This book sucked hardcore for the first few chapters and I had to force myself through it. It was long winded and the author appears to go out of her way to use run-on sentences and difficult language. I hate giving up on a book though, and I tend to try to push through them in case there is something better to be found.
I’m glad I did with this one, because it got very very good. Once I got used to the writing style and the content got more interesting, it turned out to be an extremely thought provoking novel which makes you question everything you’ve ever heard or thought about being a parent and having children. It makes you wonder especially about the nature vs nurture topic, which I’m still not sure about myself.
It’s almost hard to believe it’s fiction, to be honest. It makes me wonder if these are the things the mothers of the kids from Columbine and other school shootings thought and experienced.

The book is written through a series of letters from Eva, to her seemingly estranged husband, about their son Kevin.  Eva’s relationship with Kevin was strained from birth and as he grew older she was convinced that there was something wrong with him, always suspecting there was an evil side to him.  His behavior with her was drastically different than with her husband, who appears to be blissfully unaware of this side of him, partially because Kevin puts on a much happier face with him but also because he refuses to accept that his family is anything other than the norm.   This leads to Eva feeling quite alone in her efforts to win Kevin’s affection and deal with his abusive and sometimes cruel behavior.

I found it to be quite a difficult read for a number of reasons, both because of how the book was written but also the content.  As someone who has been trying to have children for a very long time, and had far too much time to question if we want to have one and why, this was an absolutely frightening read.  The thought of having a child and not having a connection with him / her and having them react to me in the way Kevin reacts to his mother (or doesn’t react) scared me.  It also made me worry about the decisions I would make as a mother, how they would affect any future child and what the hell I’d ever do if I had a child like this.

When I said the book was thought provoking, that was putting it mildly. It’s a book that you read and then it sticks with you… I have found myself mulling it over in my head while in bed, on the tram, while shopping and a lot of other times.  I’ve gone back and forth in my head about the nature vs nuture topic and how it applies in this movie.  Granted, this is a work of fiction and without speaking to the parents of kids who have done such horrible things, there’s no way to know if this is what it’s really like.  From what I gather, most parents are taken quite by surprise when their child does something so horrific, which wasn’t really the case with Eva in the book.

I’ve questioned again and again whether Kevin was born that way or if there was something in the way Eva acted towards him and if her depression and frustration with a difficult, constantly crying baby caused him to somehow detach from her, thus breaking the mother / child relationship and starting off what turned out to be quite evil behavior.

What has brought this all back up recently was seeing the movie.  It’s been years since I read the book, which is usually a good thing when it comes time to watch a movie that is based on one.  Otherwise I spend the entire time picking the movie apart and complaining about what is and isn’t represented from the book.  I was able to just watch this and enjoy it without remembering or recognizing what was missing, or what was added.

My experience when watching the movie was quite the same as when I read the book. There were parts that were boring but it was intriguing at the same time.  It probably helped that I had already read the book and knew what the outcome would be.   I did feel a heightened sense of anticipation and dread through the movie, which I know was the desired affect.

The children in the film were brilliant and more than once I wondered how they got a child that was so young to give such looks and portray such emotion.  All three of the boys that played Kevin did a remarkable job in creating a massive unease within me, the kind of feeling that makes me understand why some species eat their young.

The entire cast was chosen perfectly really.  I don’t think anyone could play the tortured, anguished Eva the way Tilda Swinton did.  She WAS Eva in this film, and what I liked most was that she managed to create that perfect balance that we found in the book, where you wanted to empathize and sympathize with her but at the same time there was something about her that made you uneasy as well.  I’m not sure a lot of actresses could bring that out in the character the way she did.  It takes a lot of acting skill to make you pity a character at the same time as you sort of hate her.

Her husband (Franklin), played by John C. Reilly, was also done very well.  His stubborn desire to have the perfect little nuclear family causes him to ignore and brush off all of Eva’s attempts to get him to understand what she is going through.   Reilly is the perfect person to play a sort of happy go lucky, father who is happy to ignore what is going on around him.

Both the book and the movie bring about so many questions.  What causes Kevin to be the way he is?  Is it Eva’s inability to deal with him as a difficult baby that severed the bond between mother and son?  Was there ever one there to begin with?  Is Kevin just inherently evil or was that something that was somehow created by his environment?

** Spoilers Ahead **

Another big question I have is in regards to how he feels about his parents.  Through the book and the movie I had the impression that he liked his father more than his mother, that there was more respect for  him.  If that were true, why did he kill Franklin and not Eva?  If all of his anger and hatred appeared to be aimed towards his mother, why did he not kill her?  Was it because he wanted her to live miserable and alone, feeling responsible for all the death and destruction Kevin left in his path?

