Review: Fangirl

So I'm always kind of behind the times when it comes to reading and reviewing books, right? Oh well, I'm still going to talk all about Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl because it was that awesome.

The first thing I'd like to say is that I don't think I've ever read anything that provides such an accurate depiction of  what it's like to be a teenager with anxiety issues or mental illness. As a sufferer myself, I couldn't help seeing myself in the pages, even though I never necessarily displayed the same symptoms as Rowell's character, Cath. On a personal level I was immensely pleased that a book that portrayed the fangirl (or fanboy, you know) lifestyle as a positive thing, as a coping strategy and something that isn't completely dorky or unattractive.

Even if you're not a sufferer of a mental disorder, worry not. Fangirl is still a novel that feels like the next to top the list of 'coming of age' style stories.  Above all, Rowell's work is a story about change and for any teenager about to head off to university - or college - this is a book that reminds us it's okay to be scared by taking those big steps that take us into adulthood. It's a story of family, friendship, relationships and remembering that everything isn't always as it seems. It's a story of life lessons. (It may be a bit cliché but this book is everything.)

The only complaint I've heard is that some people found Rainbow Rowell's pace dawdled at times. I can't say it was a problem that I personally encountered - I stayed up past 2am to devour all 500 pages of it in one night. For some I'd imagine the issue stems from Cath's fanfiction pieces (meant to resemble something written for the Draco/Harry ship in the Harry Potter fandom) that crop up between chapters usually. As those aren't integral to the story, I'd say that if you find them slowing the plot of the story too much, skip 'em. You won't be missing anything, save for getting a slight kick out of a tiny pop-culture reference if you're familiar with the Harry Potter fandom.

Those pop-culture references were something that I felt added fun to the book. Not only is the fanfiction based on Harry Potter but there are mentions of Taylor Swift, Twilight and Kanye West to name just a few.

While it was possibly a tad predictable, I did find there were a few surprises I didn't expect and that the book handled multiple different storylines well. While some of them ended happily for Cath, I found that those that didn't seem fully resolved didn't really bother me. Normally, I'm sure I would have a problem with this, but in some ways if everything turned out fine for Rowell's character's, the book would feel a bit contrived.

(I feel like I'm normally a lot more critical when I'm reviewing novels. The fact that this novel appealed to me on such a personal, relatable level has made it hard for me to do so - apologies!)

Review: Gone Girl

Okay. Gone Girl. So I've now seen the film in addition to having read the book, and it seemed like the perfect time to do my first movie review. I'm going to do my best to write this with no spoilers, which is probably going to be insanely hard, so no promises.

One of the main things that struck me about Gillian Flynn's book was that neither of the main characters were likeable, something which I feel is rather unusual. Flaws, to a certain extent are good - nobody wants to read about a Mary Sue because nobody is perfect, and although we like to read books to escape, we still need some realism - but while reading Gone Girl, I almost felt that Amy and Nick were too flawed. Although, the reasons for their individual issues are explained and make them understandable, it still leaves you feeling uncertain as to whether you actually enjoyed the book.

In some ways the film was exactly the same.  For me, Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike were absolutely perfect in their respective roles, bringing Nick and Amy Dunne to life exactly as they appear in the book.  Affleck, in particular, seemed to excel at displaying Nick's more carefree and blasé attitude with mainly his body language, without the benefit of being able to hear his thoughts as we do in the book.  Visually, the changes that Rosamund Pike went through really emphasised how easily Amy machinates and adapts to the people around her.

Perhaps the fact that Gillian Flynn was also the screenwriter for the project helped keep the film truer to the book.  Although it was advertised that Flynn had penned a different ending for the film, ultimately (and disappointingly), there's actually not that much difference between the two.  There is no new information for anyone familiar with the novel; just some editing that cuts out one or two parts of the storyline to no great effect.

Editorially-speaking, the film is a masterpiece, jerkily cutting together two or three storylines that work independently of each other to sustain the mystery surround Amy's disappearance and keep the audience's confusion going for as long as possible.  However, due to the difficulties of condensing the book down into a film that lasts two hours and twenty minutes, a few of the characters suffered.  One character was completely cut from the film, and the background of Desi Collins, played by Neil Patrick Harris, was severely diminished, leaving questions about what exactly his history with Amy is.  As the focus of the film is slit three ways, some of the background for why Amy and Nick's personalities developed as such is left out of the film, and only hinted at with a few seconds of a scene involving Nick's father and a few mentions of the Amazing Amy book series written by the Elliots, leaving much up to the audience's imagination.  For Flynn, this probably isn't an issue and could even be something that was perhaps done on purpose so that more people will buy the book!  For the director, David Fincher, however, this is more of a criticism.

A second issue I had could have just been the cinema and/or where we were sat, but at times the sound effects - camera shutters and a thudding heartbeat - were annoyingly distracting since they were so loud for the type of stuff that is usually just left to the background.

Thematically, the film is gloriously dark, more so than the book, eschewing any ideas about the possibility of too much violence, gore and explicit sexual content - earning itself an 18 rating.  Knowing what was coming next however, I found that I was morbidly sniggering through quite a portion of the film.

Luckily, that's not perhaps as odd as it first sounds.  Although advertised as a mystery-thriller, Gone Girl isn't entirely devoid of humour.  One or two of the characters seemed, in fact, to only really exist for such a purpose.  Officer Gilpin is one such figure.  Though Gilpin is one of the police officers in the book, it didn't feel like his character was especially necessary in terms of the plot direction.  His amusing one liners were needed though as the film progressed, becoming ever more sinister.  Having a character that could, in my opinion, so easily have been cut from the film was great to see too.

If there was one thing I wish had been done differently though, it's that more time was spent showing the personalities of Amy's parents.

Despite those few criticisms and the fact that I was aware of the entirety of the plot, the film kept me interested and eager to see what was next.  It was still entertaining - though that doesn't seem like the right word for such a thriller with such a psychological impact.  My conclusion after all of this is that regardless of whether you've read the book/just know the storyline, it's the perfect thriller - just, if you haven't read the novel, have fun trying to work out what's going on! And enjoy coming out of the cinema with deep, philosophical questions and probably more confusion than you walked into the screen room with.