Book 4
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
I don't think I would have choosen to read this book on my own. The reason for picking it currenly is I was brought to a sneak pre-view of the movie by my library's children's staff. They thought I would be interested, and I appreciated their thinking of me.
This is the story of a girl and her father (a preacher) who move to a new town. The girl has trouble making new friends, and he dad is pretty uncomminicative (sp??). We find out the her mom abandoned them when the girl was 3 (she is presently 10) and her dad doesn't talk about it. For various reasons the girl meets a dog who proceeds to drag her around town to all the sort of forgotten folks who she then proceeds to befriend and it ends wtih them all having a party. Could we get anymore saccharine and Disney?
As far as the movie goes, I have no idea who it's going to appeal to, other than teachers and librarians using to to supplement the book. I mean, it was like watching Steel Magnolias for 10-year old girls, except nothing bad happens. Things seemed arbitrarily changed as well. The landlord became a more prominant figure, the dad in the movie couldn't stand Winn Dixie at first, the dad refused to go to the party at the end of the book. I'm not sure why the production company felt these changes were necessary.
However, Dave Matthews played Otis, and he made the movie worth watching. I have never been a fan of him, but he made the character.
It's a book about friendship, about not judging people by looks or rumors, it's about getting out and bringing folks together. I still feel really "eh" about it. I have no favorite quote.
I don't think I would have choosen to read this book on my own. The reason for picking it currenly is I was brought to a sneak pre-view of the movie by my library's children's staff. They thought I would be interested, and I appreciated their thinking of me.
This is the story of a girl and her father (a preacher) who move to a new town. The girl has trouble making new friends, and he dad is pretty uncomminicative (sp??). We find out the her mom abandoned them when the girl was 3 (she is presently 10) and her dad doesn't talk about it. For various reasons the girl meets a dog who proceeds to drag her around town to all the sort of forgotten folks who she then proceeds to befriend and it ends wtih them all having a party. Could we get anymore saccharine and Disney?
As far as the movie goes, I have no idea who it's going to appeal to, other than teachers and librarians using to to supplement the book. I mean, it was like watching Steel Magnolias for 10-year old girls, except nothing bad happens. Things seemed arbitrarily changed as well. The landlord became a more prominant figure, the dad in the movie couldn't stand Winn Dixie at first, the dad refused to go to the party at the end of the book. I'm not sure why the production company felt these changes were necessary.
However, Dave Matthews played Otis, and he made the movie worth watching. I have never been a fan of him, but he made the character.
It's a book about friendship, about not judging people by looks or rumors, it's about getting out and bringing folks together. I still feel really "eh" about it. I have no favorite quote.
posted by Chrissy at 1/26/2005 03:11:00 PM
2 Comments:
Sad. I really liked the book--it made me cry. A lot.
You should maybe try The Tiger Rising. A lot of people who loooooooved Winn-Dixie couldn't stand Tiger. So maybe you'd like it more--I loved 'em both, though. More than Despereaux.
Yeah, OK, I 'll check that one out. I'll be the first to admit that yes, I know my tastes are very different than a lot of other folks. That, and I don't do sappy real well.
I did cry at the movie. They built up her confronting her father about her mother a bit diferently than the author did in the book. It had a bit more punch to it, in my opinion. Also, I was reading the book from the point of view of "how does this compare to the movie" not "I'm experiencing this for the first time."
I still think it was overly sappy for me though.
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