I wonder if it wasn’t quite the opposite.  If in some strange way Kevin didn’t have more respect for his mother because she saw through him, and she constantly challenged him.  Did he not have less respect for his father and almost see him as an idiot who could be easily fooled by putting on a smile and pretending to be an adoring son?  Did he kill the father and sister because he had no use for them?

So many questions!  That is what makes a good book for me, something that leaves me thinking afterwards.  There are things I didn’t like about the book, and the movie, but none of it took away from the story and the endless questions that it left me with.  Even though I will probably never read it again, or watch the movie, I still think this is an incredible story.

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1. The 19th Wife: Book Review
2. Book Review – Brand New Friend
3. Movie Review: Temple Grandin

I’m not actually in the above photo, as I had forgotten my tripod and was busy taking the photo myself, but you can see the friends that are currently in the club with me.  A great group of ladies who are a lot of fun to sit around gabbing with.  We do chat about the books quite a lot but of course the conversations often move on to other subjects as well.

The first month I hated the book (Middlesex) but this month I absolutely LOVED the book we read.  It was called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and I plowed through it in no time.  Next month we are reading The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, a book I’ve been meaning to read for a while now.  In December we are reading The Help so that we all get through it before it comes out in the cinema in January.  I’m really looking forward to that one.

One more thing off the list!

Related posts:

1. Book Review – Brand New Friend
2. The 19th Wife: Book Review
3. Book Review: The Birthing House

I found this book to be too all over the place for my liking. It says it’s all fiction but parts of it rest heavily on historical facts. To me, it felt like a decent fiction story stuck in between a lot of historical documents. The story of Jordan and his mother didn’t have enough substance to stand on its own, but the historical aspects have already been done in other books. I seems like the author just decided to throw them both together and hope they’d fill each other out.

I find the topic of polygamy fascinating, especially now in the days of Big Love and Sister Wives, where we get more of a Hollywood view of what it’s like now.

That said, I still struggled to get through this book, really struggled. In the end I started skipping entire sections (like the bit Brigham wrote from prison… snore).

View all my reviews

((( This was a test, I have recently started using Goodreads to keep track of my books since Now Reading Reloaded, the plugin I was using for my library on my blog, has stopped being updated.  I wanted to see how their “share on your blog” option works!  If I like it I’ll continue posting the reviews in the future! )))

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1. Book Review – Brand New Friend
2. Book Review: The Birthing House
3. Book Review – My Best Friend’s Girl

He knows he is what I live for and how important he is to me, so do all the other important people in my life.  There are a lot of people who make my life worth living… my friends and my family mostly, they mean the world to me.  Life would not be worth living without them in it.

Also…

Ian Somerhalder aka Damon from The Vampire Diaries.  Oh yessss… he makes life worth living for, am I right girls?! God he is sooooo hottttttt…. Edward Who? TEAM DAMON!

Ricky Gervais … dude, humor is sexy and he’s got lots of it!  He had me squealing with laughter during the Golden Globes. This guy is funny and he makes life a little more worth living.

Cal Lightman!  No, not Tim Roth… because I don’t know much about him, but his character Cal Lightman on Lie to Me rocks my FRICKIN socks!  He is living proof of the theory that you can take any man, attractive or not, give him a cocky attitude and women everywhere will want him.  I do! I want him to tie me down and tell me if I’m lying.

P!nk because she’s cool, she’s awesome, she is what she is and she will never apologize to anyone for it.  I love her music!  Every time I see this video I tear up because it reminds me of when I saw her in concert back in 2009 and that was such an amazing night. Plus, that entire Glitter in the Air performance is breathtaking.

James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser. Oh sweet baby Jesus.  He is the perfect example of how someone could fall in love with a fictional character. He’s from the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon which I am reading at the moment. I am on book three and I am just devouring them.  A description of Jamie from Wikipedia: A strapping young Scottish redhead with a complicated past and a disarming sense of humor. Jamie is intelligent, principled, and by 18th century standards, educated and worldly.
He has kept me up far too late many an evening lately…

Oh, and how about that awesome fan art?! It’s just how I imagine him.  Click the photo for the artist’s website.

ROCK PAPER SCISSORS LIZARD SPOCK! Sheldon Cooper makes everyone’s lives a little more worth living for.  Bazinga!

