Title: Warm Bodies Author: Isaac Marion My Age Recommendation: 14+ Publisher: Vintage (read on Kobo e-reader) Publication Date: October 2010 Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: Ben Synopsis
A zombie who yearns for a better life ends up falling in love—with a human—in this astonishingly original debut novel. R is a zombie. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. He doesn’t enjoy killing people; he enjoys riding escalators and listening to Frank Sinatra. He is a little different from his fellow Dead.
Ben’s Review
This is an intriguing novel. Unique, I guess and this is from someone who’s read a lot of zombie books. Re-animated corpses with feelings is not an entirely new concept. George Romero kind of did it in the movie Day Of The Dead, but in that case Bub was all kinds of bad.
Here what could easily have felt like a trite gimmick works a treat and that’s mainly thanks to Marion’s writing.
It was actually the language that made me ponder whether I liked this book initially. R is an (undead) guy who can’t remember his own name, yet his internal monologue – the book is first-person perspective – is overflowing with colourful metaphors and verbiage.
It caused me to think, I suppose OVERthink, whether it was “realistic”. Of course that seems ridiculous in the world of zombies, but if you’re going to write in this genre then it’s important you build your environment, your reality and stick to those rules.
And that’s where Marion does a fantastic job. He creates a unique place, vivid characters and while they grow in the emotional sense, they don’t do things they shouldn’t – WITHIN THE FABRIC OF THIS PARTICULAR STORY.
Its cleverness is also reflected in the way it jumps back and forth in place and time, even POV and yet Marion manages to make it feel effortless and graspable.
It’s no surprise this has been snatched up by Hollywood, but for the real experience, I suggest reading the novel. Romantic, gory, funny, odd, it’s got an awful lot going for it.
And as it reaches it climax, it does what all good zombie stories should do and that’s act as a piece of social commentary. Some tales do this with all the subtlety of an anvil, but Marion’s a more gifted author than that. This is not up there with the truly great pieces of undead art, but it’s close.
It’s time for another Schlock & Awe Podcast and this edition’s film is one for the ages. I love this film so much I’ve got a Japanese version of the poster in my office.
This is a 1982 film starring Barry Bostwick as Ace Hunter – Deeds Not Words! – a man who parades around in a lycra onesie and tries to stop the evil machinations of Henry Silva. There are flying bikes, so-so effects, a chemistry-free love story, a hilarious training sequence and more along the way.
I also try to re-enact some of the scenes from the film at home with my wife, namely the strange sign-off Ace Hunter has, which involves him kissing his thumb and then giving the thumbs-up. My wife says I look ridiculous doing it and she won’t comply, but I give it a good go anyway.
The film can be hard to actually see, I’ve got it on VHS, mainly I think because it was a huge flop. But I recommend digging it out anyway. I know the South Park guys are huge fans and there must be millions more like us secretly gathered around the world.
Anyway, to get to lowdown on the film, I decided to get in touch with Andre Morgan, a lovely guy who co-wrote and produced this epic (as well as being a leading light behind the film company Golden Harvest and thus Bruce Lee’s career).
He was able to tell me some brilliant stories about the making of it and clear up once and for all my main question: whether this was supposed to be a serious, hardcore action pic or a comedy.
You can hear his answer below. Enjoy! And remember, I’d love to hear your feedback at schlockandawe@gmail.com or on Twitter @schlockandawe
The unique artistic vision that is Santigold burst onto the scene with her debut album in 2008. Back then the Philadelphian born Santi White was known as Santogold, but in 2009 she changed to her current moniker. She’s written for other artists including Lily Allen and Ashlee Simpson, but now she’s got a new record Master of My Make-Believe, as well as single Disparate Youth. The 35-year-old is an intimidating solo performer, but she’s also known for her collaborations. I asked her to recall her favourites (both her own and others).
Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith – Walk This Way
I remember being so excited as a little kid about the video. Back then, hip-hop was new and that crazy hair band look was so insane. Coming through the hole with that hair and the lips, visually it was amazing, but the merging of rock and hip-hop at the time was pretty groundbreaking.
Santigold and David Byrne – Please Don’t
I worked with David Byrne on a song for his record. Just the fact that it was David Byrne who was coaching me on how he wanted it was the most amazing thing because he’s one of my heroes. That he even wanted me for his project was a compliment. He said my show was the best show he’d ever seen and it just blew me away. He’s seen so many and his own shows are the most amazing. It pretty much made my year.
Amadou & Mariam (feat. Santigold) – Dougou Badia
I just worked with Amadou and Mariam. That was really special because it was so outside of what I normally do. They’re a blind couple from Mali. They compose on an acoustic guitar. We’re sitting in a hotel room on the bed playing guitar. They’re wanting me to sing along. They wrote the part on the spot and I was like, ‘can I go and do something on my computer?’ Once we got into it, it really came alive.
David Bowie and Queen – Under Pressure
It’s a masterful piece of music, a piece of artwork to aspire to. I didn’t even really know who Queen was. I don’t think that Freddie Mercury is really one of the people who’ve influenced me, but I was watching some old VH1 footage of Queen and he’s an amazing performer.
Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre
This is the best collaboration ever. For a whole album, or period of a career. It’s one of those magic combinations that works so well. Sometimes you’ve got this chemistry.
Master of My Make-Believe is out on 23rd April. Disparate Youth is out now.
So – I love B movies and as such, I wanted to do a little something about them. The result? Schlock & Awe, a podcast which includes interviews with people involved in some of the films which move me (in a good AND bad way), as well as discussion and stuff. The latter, in particular, is something I hope comes as a result of posting the pod.
The first one is all about Troll 2, a cult movie which has to be seen to be believed. If you have seen it, you’ll enjoy hearing about behind-the-scenes shenanigans from Michael Stephenson, who played the lead role of Joshua.
If you haven’t caught it yet, well, maybe his interview will tantalise you enough to go and seek out the DVD. It’s well worth it. As long as you have a lot of alcohol (or other fizzy pop if you’re underage) to watch it with.
More should be coming your way, talking about some truly legendary crap films and revealing a whole lot of crazy things about them. Plus, some interviews with heroes of the B movie genre.
If you want to contact me, do leave a comment, or you can find the podcast on Twitter – @schlockandawe or on the email if you want to suggest a film/person to chat about/with.
The email address is: schlockandawe@gmail.com or you can contact me here on my personal email.
Please flag this up to anyone you think might like it – and in the meantime, enjoy!
I was lucky enough to corner Michael Grant – author of the GONE series and now BZRK – for an interview. A fascinating guy and a great storyteller…Enjoy.
Your books tend to be quite dark. Was that always the tack you intended to take in your writing?
To be honest, early on I just kind of stumbled into writing for kids. My wife,Katherine Applegate, had started ghostwriting for Sweet Valley Twins and was getting additional work. So she basically said, “Here, write this book.” That was phase one of my career. Then came ANIMORPHS. We went quite dark with ANIMORPHS which we co-authored and EVERWORLD and REMNANTS as well. That what was basically phase two. Phase three came after a 5 or 6 year hiatus. I came back with GONE which is definitely edgy. But then I did the MAGNIFICENT 12 series, which is kind of goofy action. Now with BZRK I’m back to the dark side. But the book Katherine and I just co-authored – EVE and ADAM – skews back toward a slightly lighter take. Which is a really long answer, isn’t it? I guess the point is that I write a story and don’t think too much about whether it fits a genre.
It wasn’t unfair. BZRK gets right at the issues of freedom and responsibility and what is and what isn’t real. The morality tends to get a bit tangled. The bad guys are definitely bad, but their professed motives are good. The good guys aren’t exactly good, let’s just say they’re slightly better than the bad guys.
