During the weekend I finished reading Eat Pray Love. Despite receiving a lot of bad reviews on Amazon, I still love the book. My take, if you have never been depressed, don't read the book because you won't understand.
Lately I'm actually finding the time to read the books I bought years ago, I even stopped watching so much TV (that's quite a change for somebody who once burst into tears when the TV broke down). I think I'm going through another one of my phases, I know Looi would say I'm entering his stage of life. :)
Watched a few movies. The Kite Runner is a beautiful movie. I saw the book in the stores a lot of times but wasn't interested enough to read it. But I'm glad I watched the movie. Shows what life was like in Afganistan before and after the Taliban era. Watching shows like this and Slumdog Millionare (absolutely loved that movie), I'm thankful for the life I have here.
The Terminator was disappointing. And Public Enemies was so boring that after half an hour, I found it more interesting to go into the bedroom to pluck my eyebrowns. I think Yin How was bored stiff and kept coming into the bedroom to find me but I kicked him out and forced him to watch the movie.
The rule is that whoever decides that buy that movie has to watch it until the end. Why? Because in my opinion Yin How always picks the worst movies. And sometimes it's so bad that even he doesn't want to watch it and we end up wasting money on unwatched DVDs.
I buy movies based on the following criterias;
- Must NOT be a superhero movie with a ridiculous superhero costumes (except for Batman, because technically Batman does not have superhero powers, only super cool gadgets and.... he doesn't wear a red underwear over a blue suit, he's all in black which is cool)
- Good reviews, interesting trailer, good story line (I actually sometimes do research about a movie before I watch it) or Oscar nominated
- Especially digg movies about life with a lesson to learn or action triller movies with a good storyline (not those filled with mindless shooting)
He buys anything as long as the DVD cover has the following criteria:
- Anything related to war (it can be any war... WW1, WW2, the Iraq war, the Vietnam war, whatever...)
- Anything with guns
- Anything with beautiful girls
- Anything with war, guns and beautiful girls (considered a bonus movie to him)
So that's how we usually watch movies together. At the very least we still accompany each other, even though it means one of us is usually deep in la-la land. :)
10 comments:
yay, u revived ur blog b4 fungus started growing on it... =) don't let it die a sad death like my blog haha..
and it feels so weird commenting on ur blog when u're sitting across the lounge... >.< what is technology doing to human relationships??? *gasp*
you should DEFINITELY read Kite Runner!and if u felt the movie was good, the book would be better many times over..at least dats how i felt :P
oh n you can read both my reviews of the book and movie here n here ;)
http://thinkb4aftertot.blogspot.com/2008/04/kite-runner-film.html
http://thinkb4aftertot.blogspot.com/2007/12/how-far-will-you-go.html
I usually always read the book before the movie. But if I watch the movie, then i wouldn't read the book anymore. Though after I read your review, I wish I had read the book before the movie. I agree that books always capture the emotions far better than any movie can.
i thot usually if u've read the book, u won't enjoy the movie because u'll be sitting there thinking "eh, why like that wan", "not same as the book", "this is wrong", "actually that guy should have done this other thing, not this guy", "book version better"... then in the end u'll leave the cinema saying "chey... as usual movie never lives up to the book".
so watch movie first, then read book, and u'll enjoy both? :P my friends who read kite runner before the movie didnt enjoy the movie as much because they were noticing all the things left out or parts not told properly... unlike those who hadn't read n were just going along with the movie.
About 'Eat Pray Love', i thot one of the criticisms was that it was too unrealistic. that everything seem to end up working out in her journey and a few reviewers felt the author intentionally left out the bad bits so that it would be a feel good inspiring book, but is too "dream land feel" separate from real life. How come your take is don't read if u've never been depressed?
