A Study in Charlotte

Lately I've been in a mood to share my opinions on things. This is one final post before my NaPoWriMo poetry!

I recently had the pleasure of reading A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro. The story follows the great-(a bunch of greats)-grandchildren of John Watson and Sherlock Holmes, James Watson and Charlotte Holmes. They are in America at boarding school where they must solve a string of incidents which are made to follow Sherlock Holmes stories.

I don't know if book reviews should include Spoiler Alerts, but if they should, this is it (although I haven't described the mystery or said who the perpetrator is, so I don't reveal the MOST vital points, but I recommend reading on with caution).



These characters are, in some ways, very similar to their 'ancestors.'

Sadly, Charlotte is somewhat misanthropic, struggles with drug addiction, and might possibly have an eating disorder. In addition to drug addiction, the story also somewhat touches on the difficult topic of rape; however, I expect this will be a bigger part of the next novels. Due to this more intense subject matter, I would recommend the story for more mature teens.

I love that Charlotte is intelligent, independent, and headstrong. I hate that she struggles with addiction, [the after effects of] rape, and an eating disorder. But sexual harassment and assault are, unfortunately, realities in our schools. I do believe that many girls could find something in Charlotte to identify with.

I like that James has romanticized Charlotte and realizes that he has; he is afraid of getting to know her and having his imaginary Charlotte destroyed, but simultaneously wants more than anything for her to let him in. I think that James is, like me, a bit of a hopeless romantic.

As you might expect, with Charlotte and James working closely together and being of the opposite sex there is some chemistry between them, while this is a welcome aside, I am grateful that this is not the focal point of the story.

I believe Charlotte and James teach each other things, balance each other out, take care of one another, and bring out the best in each other; making them, on the whole, a likable pair.

James's father has been estranged and I believe that James's treatment of his father (keeping him at a distance) is accurate; however, based on personal observations, I'm not sure that his father and step-mother's welcoming attitudes are always real.

While I tend to avoid series, I do look forward to the remaining books in the series.

Other nice things about the book:

• Told from Watson's POV with an epilogue from Charlotte - paying homage to the source material.
• I love the gender bending! Girls can be detectives (and scientists)!
• Charlotte sounds similar to Sherlock.
• Charlotte sounds similar to Scarlet, making the title of the book a play on one of the stories' titles (A Study in Scarlet).
• It's a mystery!
• I somehow managed to solve it (partially) before the main characters!
• More Holmes and Watson!

Less nice things:

• I didn't think of it!
• The presence of Moriartys.

A note about my distaste of Moriarty:

In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works, Moriarty was originally introduced specifically to end Sherlock. Doyle had become tired of writing about the detective and thought if he killed him, he could be done with Sherlock (hence Holmes falling over Reichenbach Falls in "The Final Problem"). Honestly, I thought it was a bit shoddy and lazy. Out of nowhere, Moriarty is introduced as this great nemesis, but there was really nothing to point to his existence before that story. Anyway, the plan backfired, Holmesians wanted more and Doyle had to return to Sherlock (thank goodness!).

That being said, I can't hold it against Ms. Cavallaro for including the Moriartys because she is trying to stay true to the source material while introducing interesting and enjoyable twists - I devoured the book in two sittings, something I've not done in awhile.

Happy Reading!

Sharon

Beauty and the Beast

In a few days, I will begin the month-long deluge of poetry. In the meantime, I give you a review/critique/rambling thoughts on Beauty and the Beast.

First of all I give it 4.786250914/5 stars, saw it twice, would see again, and the Sharon Seal of Approval.

Disney promised us a live action remake of the much beloved 1991 animated classic Disney's Beauty and the Beast and boy did they deliver.

But if you wanted it to be a shot-for-shot, line-for-line, exactly, 100% the same movie, then you may be in for a surprise.

Consider this your SPOILER WARNING. I'll give those of you who have yet to see the film a moment to navigate away from this page.


Still there?

Bueller?

Alright, let's go.

All the major plot points were there, but the original movie's runtime was 84 minutes (less than an hour and a half), while modern movies tend to be closer to 2 hours; they had to add something to the film.