Nano is an incredible and terrifying-sounding technology. Did you do a lot of research into it?
I don’t know that I’m capable of doing a lot of research. I did some, though, which is pretty good for me.
Your teenage years sound more exciting than most. How do you feel it affected you?
Well, as I mentioned on your initial review, by the time I had finished my sixteenth year I had dropped out of school, hitchhiked cross-country, arranged fake ID by signing up for the draft, gotten a full time job and saved enough to take myself and a cashier to Europe for three months where we hitchhiked around. We broke up, I got ripped off, ended up sleeping under a bridge in Frankfurt for a couple weeks and came back to the US carrying nothing but my fatigue jacket and a copy of Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke. Also, by that point in life because I was an Army brat I’d attended more schools than I’d attended years of school, including schools in France where I became bilingual. My mother was 16 when I was born, my birth father disappeared before I arrived on the scene. So yeah, not the usual childhood. I’d had a lot more freedom and responsibility than most teenagers. So I know what kids are capable of.
In GONE I have a kid, Albert, who takes over running the McDonalds. I have zero doubt about the realism of that. I don’t see teens as fragile little objects easily overwhelmed or terrified. I’m not sentimental about them. It’s funny to me that 100% of complaints I’ve had about some of the darker and more dangerous teen characters have come from adults. Kids never doubt that their fellow teens can be awful. But adults like to idealize the teen years, they forget the bad and focus on the good. I think I pay teenagers the compliment of seeing them as actual human beings, capable of good and evil, capable of heroism and
cowardice.
I’m not going to be as trite as asking where you get your ideas from. But do you have the whole series in your head when you start, or does it just all pour from the crumb of an idea?
I never know where a story is going. I start it and just keep asking, “Okay, then what?” I don’t plan, and that’s deliberate: if I plan everything out I’ll be obeying the meta-laws of fiction. I’ll be predictable, because the readers know the same rules I know. I don’t want them figuring it out in advance. I want them surprised and the best way to accomplish that is for me to be surprised myself every day.
I was interested in the kind of fans your books might attract. Obviously they are plentiful, but what kind of people do you find them to be?
Oh, the usual psychopaths and weirdos. Kidding. They seem like a fairly normal bunch. A bit smarter than average, obviously if they’re reading hundreds of pages into densely-plotted books.
Getting boys reading is a consistent bugbear for publishers, schools and parents. What’s your take on that?
I think adults often don’t approve of the kinds of books that boys (and girls, too) like. Adults like “good for you” books. They often think books are medicine that will cure little Johnny or young Alice of the affliction of being an adolescent. Then adults will read crap like Dan Brown for entertainment and stress relief but the kids are supposed to be reading the Bible and Silas Marner. It’s ridiculous. Your fifteen year-old needs at least as much stress relief as you do, and they don’t get to down a martini at the end of the day, so let them read what they want.
Drake in the GONE series is an incredible creation – for me a mix of Roger from Lord Of The Flies, that snake from the Bible, the alien from Alien and the baddie from Time Bandits. Is that the most random, or indeed the stupidest description of him you’ve heard?
I like that, actually. I’ve always written nuanced villains, so I wanted for once to write someone who was purely, unambiguously evil. Just pure, Grade A rottenness.
Drake’s last name is Merwin, a shout-out to Trashcan Man from The Stand by Stephen King. Drake’s not nice. Just not nice at all that boy.
What is the status of the film versions of your work?
You tell me and we’ll both know. I have no useful news on that front. There is movement, perhaps, but my Magic 8-ball says ‘reply hazy.’
Go on, give us some insight into Bzrk 2, you know you want to…
Okay, how about this: the President of the United States, under the influence of nanobots. commits a gruesome crime and she’s caught by the hacker collective Anonymous?
