North and South in Five Minutes

[tamnonlinear]

So last year I watched the BBC Miniseries North and South based on sihaya09's recommendation. It was a lovely series. Today I finished reading the book (it's up free on Gutenberg and good for kindle reading, other than some minor typos, such as 'lust' for 'just' throughout the etext, such that one character or another was always being described as a 'fair

Comments

I have seen hell and it is white! Snow white!! /melodrama

[eilonwy]

BWAHAAA. This is triply funny because I have seen the miniseries (um... several times... and now own ... because I am lurrrve with Richard Armitage) and I am in the middle of the book. (Real life and trashier novels keep getting in the way, not to mention it's a library hardcover, and too hard to hold on the elliptical. Someday, a Kindle.) And good grief the oedipal complex of Mrs Thornton/Mr Thornton, ew. And I think that Dixon was totally in loooove with Mrs Hale.

ALSO, totally and completely unrelated and you may already have seen it but when I saw it I knew you had to see it (got that?) -- "Re: Your Brains" in Zombie Sign Language. (I always think of you when I hear this song-- heh-- because you introduced me to it.)

Oh crud. Now I have a zombie/North & South mashup in my head...

Re: I have seen hell and it is white! Snow white!! /melodrama

[tamnonlinear]

The book is evidence that people in the past had better attention spans than we do now. There were lots of times I was so deep in the sub-clauses that I no longer had any idea what what going on or where the paragraph had started out.

Mrs. Thornton was an interesting character. The book was full of scenes:

Mr. Thornton: The Hales have been very good to us as friends. Mother, I would appreciate it if you would show them some kindness-
Mrs. Thornton: Only for your sake! Only every for your sake! I will do my best!
Mr. Thornton: Good. I think they are not happy enough.
Mrs. Thornton: Ungrateful, demanding, selfish, horrible people! I hate them!

I agree on the Dixon repressed feelings vibe. The mini-series did a great job of softening all the characters a lot and giving them some more warmth and kindness. And yeah, Richard Armitage smoldered just wonderfully. I don't think he smiled until the last scene, and I've watched that a few times.

Re: I have seen hell and it is white! Snow white!! /melodrama

[gsh]

it doesn't help that every time you write "I hate them" my hind brain fills in "my precious".

Re: I have seen hell and it is white! Snow white!! /melodrama

[tamnonlinear]

Gollum never wore a corset*

*I don't recommend googling that to confirm.

[tamnonlinear]

Thank you! It was a good book, really, other than that I wanted to shake the characters on a regular basis.

[perkypaduan]

For a second there with all the dysfunction I thought I was reading a re-cap of a Twilight prequel. ;)

Still rushing to add it to my Netflix queue though. Hey, Mad Men & The Wire will run out eventually.

[tamnonlinear]

Here's the difference: North and South has depth. The characters have more than one motivation. The core of the plot is about people who have more than one thought at a time and can prioritize them, unlike Twilight. The characters are complex and intelligent. I am horrified that you'd compare them.

I mean, yeah, the brits are pretty pale, but Mr. Thornton does NOT sparkle.

[perkypaduan]

Hee -- just got that from the first sentence of your re-cap. ;)

Mmm, books about people who are more than just pretty. Perhaps one day someone will give Ms. Meyers one to read.

Meanwhile I'm horrified she's putting out another book....