I was never much of a reader growing up. I would read whatever was assigned to me at school but I much preferred to watch TV or play video games than read. I was about 15 when Silence of the Lambs hit theaters. My brother and his then-girlfriend saw it on a date and raved about it. With their nudging, and promises that it wasn’t too graphic, my mother allowed me to see it. I loved it. I must have talked about it nonstop because that Christmas my mother bought me the book. I loved it too and with it came a life long love of reading.
To this day I have a tendency of enjoying books that have been made into movies. There are so many books that are released in a given year that it’s difficult to keep up with what is out there, with what is worth reading. When a book gets made, the hype that generates puts it on my radar and I figure if Hollywood is willing to drop millions of dollars adapting it, it must at least have an interesting story.
So it was with Girl on the Train. Paula Hawkins’ psychological thriller was recently adapted into a movie starring Emily Blunt. Because of that, the book went into mass production and my mother picked it up on the cheap (I guess she likes books that get adapted into movies as well). When she finished, she gave it to me and I’m currently about halfway through.
It’s very reminiscent of another psychological thriller that was made into a film, Gone Girl. It has some unreliable narrators who every now and again let information slip that allows us to see how things aren’t quite as they would have it seem. One of them is an alcoholic who cannot rely on her own memories and the other is not at all the good girl she initially presents herself to be. There is a mystery at the heart of the book over a missing woman and it’s fun trying to puzzle out what happened with storytellers you can’t trust.
The movie has not received particularly great reviews, but if the book remains as enjoyable as it has been so far, I’ll be watching it as soon as I’m finished.
Also out this week that looks interesting:
12 Monkeys: Season Two: Until I saw this was coming out on Blu-ray, I had completely forgotten they made a TV series out of the wonderful Terry Gilliam movie. Which means it’s not gotten a whole lot of buzz, at least not in the places I normally look. Still, I dig the movie and the premise (of a time traveler going back in time to stop a terrorist organization from unleashing a virus that kills most of the world’s population) is a good one for an ongoing series.
Fox and His Friends (Criterion Collection): Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1975 drama about a working-class guy who makes friends with two gay men has been praised for its social commentary and its groundbreaking depiction of a gay community.
Something Wild (Criterion Collection): Made in 1961 from the community of artists around the Actor’s Studio in New York and utilizing the Method, this film about a woman who was brutally raped and how she tries to overcome that trauma is known for its frankness and psychological realism. At least, that’s what Criterion says. I’ve not heard of it, but it sounds interesting.
Come and Find Me: Aaron Paul stars in this thriller about a missing woman and the man who must risk everything to find her.
Keeping Up with the Joneses: Zach Galifianakis, Gal Gadot, Jon Hamm, and Isla Fisher star in this comedy about a boring couple whose lives get turned upside down when a beautiful, exotic couple move in next door (they might be spies, too). That’s a great cast but the reviews have been terrible.
