classic novels coming out at the end of the year.  Here are some of the more intriguing ones:

·         Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina casts Keira Knightly and Jude Law as husband and wife 

·         Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables gained a whole new audience as a musical best known by fans as Les Miz; this version features Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe

·         The Great Gatsby starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Isla Fisher is the latest F. Scott Fitzgerald work to go to the big screen

·         Last but not least, Emily Bronte’s only novel is being filmed yet again, so look for a new version of Wuthering Heights in a theatre near you.