House at the End of the Street
BOOK
Written by: Lily Blake
# of pages: 188
Average Rating: 3.63/5
My Rating: 3/5
Read in August 2013
Summary
Elissa and her mom are moving to a new city, trying to move on from their past. Her parents separated and she hasn't talked to her dad in over a year, and her mom hasn't always been there for her. Elissa could not be less thrilled about moving, as she has to leave her current school and all her friends, and move into a house that is next to where a double murder took place 4 years prior. She is shocked to find out that the son involved in this now dead family is normal, and they soon become friends. Elissa's mom is not happy about this fast-forming relationship, as she has a bad feeling about Ryan (the son). Elissa is determined to prove to everyone that Ryan is normal and for people to stop judging him, but is it herself that will be proven wrong in the end?
My Thoughts
I felt that this story went by very quickly, and that everything flowed very well, however there were many faults that I found in this novel. In my opinion, there was not a lot of character development, character descriptions, or even setting descriptions. This made me feel that some aspects of the book were lacking in detail. With there being a lack of detail, it was a lot harder for me to create of mental image, which led to me hardly enjoying this book.
Reading this, there were many moments in this book I could have done without, some parts were really boring, and there were also parts that didn't make sense to me. I would honestly rate this novel closer to a 2.75/5 instead of a 3, because I didn't enjoy it that much. The reason I cannot give it a higher rating, is because it wasn't a long enough book for me to critic it on the details and such.
Overall, I was disappointed with this novel as I had high hopes and expectations. I was really hoping that the movie would be better, and restore my faith in thriller films. I didn't find this book to be scary at all, which could have been due to the lack of details and suspense, or just that the plot wasn't that interesting.
MOVIE
Director: Mark Tonderai
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Max Thieriot, Elisabeth Shue
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Release Date: September 21, 2013
Average Rating: 5.4/10
My Rating: 6/10
Watched in August 2013
My Thoughts
I really enjoyed the opening scene as it followed the prologue of the story. This scene played out how I had imagined it would be. Some things in the other scenes were different, but they were only minor details - eating dinner before looking around the woods, some character lines here and there, etc. Unless you haven't read the book, or weren't paying much attention while reading it, you wouldn't have noticed.
What I missed the most while watching this movie, was being able to read the characters thoughts. Elissa had a lot of thoughts in the book toward her mom and her dad, that were not addressed in the movie. In my opinion, the movie would have been improved if those thoughts could have been included somehow.
I love Jennifer Lawrence, I think she is amazing, talented, hilarious, and beautiful with a sassy attitude. That being said, I hate to admit that I did not find this to be the best film she has done.
Overall, this movie seemed to be just like the book, both in the plot, and the way they were slow and boring.
No comments:
Post a Comment