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3. 30 Days of Truth: Day 10

It’s been a few months now since it was announced that Katherine Heigl will be playing Stephanie Plum in the upcoming film One For The Money, which is the first installment in the 20 book series by Janet Evanovich.  While I am fully behind her in the role a lot of people are not convinced.  One of the things I was worried about was that they wouldn’t try to make her really look like Stephanie.  Heigl is well known for being a rather flashy, blond bombshell and Stephanie is pretty much the opposite, more of a jeans and t-shirt kind of gal.  I hoped they would really go all out to bring the crazy bounty hunter we all love a reality, rather than forcing us to accept a modified movie-friendly version of her.

When some new photos came out recently showing Heigl’s new look for the film, I was so excited.  She is really going for it with this role and I think even when you compare the two photos above, she is already starting to look more Plum like than she ever has in the past.

I’m still eagerly awaiting the announcements in regards to who will be filling in the rest of the cast, but in the meantime this gives me even more faith that they’ve made the right decision for the lead role.  I think the movie isn’t due to come out until sometime in 2012 so the haters still have plenty of time to warm up to the idea that Heigl is going to be Stephanie Plum whether they like it or not.

Related posts:

1. Katherine Heigl To Play Stephanie Plum
2. Ranger and Morelli Cast For Stephanie Plum Movie
3. Vinnie and Lula Cast in One For The Money (Stephanie Plum Movie)

That’s right folks!  According to Variety, Katherine Heigl is lined up to play Janet Evanovich’s claim to fame and everyone’s favorite bounty hunter – Stephanie Plum!!  In the upcoming film, One For The Money, she’ll be hunting down the hottest cop in Trenton!  One For The Money is the title of the first book in soon to be 20 book series, with Sizzling Sixteen due for release in June of this year.

You may remember me sharing my Stephanie Plum Movie Castings around this time last year.  My first choice was Sandra Bullock, but apparently it’s not meant to be.  Regardless,  I love these books and I am so excited to see it all come to life on the big screen.

We will get to see the whole gang… Stephanie, Ranger, Morelli, Lula … in the flesh!

Recently I expressed my disappointment about Angelina Jolie getting the role of Kay Scarpetta from the popular Scarpetta series by Patricia Cornwell, so when I saw that Katherine has been given the role of Stephanie Plum… I paused.  Partially to figure out if I think it could work, and also to ponder what on earth they were thinking when they initially considered Reese Witherspoon!?  I’m sorry, I love her and she is in some of my all time favorite chick flicks, but she is not Stephanie Plum.

… but is Heigl?

The age bracket fits and we know Heigl is capable of taking on the role, but the blond thing worries me.  Stephanie is not blond.  I know, it’s a minor detail and I do hope they tone down the lightness of her hair a bit for this one, just to make it believable.   Considering that’s pretty much the only negative point that comes to mind, I think I am actually behind this!  While she wasn’t my first choice and I never would have thought of her myself, the more I think about it the more it seems like a good fit.

Besides, as you can see from the photo below, she hasn’t always been this blond.

There are a lot of Heigl-Haters out there but I’ve never been one of them.   While her character on Grey’s Anatomy (Izzy) has gotten on my nerves at times I think Katherine Heigl played her brilliantly.  I have liked every movie I’ve seen her in.  I know she’s been accused of being high maintenance and a pain in the ass to work with, but that’s not the viewers’ problem.  I like her and I think with the right script and a good director, this could be a fantastic film with plenty of possibilities for sequels.

From what I can tell, the movie is going to follow the storyline of the first book rather than taking bits and pieces throughout the series.  Here is the bit I have been able to pick up so far:

Heigl will play Plum, a lingerie buyer who takes on work as a bounty hunter to make some extra cash, setting off a series of adventures that has lead to 19 books so far, the most recent being “Finger Lickin’ Fifteen.”

In “One for the Money,” Plum learns the ropes of bounty hunting by chasing down a wanted cop named Joseph Morelli, who happens to be the guy who took her virginity back when she was 16 and wrote about it on the bathroom wall of Mario’s Sub Shop.

It will be interesting now to see who they cast in the rest of the roles.   Strangely, my pick for Joe Morelli was Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and we already know they have some great on screen chemistry.  The story of their characters, Denny and Izzy, on Grey’s Anatomy is still what I consider to be one of the better parts of the show to date.  Whether that would help or hinder the chances of him being cast as Joe is uncertain though.  Perhaps it wouldn’t be possible to have them on screen without people always seeing them as Denny and Izzy.  Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks have done it plenty of times though, so it can be done.

The ones I am most interested in are Morelli, Ranger, Grandma Mazur and Lula.  If they get them right, along with Stephanie… the rest is gravy.

What do you think of Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum?

Do you think she can make it happen or are you a Heigl Hater?

Who would you like to see join the cast as Morelli and the other supporting characters?