And add they did. They added backstory to the characters, they made the enchantress a bigger part of the story, they gave the Beast his own bittersweet song. And they added a touch of a different version of Beauty and the Beast.

They made the story more meaningful and nuanced. They made the Beast more worthy of Belle's love and they made Gaston more of a villain and they even gave Le Fou a conscience. I found myself feeling that Le Fou was not a fool in this telling at all. They changed the bookkeeper to be an academic priest who seems to appreciate and encourage Belle's intelligence while the rest of the town condemns it. They even connected the fates of the servants in the castle with the village people. They changed Maurice to be a heartbroken, overprotective, artist father.

The movie is a beautiful rendition of the animated classic, which I'm sure will become a classic in its own right.

It has the favorite standby songs, with some minor changes. For example, I really missed the sheep in "Belle" and Gaston's famous line "every last inch of me's covered with hair" in "Gaston." But they added a sweet song sung first by Maurice, "How Does a Moment Last Forever" which seems to be a song from the creators of the new movie, nodding to the anxiety of re-creating a well-loved movie, while also hinting at something more in the story. They also added a song for the servants in the castle where they pine after their former lives "Days in the Sun" where Belle begins to fall in love and hurt for the servants and wants to help them before she sees any humanity in the Beast. "Evermore" is the Beast's new solo, where he climbs up high in the tower as he watches Belle leave to rescue her father - sure she will never return, he sings "I'll fool myself, she'll walk right in And be with me for evermore." Even though I knew that Belle returns, I couldn't help but tear up.

That wasn't the first time I teared up either, when Belle and Beast are building a relationship, Beast shares a book the enchantress left him which allows him to travel anywhere in the world. Belle uses it to take them to the windmill in Paris where her family lived until her mother caught the plague and died - they had to leave here there to protect themselves. From then on, Maurice did his best to protect Belle.

So what did I not like about the movie?
I already mentioned that I missed the sheep and "every last inch of me's covered with hair" but there were a couple other minor things that bothered me about the movie. First, Belle wore shoes that looked unmistakably like Toms; surely they could have found her some more appropriate footwear? Second, I love Emma Watson, but something about her as Belle, just did not feel quite right to me. Finally, I had trouble determining when on earth this movie was supposed to take place. I think this movie should have occurred much after the plague, but I'm not sure.

By and large, I loved the movie. The animated film reigns supreme, but this film holds an honorable second place in my heart.

What were your thoughts on the film?

Happy End of March!
Sharon

April Optimism

For the past two or three years, I've been participating in NaPoWriMo and with April 1st peeking around the corner, I am excited to say that I will again be making an attempt at 30 poems in 30 days. I will be busy, as I often am in April. But I encourage you to write along with me and keep me accountable. If you've never heard of NaPoWriMo, I encourage you to check out this website, where I will be getting my prompts.


Also, because I am so excited about NaPoWriMo, I've decided to write a poem today! This won't count for my 30 poems in April because it isn't April (yet). Because I currently cannot come up with subject matter for a poem, I have used Robert Peake's prompt generator which you can find here.


My prompt was to incorporate as many of the following words as possible:

incense, distracted, signature, surprised, children's, argues, sticking, amused, pallid, poet's, bolts, repeating, simplest, il, shack.

I also had to:
include an unusual taste and refer to a famous poet.

It also includes an image for inspiration (which I did not use).

Here is my poem:

The smell of my chai tea, like incense, flooded my nose.
Distractedly, I signed the receipt.
I was surprised when the barista commented that I had a pretty signature;
Perhaps not many children took to their cursive lessons as I had.
My feet argued with the ground as I stepped,
A piece of gum sticking to my shoe, refusing to allow me to move.
The patrons of the coffee shop seemed amused
As I fought to remove the fum from the sole of my shoe.
I imagined the poet's pallid face among the crowd,
The cadence and repetition of The Raven came to mind,
My steps taking its rhythm for their own
As they carried me back to my cove.
Sometimes even the simplest things are difficult for me.



Poe has been on my mind quite a bit and I am going to do some research and use some of Poe's works for the inspiration for a project I have in mind.

See you soon for more poetry!

Sharon