Danny Dyer intrigues me. Here’s a guy who has almost zero respect amongst the mainstream filmmaking fraternity, yet his films always make money. Not in cinemas, but on the shelves of Tesco and Asda. One filmmaking friend told me that putting Danny in a film guarantees 60,000 DVD sales. Minimum. And if you’ve ever actually sat down to watch him play a part, he’s actually pretty good. The films he’s in might not be, but Danny? He can act. Which is why when an email popped into my inbox asking whether I’d like to interview him for his new British movie Deviation (out now) in which he plays a serial killer, I couldn’t resist. And you know what? While I’m no fan of his documentaries about criminals and wouldn’t necessarily choose to watch a lot of the projects he chooses to star in, twenty minutes later I wanted to ask him if he wanted to go to the pub so I could pitch him a script. Anyway, you can make your own mind up. NB: The answers must be read in a Cockney accent.
The blurb for this film says it’s a career-defining role. What does that mean?
The last couple of movies I’ve done I’ve been a bit lazy, I can’t lie. I’ve signed up to projects I don’t really believe in, just thinking about the money side of things. Because I’ve got two daughters and mortgage, you start to lose a little bit of passion. I think I’ve disappointed a few people…I need to get back to basics and show people I am a serious actor and I love what I do. I think this is shit or bust with me, I really need this job to work. It’s a very low-budget movie, but it’s about me going really left-field and trying to do something that people will go, “wow, I didn’t know he was capable of that.”
People have such strong opinions about you. Even though they probably haven’t watched most of your stuff.
I do divide people and people either really get me and respect me and love what I do, or despise me. That comes with the territory I suppose. I’ve read some shit about me on the Internet that’s nasty. Somebody said, “you’re trending on Twitter” and I had a look and people were going, “is he dead? Please tell me he’s dead.” I thinking, fucking hell, that’s a bit strong. But I take it on the chin like a man.
Do you know why they hate you?
I think some of the documentaries I’ve made, the hooligan stuff…I did that purely because of money. It got me a house. But there’s obviously consequences to that. People think I stand for something I’m not. I swear a lot and do get it wrong a lot and people find that repulsive. I’m not very well media-trained. I’m still working on that.
London is shot quite scarily in Deviation. Have you ever been frightened living and growing up there?
I was brought up in a dark, ghetto-y type place, so I was used to that. Living on a council estate. Never really knowing what’s going to happen, always kicking off, constant helicopters above your head at three in the morning, the sirens. The riots fucking freaked me out last year. I was filming actually in South Malden and I just missed the riots. I remember going home and watching it on the TV and thinking fucking hell, this is like a movie. All this bollocks about the Mayan calendar, I was thinking, fuck maybe it’s going to come true, the prophecy.
Was it there but for the grace of God..?
Probably. I can’t lie. What they did was disgusting, but when you’re running with a crowd and you’ve got fuck all to do with your life…they just got wrapped up in this idea of a lawless Britain. Why would you risk everything over a pair of trainers? I don’t think I would have gone that far with it. I’ve got too much respect for my parents to let them down. I probably would have gone so far, then fucked off home.
We’ve also been reading about this film where you were supposed to play yourself and was written especially for you, but you turned it down. What’s all that about?
I heard about this. It was called Danny Dyer Saves The World. I got the script sent to me and I read it and thought, “is this real? Is this someone taking the piss?” Then I didn’t hear anything about it ever again. Then I read I’d turned it down. I think it was the bloke who wrote it who were making these comments. I was like, “hold on a second.” It’s a mystery. I was totally flattered and honoured. I would definitely have thought about it if it was tongue-in-cheek.
You’re happy to take the mickey out of your public image then?
Of course. I think it’s important to do that. It’s part of the game. I don’t take myself seriously at all. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.
There’s been plenty of talk about the state of the British film industry lately – calls for more King’s Speeches, more commercially viable movie product that will generate money and is worth investing in in the first place. What the bigwigs fail to understand is how frail the infrastructure of the homegrown industry is.