Related posts:

1. Katherine Heigl Already More Plum-Like
2. Vinnie and Lula Cast in One For The Money (Stephanie Plum Movie)
3. Ranger and Morelli Cast For Stephanie Plum Movie

While reading the books I was also sort of 50/50 in regards to which team I was on.  Sometimes I felt like I was Team Edward, sometimes I felt like I was Team Jacob.  Neither one really won me over completely.  I loved them both equally for different reasons.

When I saw New Moon I was swayed more in Jacob’s direction, I was about 70/30 in Jacob’s favor.  Maybe because he’s so damn cute, but also because Taylor Lautner did such a good job of bringing out that tough but tender side of Jacob.  Then, there was also the fact that he was so damn cute, did I mention that?

I sort of felt like it was unfair to Robert Pattinson.  He was absent for a lot of the movie and after having watched a tall, dark drink of water through most of the movie, seeing him topless and looking all skinny and pasty didn’t do it for me at all.  They did him a great injustice there, because I know I’m not the only one who was underwhelmed at the long awaited shirtless scene at the Volturi.

Don’t get me wrong, I still love Edward and the scales have tipped back a bit once the novelty of New Moon wore off, so it’s more like 60/40 in favor of Jacob now.  The hotness still demands he get a little more love from me.

But… at least  for today,  it has changed, I’m on a new team now…

HOT DAYUMMMM!!!  TEAM EMMETT, BABY!!!!

From ONTD:

Twilight‘s Kellan Lutz is the new bulge in Calvin Klein’s Spring/Summer underwear campaign. The 24-year-old former Abercrombie & Fitch model is posing for CK’s X Underwear, a new line hitting stores this month.
The ads were shot by photographer Mikael Jansson and will appear in magazines starting later this year – Vanity Fair will run the first on March 9.
The underwear itself is made of cotton modal (for softness and breathability) and premium microfiber. There’s an embossed “X’ over the Calvin Klein logo on the waistband’s front patch.
Fox411 reported earlier this year that “executives have a plan to model the ads very similarly after the famous Mark Wahlberg campaign in the 90’s. They want to recreate the look of the hugely successful ads, and who is better than Kellan Lutz to fill out those little underwear?”

Who better, indeed!!  Personally, I was a big fan of Marky Mark, and I’m still a fan now that he’s Mark Wahlberg.  I dig his body, I dig his face, I dig his voice, and I dig Entourage (he’s an executive producer, if you didn’t know already). Oh and I also dig him in those little undies… so Kellan has a big uhhh, well…spot to fill.

Anyhow, back to Emmett, I mean Kellan.  Whatever.

I love Emmett in the books.  I think he’s the perfect mixture of sweet, funny and sarcastic.  Of all the boys, if it were a real life situation, he’s probably the one I’d go for.  I know, everyone always wants Edward or Jacob and I do too, but if I was really asked to think about what all the boys in Twilight are like and who I’d probably be drawn to if this fantasy actually existed, it’d be Emmett.  After a while I’d find Edward too smothering and bossy, and I’d find Jacob too sweet and clingy… but Emmett would be just right.  He could be sweet and take care of me, while still being aloof enough to keep me interested and he could kick some major ass too.

So, you can imagine how much it irritates me that he gets so little screen time in the films.  Although, I feel like this about mostly all of the characters who aren’t Bella, Edward or Jacob.  It gets my hackles up!  Kellan Lutz, from the little I have seen, does a pretty damn good Emmett.

Oh well, at least I get to look at him in his underwear.  If they are trying to make it up to me, it’s working.  If he doesn’t get more air time in Eclipse though, the undies gotta go!

Related posts:

1. Katherine Heigl To Play Stephanie Plum
2. Katherine Heigl Already More Plum-Like
3. Oh Charlie, No.

This past weekend I visited Het Boekenfestijn in Ahoy, which is a huge book festival that is held once a year to sell off books that were left over from the year’s stock.   I had never been and was curious about what it was like after hearing so many of my expat friends talking about it over the years.   We went a little late, at 4pm on the last day of the show, leaving us only two hours before they closed up shop.  I wish I’d thought to take some photos inside but I was far too busy looking through the thousands of books they had on display.

I think it’s safe to say that there is something for everyone at the boekenfestijn.  There were thousands of Dutch books about every possible subject, an entire section of English paperbacks, and other English books mixed in with the books that were sorted by category.    I had gone in hopes of getting a set of the Twilight books for a little cheaper as I only have them as e-books.  They were there in plenty, but all in Dutch… helaas pindakaas! (that is a saying that means the same as “too bad!” in Dutch, but translated directly means “unfortunately peanut butter!”.  I love it, those crazy Dutch!).   I did find other things I really like though.  In fact, I had to narrow it down to the eight because there were many other books I wanted.

