Strange old Mrs. Dixon is in need of company. Florea Low decides to stay and chat with her. What can be the harm? Florea thinks. Then the memory losses and the sudden weird illnesses begin. And things are about to get worse. . . . <...
Written by Barbara Siegel and Scott Siegel. By Simon Pulse.
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I'm not really that big a fan of Charles Dickens, but I am a huge fan of David Levithan and Brian Selznick. I was expecting a modernization of A Christmas Carol with a twist and the amazing dialogue and true-to-life characters that I expect from Levinthan. What I didn't expect was the cheesy nearly word-for-word retelling of a book I never really liked in the first place.
It should really come as no surprise that Marly is dead, the victim of a cancer that claims the lives of far too many people at far too young an age. In the beginning, the book started off strong with the heart-felt longing Ben has for his lost girlfriend and the pain it has caused not only for Ben but also for those who love him the most.
Yet, as the story continues with the appearance of Marly and the three other ghosts--the Spirits of Love Past, Present and Future--the story goes from heartbreaking to overkill. Instead of letting a natural flow come from a great beginning, Levithan forces his characters to fit into the neat little mold that Dickens had created more than a hundred years before.
While the end looked like it was about to take a turn for the better and have a more modern application of the timeless moral the original story outlined, the characters were again restricted by the near verbatim retelling. (I'm afraid if I say more on this, I will give away the ending.)
I know this review sounds harsh, but the book really wasn't that bad of a read. The story really does teach a good lesson about learning from the past while still living for the future, and that love really can pull us through some pretty awful things. The illustrations are also very classic Selznick--and he does pull off giving the original etchings for the Dickens tale a modern twist. Best of all, the book is a short, fast-passed read that can fill up a lazy afternoon. But overall, the book falls far short of my expectations of what a great author like Levithan can pull off.
As a fan of David Levithan's BOY MEETS BOY, I was anxiously awaiting the chance to read his latest, MARLY'S GHOST. Anyone familiar with Levithan's work knows what I'm talking about when I say that he wields words with the precision of a surgeon utilizing a scalpel. He can put you in someone else's head and make you feel like you've always been there. He can lift you up or shoot you down with a carefully crafted sentence. I'm happy to report that his most recent book does not disappoint.
As the title suggests, MARLY'S GHOST is a modern, teenage take on Charles Dickens's A CHRISTMAS CAROL. The twist is that it's set around Valentine's Day, not Christmas. Ben and Marly are the perfect couple at their high school. When Marly gets ill and dies, Ben is convinced he'll never recover from the loss. Just as his counterpart, Ebenezer Scrooge, turns from Christmas, Ben turns from love. He spurns his best friend, Fred, refusing to join him for their annual anti-Valentine's Day party. He verbally abuses a gay couple (amusingly bearing the names Tiny and Tim) who attempt to get Ben to buy a Valentine's Day flower. And he falls deeper and deeper into a brooding depression that takes him farther and farther from the people who care most for him.
Even a passing familiarity with the Dickens story tells you what happens next. Marly's ghost visits Ben (her "chain" is a mammoth charm bracelet she wore in life, which Ben now unknowingly uses to tie her to this world) and announces that three spirits will visit him so that he might remember the meaning of love. Ben is then taken on a tour of love from the past, the present and the future, and (I don't think it's spoiling much to reveal) he returns to his life a changed man.
But don't dismiss this as a simple parody or pastiche of Dickens. Levithan very thoughtfully crafts his characters, granting them heart and heartache. You sympathize with Ben's loss from the very beginning in a way you never felt for Dickens's Scrooge. The sundering of Tiny Tim into two boys who are very much in love is a smart and fascinating move.
The only criticism I would raise is the anachronistic language that mimics Dickens's original dialogue but seems very out of place in this modern story. True, other classic works (such as Shakespeare) have been set in modern times while retaining the original language and still maintained their integrity. But Levithan jumps back and forth from the Dickensian discourse to contemporary teen speak, which is a bit distracting. However, this minor complaint should not deter anyone from this very earnest and touching story.
--- Reviewed by Brian Farrey
"I repeated it now- I love you. I love you. Please. I love you. Then it came- that one small gasp. We waited for the next one, but there was no next one. You expect death to bring some new form of punctuation, but there it is: one small gasp. Period."