I agree that the kite runner book is worth a read. It moved me to tears :P
I recommened the time travaller's wife if you haven't read it already :)
A book usually takes days to finish, where else a movie only takes 2 hours. If I had already watched the movie, I would already know the storyline. So when reading the book, there's excitement of wanting to know what happens in the end to drive me to finish the book which takes days to finish. I'll rather have the movie experience spoiled, then to have the reading experience spoiled because the book is always better. At least that's what I think because I've never read a book after watching the movie before. I always make sure I read the book first. So now I regret not reading the Kite Runner first. :(
As for Eat, Pray, Love, if you've been depressed, you'll understand what the author was facing and can relate to her. You'll understand what it's like to have wars with your own mind and to feel sucidal. Else you might think she's an ungrateful bitch dwelling in her own self-pity.
Also, her depression was that she did everything that she was supposed to do, get a good job, a husband, a big house and when it was time to have a kid, she realized that following the norm doesn't mean it definitely will bring you happiness. It doesn't work for everybody.
I know some people criticized that she was selfish for divorcing her husband then going into self-pity after that. If you don't focus on her divorce, but rather focus on how she dealt with a depression then the book won't seem like it's all about self-pity but rather that she was fed up of being miserable and decided to put an end to it. Why stay in a marriage and be unhappy for the next 30 years? We only live once and you're willing to stay unhappy just because it means "doing the right thing just because it's the norm?" It doesn't work that way, and I know that as a fact. And worst still, when you're unhappy everybody around you will be unhappy and your children will suffer the most.
Also, I agree that the happily-ever-after ending might be too good to be true, but my take is why do you want the book to have a bad ending? Her book was about finding happiness and happiness was what she found. Is it so hard to believe that it's possible to do so in real life? Can happy endings only happen in Disney movies? I choose to concentrate more on what she learned, rather than wondering whether all the bad bits were intentionally left out.
Yes, she left out some of the harsh realities of life, like poverty in India. But her book was not intended to be about India. Her book was about her own journey to find happiness and people criticized her for only thinking about herself. So in other words only wanted to focus on your own happiness after 2 years of being suicidal is called selfish? It's selfish to want to be happy so better to feel like wanting to kill yourself everyday?
Some people find it easier to find happiness, some people find it harder. Just like some people are born with the talent to draw, and some people just can't draw. You can teach the person without talent to draw, but it will never be as easy as for the person with talent. So it's the same for depression. Some people may find it harder to be happy, it be caused by lots of reasons like past experiences. Last resort is to get medication.
So this is why I say, if you're never been depressed in the same way as the author, then you'll probably hate the book as well.
I can relate because I was so terribly unhappy with a relationship, so i chose to leave. So I can understand exactly what the author was going through.
Hey jinggythebunny,
I read the Time Traveler's wife years ago and I LOVED IT as well. At first I thought it was silly about a guy being able to time travel, but the story become more interesting in the middle. And the ending left me sobbing. It's a book like no other.
I've only cried for two books, Time traveler's wife, and Marley and Me.
Haha... you are right, welcome to my world!! I wonder how long would this phase going to last... :P
Very good point about time investment book vs movie. Guess it's a personal preference sorta thing.
Thank you for sharing and explaining about Eat, Pray Love. I wanted to understand why you felt that way and why the different reviewers gave their respective reviews; without me having to read the book! Hehe. I understand better now - Thank you.
And (without having read the book), I think I also understand why she wrote the book the way she did because this conversation went through my mind:
"Perhaps I should just read it."
"But why would I want to read a depressing story?? I've got enough of my own crap to sort through as it is! I don't need another person's sad story."
"But hang on! It's not sad. It's meant to be uplifting."
I actually know other people besides myself who would avoid the book for the same reasons as above, and they are probably the ones who would most appreciate/enjoy it. So... I guess she must understand that and intentionally wrote it the way it is, and ironically she is getting worst criticism because of that. Interesting. ;)
Thanks again for sharing.
I've read the book Eat, Pray, Love and I agree completely with what Mindy has to say. If one has never been depressed before, one may not be able to truly feel and understand the pain she's going through and how contented it is for simple things to just work out -- like eating great wonderful pasta and pizza in Italy. =)
One of my favorite books thus far. =P
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