I also made a point of getting books that will help me try to achieve my New Years wishes.  A book of recipes to help me get a bit of variety in my diet. Only €1,50 for a cookbook of chicken recipes from around the world!  A book with 100 tips for digital photography, which I’ve only read up to tip #30 and have already learned quite a few things I didn’t already know!  Two books about crafts to keep me busy, off the computer and living a bit more in my real life than my virtual one and a handful of novels to keep me entertained on the cold winter evenings ahead.

The books are all new, so it really is quit a deal considering the price of books these days.   I can definitely see why my fellow expats make this a yearly outing, as I’m already rubbing my hands together in anticipation of next year’s visit!

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2. Het Dak van Rotterdam
3. Psycho Hubby

Around this time last year I did a post about what my choices would be for Stephanie Plum Movie Castings, if she were ever to come to the big screen.  There has been a lot of debate about it, but I still stand firmly behind my selections.

The other day I saw an article on the MOVIETASTIC website SCREENRANT about the Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta Series (one of my other favorites) being made into a movie.  Who did they choose to play the lead role of Dr. Kay Scarpetta?  None other than Angelina Jolie *Shock horror*  I’m not so not on board.  I have nothing against Angelina Jolie and have enjoyed her in many of her films, but she is wrong for this part. So so wrong.

Here is the description of Kay Scarpetta from Wikipedia (may contain spoilers):

Dr. Kay Scarpetta was born in Miami, Florida. She is of Italian descent on both sides of her family, with the Scarpettas emigrating from Verona, Italy. She is blonde, and a sharp dresser, although always professional. As a young girl, she watched her father die slowly from leukemia, and the experience remained with her ever since, translating into her everyday work life, where she is surrounded by death. She is a perfectionist, an incredibly hard worker, completely immersed in her work.

Scarpetta loves to cook, particularly Italian food. She makes everything from scratch, including pasta and bread, and has a beautiful, custom-built restaurant kitchen in her home.

She was married once, to Tony Benedetti; they divorced about 6 years before the beginning of the first novel Postmortem. Since then she had a serious relationship with Mark James, who dies in a bombing in a London Tube station (in the novel Cruel and Unusual) and later Benton Wesley, who is apparently killed in Point of Origin but later reappears. In 2007′s The Book of the Dead, Scarpetta and Wesley become engaged. By the beginning of 2008′s Scarpetta, Benton and Kay are married.

Having not read the books nor being too familiar with the author, she might sound right for this role, but not to me.  She is too young, too brunette and too beautiful.  Not that I don’t imagine Scarpetta to be attractive, but I think in an attempt to bring in viewers they are overlooking what Scarpetta is really made of and trying to make her a bit more of a heartthrob than she really is.

I always saw Scarpetta as more like the author herself.  In her mid to late 40’s, classy, no nonsense, down to earth and someone you really take seriously.  Jolie really does not fit the bill here, she is too much of a young bombshell for this role, I’m afraid.  I mean while we are at it, why not get Brad in to play Marino, since we’re not giving any thought to how the characters are described in the book.   Maybe one of the Jonas brothers can make their acting debut as Benton.

I will give it a chance, and I will probably love the movie as I did this series, at least until the books started sucking later on around the Blowfly stage.

If I had my way, this is how they would fill the roles for this movie.

KAY SCARPETTA

There are a two actresses I could accept in this role.  Either of which would make a far better Kay Scarpetta than Angelina Jolie.

Mariska Hargitay, or Detective Olivia Benson to you, bitches!  This gal rocks Law & Order: SVU and I think she’d make a pretty great Kay.  Playing detective on TV doesn’t make for much of a stretch of the imagination to see her as a medical examiner.   She can play this kind of serious role and we know from watching her on SVU that she has a great range of emotion in her acting.  She could really bring Kay to life.

She has just the right amount of beauty and just the right amount of kickass.   The only worry is that she may not be able to pull off the class that Kay has that Det. Benson doesn’t.  We’ve never seen her in that kind of role to know if she can really carry it.  I think she is not one to be underestimated though.

The Alternative

If you don’t recognize Joan Allen by her real name, you may remember her as Pamela Landy from the Bourne movies.  Like Mariska, we’ve seen her in Detective type roles and we know she’s got the acting chops to take on Kay.

She’s also got the look.  She’s blond, the right age range and playing a classy sort of up scale medical examiner would not be out of her reach.  I think she also has the appeal that would make her believable in any romantic situation as there is a softer side to her that we don’t see often with Mariska.

