Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Girl is gone but the bitch is here.

I am not even going to lie that this entry will be on Gone Girl and just Gone Girl.

I am also not even going to lie that I have been so lazy, busy and mostly lazy that I have not written in this page for a long long long time. I apologize but my life as a graduate and an unemployed graduate of that has been one whirlwind adventure of a last minute 3 weeks trip to Europe and then finally, hitting back to the cold reality of uncertainty all thanks to coming back home without a proper job.

So anyhow... the past few days, my life revolved around Gone Girl. I finally picked up the book over the weekends and perhaps, the first time after so long, I was barely able to put the book down. I haven't been able to read any fiction books so voraciously after choosing to study Politics. It didn't take me long to finish the book, about 2 days - I have to factor catching up over drama series, planning the week's schedule and appeasing the royal highness at home. I enjoyed the book albeit the a little 'hmmm, why would anyone choose to return to a pretty much useless-used-my-money-to-set-up-his-own-bar-and-a-fucking-cheater-no-less-husband' ending. Of course, after reading the last chapters again, it dawned upon me that, she was in control. Don't you just love the idea of power and control? I love Amy Dunne. I find her character charming despite being a psychotic bitch. Perhaps, it is the idea of being committed to win and not being a quitter somehow caught my attention and I was awed by how disciplined she was to make sure she carried out her plan flawlessly. On top of that, yeah, it is that psychotic bitch-ness.

Ever since Gone Girl premiered here, I have been hearing raving reviews as well as those who thought that the film adaptation wasn't up to their expectations. I, finally, watched it tonight with my awesome godmother who to my surprise was willing to watch it with me. I reckon I would never have thought I'd be watching a R21 movie with a parent figure but I can now officially strike that off my life list (not that I have one to start with). In my opinion, the movie was a pretty amazing adaptation of the book itself. The cast ensemble was excellent, the script was well written and Rosamund Pike, can we just take a second and appreciate her beauty and brilliant talent? I was thoroughly convinced that she would actually make a real Amy Dunne or basically a crazy bitch from hell. She was definitely the right choice for the role. The movie was more than two hours long but it was bearable and I reckon it did portray most of the important parts of the book to fit into the silver screen. But with all the books to film adaptation, one will always feel the film will definitely fall short of something like not enough portrayal of yet seemingly an important character despite him being a pretty small role in the drama between Amy and her scumbag husband (I am not even sorry that I actually dislike Nick). I am talking about Desi. Desi Collings. It'd be great if the audience especially those who have not read the book are able to find out more about him and why he would come off as creepy, possessive, another cray cray dude. My godmother couldn't help but whispered to me and said, 'he is creeeeeepy!' during the movie. All I could think of was if only she knew exactly who Desi is and why he would come off as such. Personally, I love Desi but I reckon, he might end up dead in my hands too for being too possessive and for trying to be that saviour/white knight to a damsel who is clearly screwed.

Like Amy, I am the only child to my parents and I found that this fictional character and I do have a few things in common and unfortunately also a huge part of her that I seem to lack which is clearly upsetting. I do wish that I had at least half of her discipline, not a quitter attitude and a hell lot of that bitch that will make a man feel like a man or whatever that the person should feel or be and also that mind never seem to stop thinking and working plus that layers of complicated wretchness. The recipe to control and power.

Many people have lamented that Gone Girl is something you would not want to watch on a first date. If you ask me, I would gladly watch that on my first date simply because it is an easy way out to be in touch with the reality of the relationship in a marriage, the constant hard work of up keeping, peace making, living up to each others' expectations, supposed unconditional love (really? unconditional between two people, really?) and where people go wrong - when they start to get lazy, when they start to see other people. But yeah, the part where Desi got brutally murdered by her, I guess, that wasn't needed at all and it would make a good way to scar someone for a few nights at least. (One of my few favourite scenes from the movie was how she took him down, girl has got one hell of an attitude to not mess with and one really fucked up brains) Of course there are also those who now have a completely ruined mindset of marriages. All I can say, good luck. I am just thankful and pretty proud to be a cynic of this thing call marriage. If your marriage is good, not rocky and have lasted this far, good on you. I certainly am happy for you but hey, don't come up to me and talk to me about marriage. Not on my priority at the moment or for the next twenty years. The movie have taught me a few things about marriage and they are really useful lessons. Thanks, Amy, as crazy, psychotic and 100% bitch you are, you make a good teacher to teach people on marriage, me at least. Haha!

I enjoyed the movie and the book thoroughly and it is officially top movie for the year for me. I actually do not mind to go for a second round of the movie. Perhaps, a second round will be a slightly different experience for me. Who knows?