Ben is a 16 year old man grieving the loss of his first love, Marly, a woman who died from cancer. He was with her until the end, and those moments leading up to her death still haunt him, so much so that he feel that he can't go on with her months after her death. His loss wells to such an intensity it causes him to lash out to his family, friends, and even strangers with heated animosity. On the day before Valentine's day he even tells off a couple by the names of Tiny and Tim (the school's only gay couple) proclaiming that love is pointless and other such nonsense. It is obvious that his depression has taken a toll on him.
That evening in a moment of sheer loneliness he is visited by the ghost of Marly, who tells him his ties on him are weighing her down in the afterlife and that he has to move on. He admits he wants to die, so she tells him that he will be visited by three ghosts over the next few nights... if the story sounds familiar that's because it is a retelling of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol"... only set in contemporary times and with a Valentine's day theme instead.
It is true that Charles Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol", but to me it feels as if it were meant purely as a study for David Levithan to use to pen this book. Now, I freely admit I have never been the biggest fan of Dickens' style of writing but I have read "A Christmas Carol" (in class, I wouldn't have finished it had I not been forced to). So I do know the story. However, it feels that Levithan's retelling is so much more suitable than Dickens' ever was. We really do feel Ben's anguish whereas before it was difficult to sympathize with Scrooge. His heartache seems far more definite than Scrooge's ever was, and the character is more likeable, even is he is difficult, at times.
I enjoyed this retelling, short as it was. It feels more fleshed out, somehow... perhaps because Ben's revelations come out of the fact that he was near suicidal at times, and that grief just reached out to me. The end seemed rushed, however that did not take away from the story. This was a pleasant read.
Sixteen-year-old Ebeneezer "Ben" Scrooge, was always a die-hard Valentine's Day fan. Bringing his girlfriend, Marly, flowers and chocolates. But all that changes when Marly dies from a brain tumor. After three-years together, Ben doesn't feel that he can go on, and is angered by the fact that everyone around him is living their life as if nothing tragic has happened. What angers him even more is Valentine's Day. Suddenly, Ben wonders how a stupid, commercialized holiday can mean so much to people. So he boycotts it. But Marly's spirit obviously isn't going to allow Ben to ruin this holiday, or go on living angry. For on the eve of Valentine's Day, Marly's ghost arrives, bringing along several other ghosts that will haunt him within a 24-hour period - the Ghost of Love Past, the Ghost of Love Present, and the Ghost of Love Future - that will show Ben that the way he's been acting is doing nothing more than dishonoring Marly's memory, and making him...a scrooge.
Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL has been one of my favorite books since I was very young. So when I heard about David Levithan's MARLY'S GHOST, I didn't think that it could compare. I was wrong. Levithan's MARLY'S GHOST is a wonderful "remix" of the story A CHRISTMAS CAROL, and easily brings Dickens' ideas into a modern day scene that will leave readers enchanted. The storyline is sad - as is A CHRISTMAS CAROL - and the descriptions of Marly's sickness bring to mind scenes from Nicholas Sparks' A WALK TO REMEMBER, yet end on a happy note - as did Sparks' effort. Levithan has created characters that embody updated versions of all of Dickens' previous characters, even including a modern day Tiny Tim - that is actually two gay freshman named Tiny and Tim. The storyline, on its own, is wonderful, and keeps the reader turning the pages until the very end, while Brian Selznick's illustrations bring the spirit of A CHRISTMAS CAROL to life. An inspiring, emotion-charged story, that will warm the hearts of all readers - even the biggest cynics about love.
Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper
Written by Trey Callaway. By Simon Spotlight Entertainment.
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5 comments about I Still Know What You Did Last Summer: The Screenplay.
I like Lois Duncan's style of writing....he puts suspense, horror and trills all together in one short reasding book....the moves is good too!!!!
My name is Tucker and this book is very scary and a very good book. I couldn't put it down once I started reading it was one of the best books I have ever read! Please buy this book and you'll love it I promise it will make you love scary books even if you don't like them. If you buy this book you won't be sorry you will absolutley love this book I promise.
...All it is, is a screenplay to the sequal "I Still Know...". It is even written in screenplay form. Some of the events and dialogue change, but it is basically the same.... It is also very boring the way it is. If it were in novel form, like the original "I Know..." book, then it might have been good. The best place to go for more "Hook", go see the movies. ...
Like a script it was written excactly like the movie. If you loved the movie you love the book. If you haven't seen the movie that's okay you can read the book before the movie. I loved it. I thought that it was written with great detail and cleverness.
I read this book in one day. It was that good. It is written in screenplay form and has been edited for bad language. The violence is all in there though (some more grusome than the movie). The book contains about 8 pages of photos from the movie inside. It is an easy read and any age could read it. I have not seen this book in librarys, but it is on the internet and in stores. It is a great, scary book!