My only concern with her is that she tends to get a little too skinny at times and ends up looking lanky and pointy.  She’d need to stay healthy and strong to be able to be a good Kay Scarpetta.  Kay is no slouch but she loves to cook, nobody would believe a thin little waif in this part.

The Long Shot

There is one more person that I feel looks like I imagine Kay Scarpetta to look but there are a few doubts in regards to her pulling off the role.  I call her my long shot because while I know the deck is stacked against her, something in me REALLY likes her for this role… maybe even more than the other two.

Nurse Jackie, I mean… Edie Falco, is one of my favorites.  I loved her when I first saw her playing a prison guard in OZ and then loved her a little more as a take no shit mob bosses wife in The Sopranos.  I recently fell head over heels in love with her in her latest role as a pill popping, cheating, swearing, all around mischief making nurse in Nurse Jackie.

We already know she looks great in scrubs.  She’s got the hair, the age, the ability to play the type of character who kicks ass and takes names.  She’s definitely done the Italian thing (Hello? Carmela!) Don’t you just look at her and SEE Kay?!  I know I do…

The only thing is, there are also things working against her.   Other than her role in Oz, her more popular characters have been very sarcastic and over the top.  Is she able to play a serious role and give Kay the maturity, elegance and intelligence that is needed to really make her real?   I don’t know.  I’ve never seen her in that type of role so there is no way to tell.  There’s also her voice, which could possibly be a little… shrill??… for Kay.  That’s nothing a little work wouldn’t fix though.

I don’t know, they just feel right to me somehow.  We’ll never know though because ANGELINA JOLIE has the part. God help us.

LUCY FARINELLI

This will depend on what age they have Lucy in the book.  I’m guessing that to get the most out of her, she will be in her late 20’s or early 30’s and already working for the FBI.  They would be foolish to have her still be a child or a teen in the film as a lot of Lucy’s later antics would make for great drama in the theater.

Description of Lucy from Wikipedia (maybe a little spoilery too):

Lucy is first introduced in Postmortem as a precocious 10 year old, the only child of Kay’s flighty, irresponsible, narcissistic sister. She has a natural aptitude for computers and easily learns UNIX, which she later uses while working for the FBI. She looks to her aunt Kay for stability and understanding, and although is frequently sulky in her adolescence, shapes herself into a very strong woman with Kay’s model to follow. She enters the FBI at 18, but is not well accepted due to her sexuality (she is a lesbian) and her genius IQ. Lucy has had a few long-term romantic relationships, but also several one-night stands—even a few with men. She also engages in other risky behavior, with firearms and various high-speed vehicles.

Hello! Miscast much?!  Who is better at playing the hot, sexually ambiguous, dangerous misfit than Angelina Jolie?!  Ok, so she may be trying to edge her way out of these types of roles, wanting to take on more serious and mature characters… but shit, if the shoe fits!

Lucy is Angelina Jolie.  Angelina Jolie is Lucy.  Seriously, it’s that simple.

Re-cast please.  She will still bring all the boys to the yard.

The Alternative

Paging Thirteen to the casting couch, STAT!

Olivia Wilde makes a great alternative to play Lucy.  She doesn’t have the action background of Jolie, nor is she as voluptuous, but she’s got the edge and the sex appeal.  If you’ve ever watched her as ‘Thirteen’ on House you’ll also know that the whole lesbian thing is nothing new to her.

If she can pull off the physical aspects of playing Lucy, which will probably include jumping out of all things high, shooting guns and just generally being dangerous… I think she can easily do all the rest.  She does angry well and that will work in her favor because Lucy tends to carry a big chip on her shoulder.   I don’t think she is the same caliber of actress as Jolie, but she would bring her own charm to the role.  Wilde (25) also has youth on her side, whereas Jolie (34) won’t be able to pull off the late 20’s roles much longer, if she still can at all.

DETECTIVE PETE MARINO

Let’s have a look at the description of Marino on Wikipedia:

In the earlier books of the series, Pete Marino worked as a homicide detective for the Richmond police department, eventually rising to the rank of Captain. Physically, Pete is big (to the point of corpulence) and balding. His high blood pressure, heavy smoking, and borderline alcoholism trouble Dr. Scarpetta, who worries about his long-term health. Marino is an excellent detective and has worked well for many years with Dr. Scarpetta, eventually joining her at the National Forensic Academy after retiring from the police force in Predator. Marino seems to have problems with women through the whole Scarpetta series stemming from a prior marriage which resulted in a son who dabbles in criminal activity. Throughout the series Marino plays a great part in the upbringing of Lucy, although it seems that he has issues with her sexuality.

Pete Marino grew up in Bayonne, New Jersey.

