The Watchman Review

  Anyone who appreciates a sexy trailer with an excellent song has been intrigued by "The Watchmen."  After seeing it for the first time, I once again felt the need to investigate and read the original graphic novel, especially to observe the adaption (I refrain from using the word "compare" as film is its own medium and will tell a story differently than text).  

Graphic novels never had an appeal to me until recently, thanks to my husband's influence, and I am fortunate the interest has grown.  "The Watchmen" is much more than illustrations and a melodramatic superhero story, it questions the price our own civil "superheroes" make from sacrificing relationships and family, to the psychological and emotional effects the responsibility of protecting the public creates.  Furthermore, themes of love, betrayal, regret, and age all wind their way through the complex characters and plot lines.

This is definitely a graphic novel that requires rereading, for both the story and the reader.  The story is meant to be reviewed and dissected-- every drawing, every character, every word is relevant.  And readers must reread to comprehend every lesson, not to mention the ending... Even now my critique feels incapacitated as I've only read The Watchman once.  

This spring's film adaptation seems to have the imagery dead on, but I can't imagine how it will capture the depth and content of the graphic novel.  If nothing else-- read "The Watchmen."

The Twilight book series... and all its disappointments

Because of the overwhelming amount of publicity, popularity, and good things said about this series on facebook, the Twilight books lit up my curiosity.  First, my husband and I saw the movie, a regular vampire love story cheese fest equipped with a teenager-friendly soundtrack, attractive actors, and ridiculous dialogue.  I had to stop myself from laughing out loud during several key moments of the film, but I love to laugh so God bless bad films.

Now that I'd had a taste of the hype, I decided to begin the series, especially since all the Twilight fans I met seemed adamant about the book's superiority to the film.  Despite my reservations about vampire books (I've never been a fan), I bought the first two and added three and four to my Christmas list.  

It took me a while to get through Twilight simply because I'd just seen the movie thus all suspense was... suspended.  It was better, more detailed and offered insight into the characters, but the books had one irreversible effect:  I hate Bella Swan.  I don't much care for Edward and Jacob either, but I loathe Bella.  Never have I encountered such a stupidly selfish and dumbly love struck character of literature in all my life.  I am all for a well-rounded, three dimensional character full of flaws, but the amount of her selfishness makes her villainous.  

The series itself had such potential, but went absolutely nowhere, wrapped up in a pretty box with a pink bow at the conclusion.  Disgusting.  Happy endings are wonderful, but Meyer builds and builds a battle scene, encouraging excitement and anticipation in her readers, only to deliver a giant let down that ruins the entire series.  This is one story I hope gets completely rewritten for the screen and alter the terrible ending of Breaking Dawn. And now, Meyer is retelling the whole thing from Edward's perspective, as if it was so amazing the first time.

I could get into more detail and nit pick each book, but it all comes down to the same conclusion: a waste of time.  People have referred to Stephanie Meyer and her books as the next J.K. Rowling-- what an insult.  These books, the stories and characters are nowhere near the caliber of Harry Potter-- nowhere.  If you're looking for a series of young adult, fantasy fiction full of adventure, complicated characters, relationships, winding stories offering an escape into another world, The HP series still remains number one on my list.  Though not to completely discredit the series, there are definitely good moments and the supporting characters pique the reader's interest enough to keep you occupied.  My suggestion to the curious reader:  get a library card and check out the books for free... or call me and I'll give you mine.