Lots of movies are made here, sure, but they’re mostly Hollywood flicks. And it continues to be true that unlike the States or our friends on the continent, there is a lack of interest on the part of cinemas, distributors, film companies and most of all audiences to watch independent British cinema.
But might that be changing and might it come courtesy of the kind of movie that is consistently smeared in the U.K. press? After all, Tinseltown churns out hundreds of horror pics, crime thrillers and romcoms and even the least Oscar-worthy still tend to be preferred over those made in Bromley.
Simon Phillips and his crew hope so. “I sat down with someone the other day,” muses the 31-year-old actor/producer who decided to make his own movies rather than wait for the phone to ring. “He described Harry Potter to me as a British film. I was like, Harry Potter is very, very American. It’s Warner Brothers, the money all goes back to New York. It’s an American film shot on location.”
Phillips is taking a different tack – sheer bloody volume. “If you make one film, it’s easy to be ignored,” he says. “Even if you make two, it could be passed off as a fluke. But once you get to nine, 10, people have to pay attention otherwise they look a touch out of the loop.”
His company Black & Blue Films, which he runs alongside Billy Murray (ex-The Bill and those lawyer ads) and Martin Kemp amongst others, are looking to make six movies a year. Yes, six. Their latest – at least in terms of release – is How To Stop Being A Loser, a romantic comedy about a nerd who turns to a pick-up artist to get the girl of his dreams (Hollyoaks‘ Gemma Atkinson).
They have at least five in various stages of post-production, with a repertory company-style cast and regular crew. It’s a work rate similar to New York’s Mumblecore movement, the micro-indie wave whose denizens now populate mainstream Hollywood like flies, but previously just made films with their friends on the Big Apple streets.
Phillips is hoping for similar recognition. “We make low-budget films,” he says. “There’s not much aspiration to make higher budget films than the ones we’re working on at the moment. We’d rather we had a breakout at this budget level than raise ten million quid to make something. We’re not really interested in sitting on our hands for 12, 18 months for one film to get off the ground.”
Their approach is intriguing – private investors who fund a slate of small films rather than one bigger one, as well as direct contact with distributors who are finally realising despite critical savaging, those swaggering gangster pics make money once they hit the shelves of Tesco and Asda.
“We reverse engineer a little bit”, explains Phillips. “We ask the distribution company we sell to what sort of films they’d like. What works for them. What the market wants.” The result is a football movie called The Rise & Fall of a White Collar Hooligan.
I’ll be perfectly honest – these films aren’t great, though there’s enough technical skill and the acting’s good enough (for the most part) to put it on a par with similar American low-budget output, even if the accent or locations aren’t as sexy. The scripts are written very fast: “I really want to be able to go back to that company in six months and say here’s your hooligan film”, reveals Phillips. “With a finished movie”. And it shows. They could use a few more drafts.
But the Roger Corman-esque spirit is something to be celebrated for cinema fans and you’ve got to love a group of guys who phone up Mark Hamill or Robert Englund because they loved them as kids in Star Wars and Nightmare On Elm Street in order to ask them to star in their films. They did – Hamill’s in Airborne and Englund in Strippers vs. Werewolves, both due out later this year. They even got Jean-Claude Van Damme.
It’s doubtful when David Cameron or Chris Smith discusses British filmmaking, they’re thinking about a sci-fi starring Van Damme’s daughter and Pierce Brosnan’s son. But BAFTA is full of people who spend their days talking about how they’re “waiting for Jude to read the script” and live on development money doled out thanks to cronyism as opposed to talent.
Phillips and his ilk (and there are a few – just go to your nearest big supermarket) are far from the finished article. And no, they’re not going to be winning any awards any time soon.
But they’re making movies and responding to the market. And it’s just possible that’s worth a whole lot more than one arthouse hit every two years.
“I think the plan for myself is to stay here and keep working here”, says Phillips. “We’re looking for our Blair Witch Project or our Shaun Of The Dead. And then we’ll be in a better position to decide what the next move is. And my guys will keep working very hard until that happens.”