Hauntings was a good addition to the series and one well worth reading. The only reason I did not rate it a four is because the book was slow at points and unlike the first two books in the series I felt the Lex Luthor character was not as strong in dialogue. If you've read my reviews on the first 2 books then you will realize I hammered the Clark character. The author did a much better job with Clark in this book and it was very true to the story and characters. Definitely worth reading and I would say is one step behind Dragon but better than Strange Visitors.
This is an amazing Smallville book. I truly enjoyed every last single page of the book. Basically, it is about a haunted house being occupied by a young girl and her mother (a scientist working for Lex Luther). The young girl Ginger, is totally spooked about living in the house and make her feelings known to Clark, Lana, Chloe, and Pete. They all hold a seance to draw out the ghost. Honestly speaking, I was spooked out of my mind after reading this book. I must admit that I had a nightmare. Overall, the characters in the books are very believable and this book will make a great Smallville episode. This book also explores the relationship Clark has with his parents which is great because it isn't explored much on the TV show. This book has earned five stars.
Nancy Holder has a real problem with "gray" characters. She didn't get Spike in her Btvs novels, and she doesn't get Lex in Smallville. I really think she would be better served sticking with series where all the characters are clearly labeled "good" or "evil". If you like Lex, you won't like this novel. In fact, if you like the "gray" morally ambiguous characters in any series, you should probably avoid any tie-in novels by Nancy Holder.
Ghosts are real. In Smallville, there is strange energy generated by green glowing meteorites. Enter high-energy physics and you are just asking for trouble.
Nancy Holder tells a tale of a scientist renting a haunted house. Unfortunately the ghosts have gained extra strength from the presence of the Smallville meteorites.
Clark Kent and friends get involved with the scientist daughter and try to solve the ghostly mystery. Along the way there are disappearances, seances, cover-ups and Clark begins to lose his powers.
The ghosts and their haunting would be at home in any conventional horror tale. Good spooks and some clever plot twists make it quite good. The book's weakness is involved in adapting the ghost story to Smallville.
Ms. Holder has a strange idea about man-made elements and I couldn't help thinking that the imagery was taken from the movie Madame Curie. Also, there is no real explanation as to why Clark is losing his powers or how he gets them back again. Now, in the Superman mythos, Superman is vulnerable to magic, but that was not the case here. Instead, it was just an unexplained plot device.
A good ghost story (I really enjoyed the twists), but the Smallville framing just didn't work.
Okay, this book gave me goosebumps even in the day time. Very good suspense and thrill writing! Think you'll like it too. Don't expect the same as in the TV series. That's what makes it worth reading, a different perspective by a talented author.
5 comments about Dance of Death (Sweet Valley High).
I was disappointed with this vampire mini-series. It seemed to copy an earlier Sweet Valley High trilogy about werewolves (Love & Death in London, Date With a Werewolf, & Beware the Wolfman). In both trilogies, there are mysterious human and pet murders. In the werewolf trilogy, Elizabeth is in love with a werewolf, while in the vampire series, Jessica is in love with a vampire. That difference makes it a whole new story!
The plot in DOD is stale and has been used many times before. Jessica falls madly in love with a new boy, and Elizbeth is torn between her summer fling, Joey Mason, and her boyfriend, Todd Wilkins. This dilemma might have more novelty if Elizabeth hadn't already cheated on Todd in many other books.
Jessica and Enid both fall in love with Jonathan Cain, who is a vampire. Of course Jonathan rejects Enid for Jessica, who always gets her man.
When a young woman is murdered, Elizabeth irrationaly jumps to the conclusion that it must be Jessica, because the murder victim is a blonde, as is Jessica. Coincidentally, In Love & Death in London, Elizabeth also believes Jessica has been murdered. This is just an old story with a new villan.
This book was great, I couldn't put it down! Jessica is obsessed with Jonathan, and although it's obvious Jonathan is attracted to her he won't open himself up to her. What does he have to hide?
I loved it I really loved it I can't wait to read the next
It's book 2 of these suspensful 3-part mysteries. Jessica loves Jonathan Cain, who just moved to Sweet Valley. But Jonathan he resists Jess everytime she comes his way. Is he just not interested, or does he have something deadly to hide?