Here is a favourite exchange from the movie,

Nick Dunne: You fucking cunt!

Amy Dunne: I'm the cunt you married. The only time you liked yourself was when you were trying to be someone this cunt might like. I'm not a quitter, I'm that cunt. I killed for you; who else can say that? You think you'd be happy with a nice Midwestern girl? No way, baby! I'm it.

Nick Dunne: Fuck. You're delusional. I mean, you're insane, why would you even want this? Yes, I loved you and then all we did was resent each other, try to control each other. We caused each other pain.

Amy Dunne: That's marriage.
Till next time bitches, don't screw up your relationships and don't get lazy. From what I have learnt so far in life, relationships are constant work in progress and a relationship is not an end product but just work and more work. The memories you make while working on it probably are the product of a relationship.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Imaginary Friends



A few weeks back, Mel released her ebook on Kobo. The timing of the release of her book came just at the right time when I was inundated with mountains of readings and journals on top of major POLS essays on really boring stuff (yawn zzzz). I knew this ebook will come in handy especially when I need to take a break from the mind numbing works of Karl Marx and scholars fighting for human rights law to be universal. 

You know how the saying goes 'Don't judge a book by its cover'? This is definitely one of those that you probably will take a glance and snigger to yourself. Also, you would probably be asking yourself like how can this be an adult book especially when the front cover illustration is so utterly cute and kiddy like! My friends, I just finished reading this book and I can tell you that it is for grown ups. 

Imaginary Friends is written by Melanie Lee, a local Singapore writer whose writings I adore the most. This ebook is a compilation of interesting and really quirky short stories with adult humour embedded in them. However, the best part of it all is that, all the stories come with a lesson for you to take with and they also serve newly grown ups like me a reminder on life and whatever that life will decide to throw me with. It is a light read, nothing too heavy nor mind paralysing. It doesn't require you to ponder and ruminate over the topics that she highlights in her stories. I find it really good because that is what I need after going through three 20 page journals on some political theory. On top of that, while reading the stories, I often find myself transported back to when I was a kid reading fables and imagining if I was one of the characters. It was a really nice feeling. I am a total kid at heart and when I have a chance to take a break from being an adult and immerse myself with a book that allows me to be a kid, I find that really precious to me. :)

An excerpt from one of the short stories in Imaginary Friends.
The photo above is from the first short story in her ebook. I found myself laughing at the end of it and this story pretty much double confirmed that this is indeed targeted at adults. And with that phrase 'shit will hit the fan', I know this book is off on a roaring good start. As the stories are mainly short stories, you can actually finish reading it maybe in an hour or so. I knew that was going to happen so I decided to read the book in phases and also help myself before I go completely insane with my assignments. Plus, due to the fact that all the stories have words of wisdoms at the end of it, most of them helped me to feel like I am not an essay churning machine or a robot who is just digesting chunks of information on theories.


It was hard for me to choose a favourite story out of all the stories in the book. It was a really stiff competition between them and in the end, V is for Valerie the Vicious Vespa came out tops. Loved the story especially with the psychotic plot, thoughts and actions and yes, that vicious blue Vespa. I am thinking twice for a bit right now if I should get a Vespa just in case it might be another Valerie but in pink. Hahaha!

I am a little sad that I have finished reading the book because the book was entertaining and it was really an easy read. There were no big words that I had to check the dictionary for its meaning. The stories were relatable like somehow you know you have gone through some of them before or might have witnessed your friends having to deal with such issues in life. Or, maybe one of your friends (or even you) might be a Valerie who has psychotic thoughts (hey, not judging at all... I too have such thoughts sometimes especially when I am churning a 3000 word paper on some old theories). The illustrations accompanying the stories are super adorable and each of them made me smile.

I highly recommend this ebook to everyone especially my adult friends who are looking for a new book to read, more so those who are sick of reading novels or the daily painful news. Take a break from adulthood for a bit and pick up this book on Kobo and download it on your smart devices. Read it on your way to work before you start your day (and before shit hits the fan) or before you retire for the day. It is light, entertaining and makes you feel good. I can vouch for that since I survived writing THREE 3000 words papers for the past three weeks. And you know what is the best part? It is cheaper than your Starbucks grande caramel latte frappe. Plus, your caramel latte frappe will eventually go out of your body, this book however will stay in your library forever. If you ask me, it is a darn good investment. And if you are a fellow Singaporean like me, support local talents leh! Don't every time complain that we don't have steady bom pipi writers or talent in the literary field. Support hor! ;)

You can buy the ebook on Kobo or at the following links below:
Kobo
Lybrary
Readerstore

Enjoy!