Marcus was convinced that vampires didn’t exist. He was very wrong…On his thirteenth birthday, Marcus Howlett is faced with a bombshell. His parents are half-vampire. And, although he hates the thought of it, he is about to become one too. But, as he secretly blogs about the horrors of his new fangs, bad breath and cravings for blood, Marcus is unaware that his life is in serious danger…
BEN’S REVIEW
I guess it was because The Vampire Diaries was taken. The title I mean. Though to be fair, none of this book is particularly subtle and its name is the least of it. I’ll be honest – this was probably a little bit too young for me. It’s all very well watching a Pixar movie and feeling empathy. In fact my favourite book of all-time is Charlie And The Chocolate Factory and that is aimed squarely at younger kids.
But The Vampire Blog left me cold. It felt too much like a bloodsucking cash-in, a piece of mediocrity churned out to capitalise on a craze.
It doesn’t help that the format makes little sense. Johnson makes the blog so specific as to include timings and it’s hard to believe a thirteen-year-old boy would be checking his watch during what he endures in the novel. That may sound nitpicky, but it’s symptomatic of a book which feels rushed, unprepared, a first draft. I don’t know, maybe he owns an iPad and is updating his blog from there as he goes.
For what it’s worth, the story rattles along. Johnson gives it a twist by making Marcus a half-vampire and there are a couple of clever moments, such as when our hero suffers an allergic reaction after unknowingly eating garlic sausage on a pizza.
But overall this wasn’t very enjoyable, it certainly wasn’t funny, there was no menace even at the climax and for some reason, the author thinks it merits a sequel. Personally, I wouldn’t bother.
For anyone who’s read about books in the last year, you’ll know Amanda Hocking is something of a publishing phenomenon. And almost all off her own back. Hocking, a 27-year-old from Minnesota, has sold more than a million e-books by self-publishing via Amazon. Writing in the young adult fantasy genre about a teenage girl with special powers, she’s now got a regular book deal (reputed to be in the millions) and is releasing Switched, the first novel in her Trylle saga.
It must be quite odd – everyone talking about how much money you made from self-publishing and the size of your traditional book deal?
It’s strange. Just the fact that everybody knows how much money you’re making, no matter how much it is, is a little weird. That’s always the lead and then it’s like now let’s talk about the book and the book kind of gets forgotten. But I understand that’s what makes the story exciting. My story anyway. I sold books by writing a book that people liked and now to sell more books I have to tell how I sold books. It’s kind of silly.
What are the origins of Switched. Were you the kid who ran around defeating evil wizards?
Yeah, I definitely was that way. I was an only child – I have a brother now, but he’s fifteen years younger than me – and we lived out in the country and we didn’t have a lot of money and we didn’t have cable. So I was out running around, telling stories of monsters and dragons and I had my animals involved in it and stuff. That was my entertainment.
So when did you write the book?
I wrote [Switched] in late 2009, right after the Star Trek movie came out. I watched the Star Trek movie, then I wrote the book, then I watched the Star Trek movie again in the theatre. It has nothing to do with the book, but I was really inspired by [the film]. If you’re looking for a connection, there’s not one!
What’s the hardest thing about your sudden fame?
It seems like it’s come so easy to me. And that can be very frustrating. It was a very arduous journey and then it happened very quickly. Everybody’s only seeing the very quick part. It was a perfect storm of things. I had written a bunch of books in a popular genre, had a number of books in my back list and when I decided to self-publish there weren’t many other authors doing it. Now the market’s much more saturated. I priced my book low when there weren’t many other self-published authors. I think people were more willing to give a chance on an unknown author [if they’re paying a low price] and that got people reading it, talking about it and got more people to buy it.
Young adult fantasy fiction is huge at the moment. Can you explain why?