In the book Phone Calls by R.L.Stine is about two best friends who gets into a fight. Now their an arguing pack. Julie needs to straighten everything out. Now Ramar an exchange student calls Julie and asks her out. Now Julie has to find a way to get out of her with Ramar. Anyone who likes to read can read this book. I recommend Phone Calls to anyone who likes to talk on phone and know how to solve problems. Also if you read this book you might get to know what the author is trying to say. You should read this book because it has an amazing background to the story. This book should keep you out of trouble.
Even though this book was published ten years ago, and I first read it when I was about eleven, I still enjoy it! It's full of wit and the best part is the irony that occurs at the end! It's a breath of fresh air from Stine's other novels...the only frightening character is the eccentric exchange student, Ramar. You won't be scared, but you'll definitely laugh.
Evan cant wait till he arrives at the fremantle football game,his sister said that there are were wolfs,well evan does not believe that, why should he plus his sister always tells lies. When he arrives things go strange, could their be such thing as a were wolf, well evan fogets about the were wolf thing because he is to intrested in the game. Well soon everyone is telling him about the were wolf.
I thought it was an amazingly intriguing book. I read better but I never expect such a great book out something I just picked up. I stayed up all night on a school night and read it. I couldn't put the book down. I enjoyed it a great deal and looking forward to see a book written in such a format. The author impressed me. Thanx!
I really liked this book, It is all phone conversations between these kids. It is alot different than most of R.L.s books but is still really good. I thought it was amusing and humorus ( I can't spell ) the way they kept getting back at each other. A FUn ReaD!
SHORT CIRCUITS This book is called short circuits, because it has 13 short stories. The best one of the short circuits was called For Petes Snake. I liked it because this kid was babysitting his sisters boa construicoer and he wwent down stairs to watch some t.v., because their was a storm and when he up to check on the snake the snake wasn't there. When he saw gnaw bites at the top of the cage he remembered the door was open. He went up to his room and sat there until he felt something crawling up his leg. What was crawling up his leg was the blanket he was under ,then his parents came in the room with his sister and she had the snake around her. He was thankful they had found the snake, but then his sister had to give up the snake because the family was terrified.
om comes to Thailand and was in a rich house,bad luck happens,but he met a Thai boy called Lek.Lek sells sam-tom, (spicy food) and despises rich people. He was edcuated in a villige and learned to speak English.He had good relationship with his teacher, the teacher gave him a pocket computer when he left for Bangkok.It prooved to grant wishes, even evil ones that gets others hurt. And soon the teacher was killed by some raiding Khmer Rouge soildiers.
Dom had had all the bad luck size=1>
I liked the book for the most part but some of the characters were to unrealistic. My favorite part was when yhe boys saved the mad spirit from the pocket computer that she was stuck in.
The worst part of the book was when the khwan, a spirit of a body who is still alive, came out of Gope's body and went after Dom. The khwan of Gope was angry at Dom because Dom knew a secret that no one was supposed to know.
The most vivid were Dom And lek because the author,William Sleator, told their personalities and discriptions as if he knew them personally. The most vivid conflict was when Dom offended Lek about his culture by accident.
This was the first book that I'd read by this author. It's very good, very interesting, and factual in most ways. It tells about Thailand and the lifestyle of the people who live there among the story. The story is about a boy named Dom who moves with his parents to Thailand for a while. As soon as they arrive, bad luck descends upon him and his family. Dom befriends a Thai boy named Lek who sells som-tam (a type of spicy food) in the city. The story progresses as pieces to the puzzle of what happened to Dom's sister and her jade necklace when she'd visited before, and what Lek is so mysteriously hiding are revealed. This author's very good and if you like this book, you should try another one of his. This book is part of a sequel, and that should be read as well.
Some people would like "Dangerous Wishes", some won't. I'm one of those who would like it. It wasn't to fast or to slow. There was more than one conflict, and very detailed. I think the best part is when they go to Lek's home village,and Glope gets mad at them. When Dom wakes up the next morning, seeing Glope's khwan staring at him, following him everywhere tring to "accidently" get him hurt or even killed. Willaim Sleator did a good job discribing everything, but I would say he did best on the khwan, and Lek. Lek has many problems in life, and Dom just makes them worse. Willaim made the khwan seem so real, and freaky. How its one goal was to hurt or even kill the person its after, wanting revenge. This is just one of the books Willaim Sleator did a great job on.
This is a very interesting book to read. It has alot of information about Thailand. Dangerous Wishes is about a boy named Dom who finds a Thai friend Lek. Lek believe in spirits and superstition. The spirits bring bad luck to the both of them and eventually follow them.
