The Madman's Daughter - Megan Shepherd

I mentioned a while back that I was interested in reading this book because it is a sort of sequel to H.G. Wells' The Island Of Dr Moreau, which I was reading at the time (see review here). Anyway, turns out this book is pretty tricky to track down for us Brits if we don't want to pay a huge shipping fee, so I downloaded the eBook and an app for my phone to read it on. I wasn't too keen on the idea, I'm one of those "paper books over kindle" types, but surprisingly I only put two bookmarks in this file and finished it in as many sittings, so I guess it was pretty easy to read. I'll try not to reveal anything major about either books should you choose to read them; Wells' should always be heard first hand.

I really enjoyed Wells' original tale of scientific horror and intrigue and I hoped this would be just as good but... I was kind of disappointed. The story centres around Dr. Moreau's daughter who believes him dead. Cast out from society after her fathers public shame surrounding his scientific experiments on animals, the daughter; Juliet, now works in a medical college as a cleaner until one night a professors unwelcome advances are met by a swift injury, causing Juliet to be out of a job.

Fate connects her with old family servant Montgomery, an original from the Wells' tale, though sexed up to fit the new audience. Montgomery admits that Juliet's father is still alive and that he is returning to him presently, a journey Juliet begs to accompany him on to find out the truth about her father. This is where the story kind of looses focus. While on the ship carrying Juliet, Montgomery, his strangely deformed servant and a slew of exotic animals to Moreau's island, the crew come across a dinghy in the ocean. Like the original story, Montgomery gets the man aboard and agrees he must come to the island, seeing as the crew are likely to throw him overboard and there are no other ships. Once on the island Juliet then must confront her feelings which are scattered between the two men.

This is what I didn't like; this story did have potential but I feel the author just flipped it into a love triangle as soon as she could to make it an easier, lower (age) rated book. The horror from the original is all but stripped away and what's left is a teenage love story where the "heroine" is too wrapped up in men to see any danger around her. Even when the "big reveal" comes out at the end, she still lacks depth or any real connectivity with the audience. It just felt like Shepherd was more keen on trying to put her spin on the teen-supernatural-romance craze than creating good characters and well written story. I thought the main relationship in the book would be between Juliet and Moreau but that takes a major back-seat so that romance can be explored. I did like the sense of poetic justice in the end but it didn't really salvage the story for me.

Overall I think I'm feeling like one of those people that sigh at Hunger Games lovers and tell them to look at Battle Royal instead. Just read the original; there isn't any romance, but it's a damn good story which is more than I can say for this.

*sorry it's been so long, but I'm finished with Uni now and should be posting regularly again now that I'm not too stressed out to actually pick up a book.

Top Ten Favourite Romances

(And yes, I'm putting all the ladies before men)

1) Kathy & Heathcliffe ♡ Wuthering Heights

"If he loved you with all the power of his soul for a whole lifetime, he couldn’t love you as much as I do in a single day."

2) Elizabeth Bennett & Mr. Darcy ♡ Pride and Prejudice

"I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."

3) Julia & Winston ♡ 1984

"We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness."

4) Dolores & Humbert ♡ Lolita

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita."

5) Brett & Jake ♡ The Sun Also Rises

"Oh Jake," Brett said, "We could have had such a damned good time together."Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly, pressing Brett against me.Yes," I said. "Isn't it pretty to think so?"

6) Anais Nin & Henry Miller ♡ (As authors not characters) 

"Henry to Anais on March 21, 1932Anais, I don't know how to tell you what I feel. I live in perpetual expectancy. You come and the time slips away in a dream. It is only when you go that I realize completely your presence. And then it is too late. You numb me. [...] This is a little drunken, Anais. I am saying to myself "here is the first woman with whom I can be absolutely sincere." I remember your saying -"you could fool me. I wouldn't know it." When I walk along the boulevards and think of that. I can't fool you - and yet I would like to. I mean that I can never be absolutely loyal - it's not in me. I love women, or life, too much - which it is, I don't know. But laugh, Anais, I love to hear you laugh. You are the only woman who has a sense of gaiety, a wise tolerance - no more, you seem to urge me to betray you. I love you for that. [...] I don't know what to expect of you, but it is something in the way of a miracle. I am going to demand everything of you - even the impossible, because you encourage it. You are really strong. I even like your deceit, your treachery. It seems aristocratic to me. 

