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Kristen's Reviews > Off Magazine Street
Off Magazine Street
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The movie "A Love Song for Bobby Long," which used this book as its premise, is one of my favorite movies. No matter how many times I watch it, I will always cry at the end--cry for the redemption that Bobby Long found in his life before he died, depicted perfectly in the verse he quotes from TS Eliot: "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time"; for the journey he went through in life, only to make a full circle and return to his garden a new man. This was one of my favorite themes studied throughout my literature career, so perhaps that is why the movie resonated with and touched me so deeply. Discovering that the movie was based on a book--and completely aware of how movies are NEVER as good as the books they are based off of--I determined that I must read the book. I did--luckily (saying this in hindsight)--research the book before reading it and found that the movie was "loosely" based after the book; in truth I did NOT expect many similarities between the book and the movie.
With that said...I would rate the movie a 6 (even before reading the book), and the book--well, you can see for yourself I rate it a 2. I would not read it again; I would not recommend this book to anyone; and I don't feel any more enriched than before I read the book. To me, the saddest disappointment of this book was to see these two great scholars of literature act like the lowest of the low scum of the earth (my opinion according to my standards, of course). Vulgarity, I can handle; but in a society where child pornography and adults having sex with underaged kids (or young adults--whatever) is a huge problem and a huge crime, I found this desire in Bobby & Byron unstomachable about the book--and, in fact, overshadows the redemption that Bobby & Byron do find in the end.
My end conclusion in reading this book: I have the UTMOST respect for the filmwriters who read this book and turned it into the beautiful masterpiece that the movie is. It made me love the movie just that much more.
With that said...I would rate the movie a 6 (even before reading the book), and the book--well, you can see for yourself I rate it a 2. I would not read it again; I would not recommend this book to anyone; and I don't feel any more enriched than before I read the book. To me, the saddest disappointment of this book was to see these two great scholars of literature act like the lowest of the low scum of the earth (my opinion according to my standards, of course). Vulgarity, I can handle; but in a society where child pornography and adults having sex with underaged kids (or young adults--whatever) is a huge problem and a huge crime, I found this desire in Bobby & Byron unstomachable about the book--and, in fact, overshadows the redemption that Bobby & Byron do find in the end.
My end conclusion in reading this book: I have the UTMOST respect for the filmwriters who read this book and turned it into the beautiful masterpiece that the movie is. It made me love the movie just that much more.
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Reading Progress
September 24, 2007
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Started Reading
January 1, 2008
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Finished Reading
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Georgia
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rated it 1 star
Feb 27, 2009 10:55PM
I could not agree with you more. I love the movie. It's got so much quality, depth, and intelligence. The book was a huge disappointment.
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Ha, your hilarious and a hack. Not only do you come off as pretentious with your strong moral character you then turn yourself into one of the main characters in the story yourself. Quoting T.S. Elliot not with one of your own read lines of his prose, no, you had to use the exact lines used in the story. Surly someone with your vast knowledge of literature could have came up with her own? Now you couldn't stand reading about the lust Bobby and Byron had for Hanna but it was fine to watch Lawson catch a peek of Pursalene while she was showering??? Or, or, or, better yet, watching Bobby on Saint Charles street as he excites himself while posing uncomfortable questions of a sexual nature to a teenage girl on a street car? Who are you? Why did I even ask that question? I know who you are... A pretentious bafoon who lives in a plastic house surrounded by plastic people. Or maybe all alone? Yep, that's it... I guess as a teen the only thing you had to get your juices flowing was rubbing on your teddy-bear? Yep, no boy would have you. Your lips cinched shut like a dogs ass-hole, nose upturned at the world. I bet your shit even smells pretty. Any TRUE lover of literature can find redemption in even the worst of reads. Measuring the actions of fictional characters to your own moral standards tells me you need a life time of therapy... Now I get it...... How could I have been so dumb??? Please accept my apologizes and deepest sympathy. You lacked the wit and street smarts of our young character Hannah when Uncle Bobby came knocking on your bedroom door.
billy, who's being pretentious now?
