Wednesday, January 26, 2011

"Red Riding Hood" by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright (No Spoilers)


"Red Riding Hood" is a different take of the childhood fairy tale with which most of us are familiar.  I first learned about this new tale when I saw the trailer for the movie which will be released in theaters in March.  I thought the trailer looked incredibly interesting and I immediately noted the film as one I wanted to see.  It looked like one of those hauntingly beautiful movies that has the potential to be great.  Plus... I'm a fan of Amanda Seyfried who plays Valerie (the movie's version of "Little Red").  

Soon afterward, I found out that there was a book which follows the same story and my excitement was even greater.  I knew I definitely wanted to read the book before watching the movie... So I did.  

The book gets an iffy 3 stars from me.  While it was okay, I often found myself dreary in the writing.  I'm one that can do description pretty well.  (Good grief... I love Jane Austen, who is known for dragging out details until the end of tomorrow.)  However, with this book, I just kept getting tired of it.  It was pretty writing, sure... But one can only take so much.

The story was alright, but I think it'll make a much better and more exciting movie than a book.  After doing some reading online, it appears as those the book was written specifically for the movie.  Had I known that, I probably wouldn't have bothered... Books written for movies rarely work out for me.  

My biggest annoyance... I got to the end of the book and it wasn't the end of the story.  Who does that!?  I'm not talking about leaving a cliffhanger that leaves you dangling until the sequel.  This book actually has a "missing" chapter!!!  You're left with a website to visit.  When I read that, frustration shot through my veins.  Alright, Wendy... Get over it.  But that's not all... I resentfully trudged over to my computer and typed in the website.  Guess what... The website doesn't work!  What!?  Ugh... Annoyance.  Pure unabridged annoyance.  Needless to say, I didn't appreciate it very much.  I didn't spend my money on a book to be abandoned like this.  

Anyway, I eventually sucked it up and went on to my next book.  A couple weeks ago, I checked out the website again and it was working, but it said to "come back soon" for the final chapter.  I checked again today and it now has a countdown clock... 43 days 13 hours and 26 minutes.  I'm trying to ignore it all before I get frustrated again.

I was disappointed overall... I originally expected more from the book (before I knew it was a written for the movie) and I was upset with the ending (mostly because there wasn't one).  However, I am still excited about the movie and will definitely be going to see it.  If you haven't seen the trailers you can check them both out here...




Enjoy and I'll be back soon with my review of "The Sky is Everywhere" by Jandy Nelson.

Bye!!
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My purpose for this blog is to express my opinions and thoughts of the books I read. I want to inform the world (or, more specifically and realistically, my friends who may actually be interested) on which books inspire me, which make me angry or sad, and which I just plain love for the simplicity of them.

Too often I read books and, because I do not discuss them or share them with others, the meanings behind them just drift into the nothingness that is the back of my mind, very likely never to be recalled again. Too often do I say, "Yes, I've read that! I loved it!" and then realize I don't remember a thing about the book in question. I don't like that... I don't like that at all, Jerry.

So... Here I am. I've decided to blog about it. Why? Because it seems like that's the thing to do when you want to say something but don't know who to say it to. This blog will be me... Giving my own personal (and ultra valuable) opinion. Some of the posts may have information about the books that you do not want to know. The posts in which I feel may be giving something away, will have "Spoiler Alert!" in the title. In these, I may, quite possibly, be going into detail on the story, so if you haven't read the book and don't want to know about it, then PLEASE don't read that particular post. Just sayin'... I don't want any of you book club ladies getting angry with me because I spoiled the end of 'Pride and Prejudice' for you. (;

There you go... That's what this is all about. And, here I go... Off to cuddle up in my jammie jams with a warm cup of tea and read something. I'll be back when I'm back. Enjoy!