Anais to Henry on March 26, 1932This is strange, Henry. Before, as soon as I came home from all sorts of places I would sit down and write in my journal. Now I want to write you, talk with you. [...]I love when you say all that happens is good, it is good. I say all that happens is wonderful. For me it is all symphonic., and I am so aroused by living - god, Henry, in you alone I have found the same swelling of enthusiasm, the same quick rising of the blood, the fullness, the the fullness ...Before, i almost used to think there was something wrong. Everybody else seemed to have the brakes on. [...] I never feel the brakes. I overflow. And when I feel your excitement about life flaring, next to mine, then it makes me dizzy."

7) Juliet & Romeo ♡ Romeo and Juliet

"Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake- its everything except what it is!"

8) Scarlett & Rhett ♡ Gone With The Wind. 

"I want to make you faint. I will make you faint. You've had this coming to you for years. None of the fools you've known have kissed you like this-have they? Your precious Charles or Frank or your stupid Ashley". 

9) Ygritte & Jon ♡ ASOIAF. 

"I know I want you," he heard himself say, all his vows and his honour all forgotten."

10) Isolde & Tristan ♡ The Romance of Tristan and Isolde. 

"Fold your arms round me close and strain me so that our hearts may break and our souls go free at last. Take me to that happy place of which you told me long ago. The fields whence none return, but where great singers sing their songs forever."

Jane Eyre (2011) Film Review

I have wanted to see this version of Jane Eyre for...a long time. When it came to cinema's I think it was during a "low-funds" point, so I never got to see it there, and since then I've looked for it all over the internet (I even got a useless Netflix account) to absolutely no success  so when I finally got the DVD this year for Christmas, I was very pleased indeed!

The film in a word, is lovely. Everything about it. And for once, I really feel like this is a story about Jane. In every other adaptation the focus of the story seems to be on Bertha, or Adele, or Blanche and Rochester etc, but this one is all about Jane. There's not as much focus on her childhood, none of Mr. Reed dying or lots of instances of cruelty, that part of the story is compressed into a few moments with not much dialogue  but enough emphasis to give the story a backbone. In fact the film doesn't even begin with Jane's childhood, we see instead her heartbroken escape from Thornfield the morning after her "wedding" as she desperately tries to outrun her thoughts.

Michael Fassbender's portrayal of Edward Rochester is beautiful. He plays the broken man who has finally found a connection in his lost world so well, and he isn't a cocky Rochester which is great because liking him as a character is so much easier. He's just kind of desperate, and he seems like the one more attached in the relationship which gives Jane the power, an asset she has in print that makes her one of my favourite literary heroines; she doesn't realise just how strong she is. (It also doesn't hurt that he's downright gorgeous, seriously.)

As for Mia Wasikowska herself who plays Jane, just; bravo to the casting department because she is perfect. Quick and smart, and she brings a braveness to the role that always comes through in the novel but I have yet to see on screen. Her scenes with Fassbender are beautiful, and she is so unguarded around him that the relationship seems heavy and natural, a real force, rather than an infatuation as I've seen it appear so many times before.

The chemistry between Jane and Rochester on screen is just mesmerizing. This is probably one of  the most, dare I say it...*sexy* adaptations of a classic. The scene after Rochester's bed is aflame is beautiful, the way they react to one another is so powerful, it's really beautiful to watch. Also when Jane is gone from Thornfield and living with the Rivers, she hears Rochester calling for her from the air, it's like she can feel his spirit; so beautiful to watch.

As for the rest of the cast, they're just as wonderful. Dame Judi Dench as Mrs. Fairfax is great, and Jamie Bell is a convincing St. John (There's even a sneaky appearance from Georgiana Darcy!)

Overall, just a beautiful film, and one I can see coming very close behind my beloved 2005 Pride & Prejudice as favourite classic adaptation. If you've not seen this version yet I definitely recommend you do so.