This may be a coincidence, or maybe I just have a bit of a love affair with The Sopranos, but only one person comes to mind when I think of Pete Marino.  He’s the man that came into my head as I read the books, and when I read the description now he’s still the first to pop into my mind.

Oh yeah, that’s right.  The big man himself… James Gandolfini!  Playing Tony Soprano, the mob boss, was no big deal for this guy.  Seeing him on the other side of the law would be great!  Marino is not your ordinary cop though, so Gandolfini’s darker side can come out and play from time to time too.

He has the physique to pull off Marino’s larger frame (he may even have to gain a few pound!) and having mastered the panic attack in The Sopranos, I think he can do the sweaty, drunken, heart attack waiting to happen that makes Marino the man he is.  Unlike the rest, there is really nothing negative about him at all.  There’s nothing that makes me think he isn’t absolutely perfect for this role.

The Alternative

Bruce Campbell would be my next choice to play Marino.  I know he’s not someone who might come to the mind of most of the Scarpetta fans, but he’s good. SO good.   Sure he’s not as big as Marino is described to be, but if we are supposed to accept Jolie as Scarpetta with all the differences… there’s no reason we can’t see him as Marino too.

I recently watched a show called Burn Notice with Campbell playing the sidekick role.  A former navy seal, loving the action, women and mojitos, he’s the full package.  He could play someone with a drinking problem and he could play a cop.  If we are trying to pretty up the characters to make them for film friendly, there’s also a certain sex appeal to this guy.  He could be Marino without the bits that turn you off about him.

BENTON WESLEY

Benton Wesley according to Wikipedia (spoilers):

Benton is an FBI profiler. He and Scarpetta work together on many cases, at first on a strictly professional level. As their relationship progresses, they end up having an affair, which goes on for years. However, once Benton is no longer with his wife, he and Kay have problems because they are both too independent. In Point of Origin Benton disappears; his body is found at the scene of a fire, badly burned and showing signs of having been tortured extensively. Kay identifies the body by the Breitling watch she had given Benton. In Blow Fly it is later revealed that he is not dead, but had been hiding for years in order to trap a cunning serial killer: another body, suitably damaged, had been planted at the scene. Kay is shaken to her core, and furious at Wesley for letting her believe he was dead for so long. In Book of the Dead, Kay and Benton become engaged, and are married by the beginning of Scarpetta.

I always imagined Benton to be older than Scarpetta.  He’s distinguished looking, masculine and attractive.  Not overly masculine though, while he’s still quite serious about his job, there’s a softer side there.  I never had any one person in mind for this part, just a type.  So I had to think about this one a bit.

Richard Gere was the first actor I came up with.  He’s a silver fox that can do serious and a bit of action while still being able to be a great romantic leading man.

I can see him as an FBI profiler, and I can definitely see him sweeping Kay off her feet, even if it has to be Angelina Jolie.  There aren’t many women in Hollywood that he couldn’t make fall in love with him in a film.  It’s believable and I think he’s the full package for this one.   I love him for this.

…and I’m not just saying that because he’ll always be Edward to me.

The Alternative

I had a hard time deciding between Liam Neeson and John Slattery for my alternative but decided in the end that Liam was my choice.  He’s more masculine and has a bit of mystery about him that would work well in the role of Wesley.

I don’t think he has quite as much romantic appeal as Richard Gere, but he makes up for it in his experience in action films.  He’d easily pass for an FBI agent and he does still have some appeal as a leading man too.

Shame he’d probably have to drop that sexy accent though.

CONCLUSION

Angelina Jolie should totally be in this movie, just not as Scarpetta.  There are a lot of options in regards to who can play all the supporting roles, and I hope they choose well.  I fear that they’ll try to Hollywood this whole thing up, making the characters all younger, fitter, and more attractive than they are in the book.  I understand this may need to be done at times to bring people into the theaters, but they don’t want to take everything away from what was created in the books either.   I’m surprised Cornwell agreed to Jolie and I’m very curious to see the rest of the cast when they are chosen.

Are you a fan of the Scarpetta series?  What do you think about Jolie playing her in the film?  Any ideas on who you would like for the supporting roles? I’m curious to hear who you imagine to play all of these characters too.

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This is quite possibly one of the worst books I have ever read.  A friend loaned it to me together with an entire bag of other books.  She went through them quickly with me but she admitted she bought a few of them simply because of their covers.  They do all have very cool and impressive covers, I must admit!  I do remember her saying some were not so great, but I couldn’t remember which.

After reading it, I’m pretty sure this has to be one of them.

Great cover indeed, to look at it you think ooooooh, SPOOKAY!!! but yeah, not so much.  The cover is actually the best part about it, so whoever whipped that one up deserves some kudos as they are quite possibly the only reason this book ever sold in the first place.  So, well done cover person!

