I've waited quite a while to review this book. I actually read this
three months ago, but I didn't want to review it just yet. Why? Because I
knew the movie was coming out on Blu-ray and I wanted to see it and
review it after the fact.
I'll give a little background about why I read this book...it's listed on my "classics" list because it was on one of my "100 books to read before you die" or some such list, plus it was coming out in a movie. Double plus, right? It's won a bunch of awards and has some pretty positive buzz surrounding it.
This book follows numerous different generations all in the past, present and future. The book follows one period of time, chronologically, in each instance. Then, once you pass the center point, it goes backwards following the future and so forth until the last scene is with the distant past. This book has a lot of fantastic morals and messages while embracing the concepts of karma, God and reincarnation. It also delves into how one generation can affect another, then another, yet another and so forth...
And I hated it. Literally. The book is very discombobulated in parts and I couldn't figure out how one part connected to another. It, mostly, made sense to me in the end; I understood the concept and what the main "points" I was supposed to walk away with were. However, I didn't enjoy the writing style...AT.ALL.
So, I thought that if I watched the movie, perhaps this would be one of those jewels where the movie was better than the book? Possibly? Hopefully? Maybe?
I'll give a little background about why I read this book...it's listed on my "classics" list because it was on one of my "100 books to read before you die" or some such list, plus it was coming out in a movie. Double plus, right? It's won a bunch of awards and has some pretty positive buzz surrounding it.
This book follows numerous different generations all in the past, present and future. The book follows one period of time, chronologically, in each instance. Then, once you pass the center point, it goes backwards following the future and so forth until the last scene is with the distant past. This book has a lot of fantastic morals and messages while embracing the concepts of karma, God and reincarnation. It also delves into how one generation can affect another, then another, yet another and so forth...
And I hated it. Literally. The book is very discombobulated in parts and I couldn't figure out how one part connected to another. It, mostly, made sense to me in the end; I understood the concept and what the main "points" I was supposed to walk away with were. However, I didn't enjoy the writing style...AT.ALL.
So, I thought that if I watched the movie, perhaps this would be one of those jewels where the movie was better than the book? Possibly? Hopefully? Maybe?
Well, the answer to that is...a little. David sat down and started this movie with me. And I was glad for that because I wanted to know if he would end up liking it or if it was just me. One important tidbit about this movie: it's almost 3 hours. Seriously.
David was lost less than 10 minutes in and he gave up after an hour. I continued to plow through simply because I understood what was going on; David had no clue and had lost interest. I'm glad I finished it because I did have a greater understanding and appreciation for the book/story afterwards.
However, and this is a very big however, I would not read this book nor watch this movie again. And I wouldn't recommend it either. This was just not my thing. I've noticed that the people that tend to like this book/movie are the more artsy and critic-type people. I just don't fall within either of those categories, so I'm going to say this one was a bust for me.
I've heard that about the movie and didn't even know about the book.
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