'How I live now' by Meg Rosoff was one of my favourite novels when I was fourteen. I read it over and over again, drawn in by the utterly horrible scenario that she created. It was horrible, and so real; about Daisy, a fifteen year old girl who from New York who is sent to stay with her cousins in England, during which, the outbreak of World War Three takes place.
Although I loved the book so much, I have always been slightly disturbed by the fact that she falls in love with her cousin, Edmond. But there are many disturbing things about this books, like the war in itself and the terrible things that occur because of it. It is realistic in that aspect though, it brings a shocking reality of how many countries around the world have to live, by introducing a fictitious conflict into a relatively peaceful country, which allows the reader to take a moment to reflect and truly imagine how real war is for thousands of innocents around the world. And that is what makes the book so powerful (and worth a read), which is kept in the movie.
I just watched the movie, and it seems darker than what I remember the story being from when I was fourteen. It may be because I'm older and understand what is happening more, or it may that now there is a visual prompt to make the whole story more poignant, or it could be that the film has indeed been written in a much darker way. The scene that affected me the most, and probably affected many other people, was when Daisy finds the pile of bodies at the 'boys camp,' and desperately going through each body bag to find Edmond.
In many ways, the film has remained true to the book; the themes are there. However, the characters have been altered slightly, for example, in the novel the cousins where: Osbert (who was the oldest sibling) who was cut from the movie, Edmond and his twin brother Isaac, (who in the film, Edmond is the eldest, while Isaac became the younger brother) and the little sister Piper (who has remained the same in the film). But despite the altercation of the family tree, I thought the film worked really well and allowed for the relationship between Daisy and Edmond- which is the 'Love conquers all' sort of relationship, that even though separated for the majority of novel and film, will find each other in the end- and the relationship between Daisy and Piper, who, when the family is separated, remain together and run away together to return back to their house and to reunite with Edmond.
With a cast of Saoirse Ronan (Daisy), George MacKay (Edmond), Tom Holland (Isaac) and Harley Bird (Piper), I was not disappointed with this film adaptation.
Although I loved the book so much, I have always been slightly disturbed by the fact that she falls in love with her cousin, Edmond. But there are many disturbing things about this books, like the war in itself and the terrible things that occur because of it. It is realistic in that aspect though, it brings a shocking reality of how many countries around the world have to live, by introducing a fictitious conflict into a relatively peaceful country, which allows the reader to take a moment to reflect and truly imagine how real war is for thousands of innocents around the world. And that is what makes the book so powerful (and worth a read), which is kept in the movie.
I just watched the movie, and it seems darker than what I remember the story being from when I was fourteen. It may be because I'm older and understand what is happening more, or it may that now there is a visual prompt to make the whole story more poignant, or it could be that the film has indeed been written in a much darker way. The scene that affected me the most, and probably affected many other people, was when Daisy finds the pile of bodies at the 'boys camp,' and desperately going through each body bag to find Edmond.
In many ways, the film has remained true to the book; the themes are there. However, the characters have been altered slightly, for example, in the novel the cousins where: Osbert (who was the oldest sibling) who was cut from the movie, Edmond and his twin brother Isaac, (who in the film, Edmond is the eldest, while Isaac became the younger brother) and the little sister Piper (who has remained the same in the film). But despite the altercation of the family tree, I thought the film worked really well and allowed for the relationship between Daisy and Edmond- which is the 'Love conquers all' sort of relationship, that even though separated for the majority of novel and film, will find each other in the end- and the relationship between Daisy and Piper, who, when the family is separated, remain together and run away together to return back to their house and to reunite with Edmond.
With a cast of Saoirse Ronan (Daisy), George MacKay (Edmond), Tom Holland (Isaac) and Harley Bird (Piper), I was not disappointed with this film adaptation.
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