Points

[nightdog_barks]

1) I finished Stephen King's It a couple of days ago. I had two main complaints about it -- one, that it is too long and thus lends itself to repetition, and two, I hated one of the protagonist kids. Just could not stand him. I think my favorite parts of the book were what I called the interludes, where some of the individual kids were being kids, like Ben's after-school piece with his teacher, Mrs. Douglas, where they're counting/cataloging books. That was so well done by King, so evocative and so melancholy. So, way too long and one very unlikeable kid for me. By the end of the book my eyes were pretty much glazing over. And yeah, the "bonding scene" near the end didn't resonate with me at all. Oh, and I skipped part of the "Patrick Hockstetter" chapter because that was the one thing I DID remember from my first reading years ago, and I didn't want to relive that little shit's episode of animal cruelty (what I didn't remember was the OTHER episode of animal cruelty in the book by a different character, ugh). So, one thumb up? One and a half thumbs, with appropriate warnings?

2) Currently reading Warren Zanes' biography of Tom Petty, which is way better than I thought it would be.

3) Watched a Bollywood movie called Bajirao Mastani and liked it a lot. Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone, both of whom are absolutely gorgeous! An interfaith love story! Stirring battles! Men in armor! Elephants! A tiger! Smoldering glances! Ranveer Singh's body! Oh my god, Ranveer Singh's body. Oh, and I also really liked Tanvi Azmi as the mother. I thought she was terrific.

4) Will probably read Jennifer Egan's Manhattan Beach next. I loved her earlier novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad.

5) Renewed our membership in the ACLU yesterday.

Five things; post.

PLEASE NOTE: SPOILERS FOR IT IN COMMENTS. SPOILERS IN COMMENTS.

Comments

[zulu]

Now I'm wildly curious which kid you hated!

[nightdog_barks]

It was Richie. Richie Tozier and his Voices. Just, no. :-P

[zulu]

Hee! I accept this choice. :)

[nightdog_barks]

:D

Heh, I was actually feeling some vindication when I checked GoodReads and discovered that more than one reviewer had had the same reaction to Richie as I did.

[hannah]

It was Richie, right?

[nightdog_barks]

It was. I had an absolutely intense dislike for him and I wanted him to disappear from the book.

[hannah]

There are many, many reasons I'd trade Ritchie for Stan.

[nightdog_barks]

YES. Oh my god, Hannah, yes. Richie and his Voices were just awful. I don't think that even as a kid myself I would have found him (or his Voices) funny.

Stan was a much more interesting character to me, and I really felt as though King barely scratched the surface with him and ultimately didn't know what to do with him.

[hannah]

I did some thinking on how Stan could've become someone who wouldn't kill himself rather than face It again, and I'm still not sure on the particulars but it likely could occur without his adult self becoming unrecognizable from his childhood self. Most of what I came up with was him internalizing more concepts and aspects of religious Judaism, especially kosher laws and concepts of cleanliness - carrying that around inside himself rather than just the dirt on his skin. Also, given how King described him as the 'world's smallest adult' as a child, I could see that being inverted to him being a very child-like adult: someone who managed to retain some of childhood's immutable faiths.

(I can so, so easily see him eating at the Chinese restaurant, but only the food he brought with him. And saying the shehecheyanu for all seven of them being together again. Behaving in ways that are alien to his friends, but still recognizably Stanley.)

The fact that none of his friends blamed him for his suicide helped ease it somewhat for me. But it still really stung.

[nightdog_barks]

Yep, I read your post when you talked about exactly that.* :D

And I think that's a totally valid point, and I took it a step further when I read it (your post) and thought about how I might handle Wilson is some future story.

Something else that I realized ... I can't remember what Stan did as an adult. I mean --

Beverly: fashion company
Bill: famous writer
Richie: famous DJ
Eddie: owner of a limo service
Mike: diarist/librarian
Ben: famous architect
Stan: ???

I liked Eddie a lot, too, and it ticked me the hell off that he got killed and not Richie.

*I don't comment enough. I read all your DW posts but I hardly ever comment. Mea culpa. :-)

[hannah]

You did? Sweet. And I've had enough conversations at enough fandom conventions about the shifts in general online culture I understand not commenting. No worries.

He was an accountant, and founded his own firm. And more Nightdog-generated Wilson content? Awesome!

[srsly_yes]

Are you a Bollywood fan? I've got a crush Shah Rukh Khan, but will watch anything with a love story or dance numbers. Will add Bajirao Mastani to my watch list. Have you seen the trailer for Padmavati? It looks gorgeous.

[nightdog_barks]

Ha, actually Bajirao Mastani is the first Bollywood movie I've watched in its entirety. I love the music and dance, but I'd just never sought it out until I saw this video from Bajirao in a discussion thread on Reddit. I liked it so much I watched a bunch of other vid clips from the film, and when I saw it was available as a DVD on Amazon for something like $13 I went ahead and bought it.

Shah Rukh Khan looks very familiar, like I've seen him in other video clips. The only other real names I know right now are Salman Khan and Ranveer Singh. So many names! So many people! It is such a huge industry. :D

I have not seen the trailer for Padmavati, but I will look it up! I do see that it is directed by the same guy who did Bajirao.