Something right now in that genre is resonating with readers. Because it’s escapist fiction and life is being kind of dreary now when they’re talking about all these horrible things all the time. And people want to forget about it for a little bit and that’s what the book at its core is saying to people – it’s allowing them to forget their problems. That’s something that people are looking for right now.
And now Switched is becoming a movie?
I started talking to Terri Tatchell, who’s the co-writer of District 9 at the beginning of 2011. She came to me. She had read the books on her own and really enjoyed them. She’s changed some stuff around and every time there’s a big change, she’ll ask me. But she’s made a great movie and I’ve made no movies, so I think she knows what she’s doing. I hoped it would be a movie. I think a lot of authors hope that. Terri says the way I write transitions well to film, so…
There must be a lot of girls who want to do what you’ve done. What’s your top tip to them?
When you’ve finished writing, take time to think about it before you put it out. Because when you’re younger, your ego’s more fragile and people can be so cruel on the Internet. Make sure that it’s edited and polished before you put it out. If I had got self-published when I was younger, I think I might have gotten criticism and quit writing altogether and that would be sad. Ignore people if they’re mean. That’s my best advice.
Switched is out now. She’s currently working on the second book in a new saga called the Watersong series. The first instalment due out later this year.
Title: Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick Author: Joe Schreiber My Age Recommendation: 15+ Publisher: Electric Monkey/Egmont Publication Date: 5th March 2012 Pages: 282 (uncorrected bound proof) Rating: 3/5 Reviewer: Ben
Amazon Synopsis
Ferris Bueller meets La Femme Nikita in this funny, action-packed young adult novel. It’s prom night—and Perry just wants to stick to his own plan and finally play a much anticipated gig with his band in the Big Apple. But when his mother makes him take Gobija Zaksauskas—their quiet, geeky Lithuanian exchange student—to the prom, he never expects that his ordinary high school guy life will soon turn on its head. Perry finds that Gobi is on a mission, and Perry has no other choice but to go along for a reckless ride through Manhattan’s concrete grid with a trained assassin in Dad’s red Jag. Infused with capers, car chases, heists, hits, henchmen, and even a bear fight, this story mixes romance, comedy, and tragedy in a true teen coming-of-age adventure—and it’s not over until it’s “au revoir.”
Ben’s Review
There’s been a rash of adult writers turning their attention to YA recently and here is another example. It’s also no surprise that this has already been snapped by in what is described in the press notes as a “heated auction” by Hollywood (specifically The O.C.’s creator Josh Schwartz). Certain young actors’ agents will already be licking their lips in anticipation.
Au Revoir Crazy European Chick plays like a movie from the get-go and even borrows from several of them, including Collateral and Martin Scorsese’s After Hours. That said, Schreiber knows his way around a (nicked) plot and this rapid-fire actionfest is never less than entertaining.
In cinema, screenwriters often fall down in their efforts to find nuance and depth within their characters and that’s certainly a problem here as well. The hero and heroine (or anti-heroine since she kills a bunch of people) are wafer-thin, the author obviously hoping you won’t really notice as you’re swept along for the ride.
It’s a fun, adrenaline-fuelled journey to be sure, but it would have been nice for Schreiber to add some extra dimensions to what is a fairly bland protagonist. In fact, Perry’s almost the secondary role here, as assassin Gobi (who we’re expected to believe has become one of the great revenge killers with a whole array of tricks and abilities in a remarkably short time) takes the lead.
Me, I like that an author would try to do this kind of caper in a book, while simultaneously chafing at Schreiber’s apparent ignorance of what makes the novelistic form unique from those of other media.
Ultimately, one feels this was always destined to be a flick and the book is merely an unscheduled stop en route, a bit like those movie novelisations you used to get a lot in days gone by (even Star Wars had one which actually came out before the movie).
Good on Schreiber though, a journeyman but prolific writer who was only able to give up his day job as an MRI technician after scoring this deal.
I can’t deny you’ll have fun with the story that changed his life, but you’d do better to wait until it hits your local multiplex.
