Thursday, February 16, 2012

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

This story brings to mind the works of Edgar Allen Poe (the creepy, yet ethereal beauty of the macabre), Tim Burton (more of the same but with a stronger love story) and a hint of Lemony Snicket (children must solve the riddle, because adults are mostly useless).

It is quirky and just a little bit terrifying.  

 It's a story about a young magical being (a changeling!) with a supportive family (original) who is trying to find his place in their/his world.  It's bittersweet with a hard edge about it -- the grit of real life, I think.

There is a lot of lore, explored very organically, which I appreciated.  It was a weird, fascinating tale that's just a little too creepy to be reading late at night.

The only thing I would say I wanted more of is characterization.  I wanted to explore more than one or two feelings from the main character, and I wanted to really understand his psyche.  I wanted to dig in and get to know the person the entire story revolved around. 

So I liked it, but I didn't love it.

That being said, I think it would make an excellent movie.  What the characters lacked in "real-ness" would be made up for in the actors' facial expressions and body language.

Bringing it to life on the big screen would, in a way, enable the story to realize its full potential.

No comments:

Post a Comment