It's quite difficult to talk about the Girl without spoiling the book and film, but I'll do my best to skirt around her true nature. Suffice to say that when the realisation finally comes, it's one of the most satisfying elements of the novel - and brings a streak of originality to what is an overly populated sub-genre of science fiction.
Many elements of this road trip novel have been done before, but rarely with such humanity. The Girl, Melanie has distinctive perspective.Appreciated the attempt at plausible science as well as the conflict between the scientific method, the good of humanity and the rights of the individual. It got me wandering down ethical avenues as diverse as people with dementia and the anti-vaxxers.
While not deeply drawn characters, each of the main humans were certainly very recognisable. One of the key elements of a road trip (beyond putting odd balls together) is that of personal growth and greater understanding of each other. I don't know that's its entirely realised that beyond the Parks-Melanie relationship.
The movie
After finishing the book, Amazon Prime delivered up a gift of its own in the form of a movie based on the book and written by the same author.
It's a simpler story, of course, and also lacks the shifts in mind's eye view that are characteristic of the original narrative. But Close and Arterton, near devoid of makeup, anchor the film with two very different views about what to do about Melanie. Some scenes such as our gang's progress through a crowd are more claustrophobic and intense than book suggests and all of the better for it.
Only the wisely and sparsely used computer graphics betray its low budget.
Verdict: Both movie and book are worth your time if your taste in science fiction tends towards the dystopian.
No comments:
Post a Comment