Ryan L. Post 3 and Conclusion ( i was going to make two seperate posted but i thought it stupid to do them minutes apart

Wow, the 3rd section of the book makes this entire thing worth reading. This is where all the action happens. Through the book i felt like it was about Blue's coming of age but somthing bigger was happening. in the third part of this novel a huge under story is unfolded. This part of the book could have easily been a book in itself. The only thing that bothers me is after reading part three everything else in the book seemed long winded. There was just so much that i didint have to read. There are key points which are important that are revield in the end, which i commend the author for doing so well but i felt like for the better half of the month i was reading a story that wasnt going anywhere, if this book wasnt required reading i would have given up half way through part 2. The more i read in the book the more difficult i found it to visualize how this film would be put on film. There is so much there, and just in the thrid part alone a wealth of information, crazy sequences and visually stunning senarios can occur. When Eva brewster comes to the house, the entire camping trip and the graduation are scenes that can be so visually powerful and stunning it would make this film outstanding. That is if anyone is still in the theater after the 4 hours it took to get to that point.

when i think of films that are structured as this film would be i think of Taxi Driver (Scorsese 1976) (hold on let me explain) In Taxi Driver a majority of the film is based on the growth of the main character and being brought into his world, it is a huge build up to the end where all the action takes place. now if Taxi Driver was written the Marisha Pessl way 3 hours of the movie would have explained how the main character use to be in the army, why he joined the army, the little adventures he had in the army and then in the last 20 minutes of the moive the entire plot would unfold. What i am trying to say here is yes the story needs to have a build up, and Blue's past and present life are very important to the story but because of the Authors long winded way of writting, the amount of unnecciary information looses its quirkiness and fun 50 pages into the book. if every book reference, quote of her father, page long descriptions of people and memories that relate to situations int he book were taken out, this book would probably be close to 200 pages.

I dont hate the story there are alot of things that i could praise Pessl for, i think she creates great characters they are creative and come alive. i love the idea of seeing things through blue's eyes and the reality of the story and the difference between them. i like Blue's views on society and american culture which are tucked away in the book. i like the idea that this book leaves the reader with questions unanswered, the final exam portion is different and a great idea. I just feel as i read the book i disliked Blue because of the constantly on-going bland facts that kepts interjected in the plot. Then i just began to dislike Pessl because i felt like she wrote the book in way that reading everyword she wrote was a privialge i was given, that i wanted her to go into every detail about everything and see how she could go on and on and on, and marvel at how she creates details about every little thing. If that sounds close minded or stupid i am sorry i just felt unsatisfied at the end of this book.

Final conclusion about book to film

i would like to send some flowers, a large bottle of somthing alcaholic and a card that says GOOD LUCK! to the screenwriter who has to transfer this. The book is long but there is so much that is important that cannot be understood without an explanation of where it comes from, that if the screen writer wants to keep allt he facts in the story that lead to the answers in the end like the book does, and still keep the film a reasonable length and interesting she is going to have to do a lot of work disecting the book.

i feel that the references she makes to books and statistics will have to be seriously cut down. there are just too many to fit them all in the movie and most of them are so obscure that they make no sense to the reader. they should use the ones that are either widley known by the masses of people or so intesting and quirky that people would enjoy hearing the little quotes/facts even if they never rea the source they where from.

Now having read the entire book i see the importance of having hannahs suicide in the beginning of the book but i still feel the Paris trip is pointless. what we need to learn from Paris can easily be changed to a dinner one night which features Blue, her father and her father's friend.

This book is going to be difficult to transfer but it holds a story worth telling and if done correctly, like it is done in the book there is a well placed mystery hidden in this coming of age story. It is like mixing Mean Girls and Chinatown into one movie. This book had potential in my eyes i just hope that the problems that i found in the book are solved in the film version because if done write this film has alot of potential to be one of the first "Yeah i saw that movie based on the book......i liked the movie better" situations.