To read the blurb on the back of the book, it sounds fantastic, have a read:

When Conrad Harrison impulse-buys a big old house in Wisconsin, his wife Jo doesn’t share his enthusiasm, reluctant at the idea of leaving their LA life – so Conrad is left to set up their new home as she ties up loose ends at work. But Conrad’s new purchase is not all that it seems. Soon Conrad is hearing the ghostly wailing of a baby in the night, seeing blood on the floor and being haunted by a woman who looks exactly like Jo. With his wife away, Conrad becomes obsessed by the pregnant girl next door, Nadia, who claims to be a victim of the evil in the house. The crying leads him to a bricked-up body, and the mystery of the Birthing House unravels, pulling in Jo, Nadia and leading Conrad to a nightmarish conclusion…

Sounds awesome, right?!  To read that, you’d think this is not a book you want to read in bed at night.  I did though, and I spent every minute of it waiting for the good bits that never came.

There are so many things that frustrated me about this book and if you’ve also read it, continue on.  If you haven’t read it and don’t want me to spoil things for you, stop here because this is going to be a no holds barred kinda thing.

1. Conrad, the main character in the book, is an idiot.  From the very start I couldn’t connect with him or understand him at all.  Who goes and buys a creepy old house in the middle of nowhere without even consulting his wife?  His relationship with his wife was rocky at best, and his reactions to the things she does and says are so incredibly childish.  One minute he hates her and is swearing at her through the phone, the next minute he can’t get enough of her.  I know many love/hate relationships do exist but this was absurd.   It was the same with the pregnant girl next door, out of nowhere he really wants her and his wife may as well not exist.  The relationship between those two was completely unrealistic and creepy.  It didn’t help the reader like Conrad any more, that’s for certain.  In fact, there were no characters to like in this book, they were all either creepy, weird, immature etc.   Not in good ways either, or in a way that did any favors to the book.

2. Calling this book scary is like the longest stretch possible.  At best it was slightly tense at points, but it was so ridiculous and poorly written that you never got sucked in enough to be affected by anything he wrote. 

3. There was potential for the author to make this a great story, but he only took things part way. Then it seemed to drop off, leaving us wondering what the point was of that particular part of storyline.  Often there wasn’t a point at all, it was like useless information that never lead to anything just added to bulk up the book.

For example, the photo album he was given by the previous owner of the house.  There was so much potential there to make something of that, to have it get more and more creepy as he turned the pages.  Instead, what happens?  He opens it up, gets freaked out by a photo he thinks is his wife, and whiffs it in the fire.  That’s the end of that.  The photo album supposedly contained the history of the house, it could have gotten more scary and intense as he went through it, but instead it gets burned and that’s it, it’s over.

There was also potential there to make something more of the back story with the previous owners of the house.  He went into detail describing the man, his wife and their deformed children.  He even had a lengthy conversation with the man at one point, listening to the man drivel on incoherently.  You read all this nonsense assuming at some point it will fit into the story and make sense, but like everything else, nothing ever comes of it.   You expect that at some point in the storyline with the previous owners becomes relevant, but it doesn’t.  It’s all for naught because you never get any sort of explanation about how the children became deformed, how they managed to live in the house so long or why they left.  Pointless.

Another thing that confused me was the angry neighbour, Steve.  There are a few times that Conrad comes in contact with Steve and he seems angry but you never find out why.  Does Steve know something that is going on in the house? Is he upset because of Conrad’s relationship with the pregnant girl?  Who knows, it’s just there and is never explained, like so many other things in the book.

4. The whole story of Alma.  How did this have anything to do with the photo of Conrad’s wife in the book?  Did Alma just look like her?  Did Alma do that to freak Conrad out?  Was Conrad somehow connected to the doctor in Alma’s past?  What in the bejesus was going on?  You get the story about Alma and her mother with the doctor, but how does that connect with Conrad?  What actually goes on with Conrad in the end before the police show up?  Did Conrad do all the horrible things or did Alma do it to make him crazy?  What drew Conrad to the house in the first place, did Alma have something to do with that?

It’s not like your usual cliffhanger type of book where it leaves you guessing in regards to what actually ended up happening with the main character.  This book confuses you the whole way through, makes you think that all your questions will be answered in the end, and then the ending is an entirely new kind of crazy.  Nothing gets wrapped up, it just makes less sense as you go on.  I actually slammed the book shut and swore when I finished reading it, it was that bad.

I honestly can’t imagine what the publishers were thinking when they picked this up. 

So given all of this, if you want to give it a read, by all means do so!  Then maybe you can explain it to me!

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