Book Fifty-Two of the Book-a-Week Quest The Film Club
by David Gilmour (2008)
"The second time you see something is really the first time. You need to know how it ends before you can appreciate how beautifully it's put together from the beginning."
To finish up this Book-a-Week Quest, I figured I might as well pick a book about film. In this year where (by the time the Oscars roll around in March) I will have seen nearly two hundred 2009 releases, why not read a book about a film club?
A memoir, David Gilmour's The Film Club tells the true story of a how he dealt with his troubled high school dropout son, Jesse. Jesse is failing school and his father makes a rash decision -- Jesse can drop out of school as long as he watches three movies a week with him. David was a former film critic and he hopes that films can open up Jesse's mind to things he's never thought of before.
While the experiment is somewhat of a success, the film club takes a back seat to "real life" which, in this book's case, means Jesse's trials and tribulations with two girls -- Rebecca and Chloë. Sure, it was fun to read about the films, but Jesse was really just a screwed-up guy when it came to girls. Break-ups lead to drugs and hospital visits...and, to be honest, I just got really tired of reading about the kid.
It doesn't help that I had a really difficult time figuring out a time line in this book. It takes place over three years (I think), but Gilmour never makes it easy to determine how much time has passed between chapters. It's not that he jumps around, but I had no clue that three years had gone by at the book's end.
Now, Gilmour is quite a good writer in the way he crafts his sentences. It's quite an easy read and when he talks about film, he really shines. It's just a little unfortunate that the family aspect of the book becomes repetitive and falls a little flat.
To finish up this Book-a-Week Quest, I figured I might as well pick a book about film. In this year where (by the time the Oscars roll around in March) I will have seen nearly two hundred 2009 releases, why not read a book about a film club?
A memoir, David Gilmour's The Film Club tells the true story of a how he dealt with his troubled high school dropout son, Jesse. Jesse is failing school and his father makes a rash decision -- Jesse can drop out of school as long as he watches three movies a week with him. David was a former film critic and he hopes that films can open up Jesse's mind to things he's never thought of before.
While the experiment is somewhat of a success, the film club takes a back seat to "real life" which, in this book's case, means Jesse's trials and tribulations with two girls -- Rebecca and Chloë. Sure, it was fun to read about the films, but Jesse was really just a screwed-up guy when it came to girls. Break-ups lead to drugs and hospital visits...and, to be honest, I just got really tired of reading about the kid.
It doesn't help that I had a really difficult time figuring out a time line in this book. It takes place over three years (I think), but Gilmour never makes it easy to determine how much time has passed between chapters. It's not that he jumps around, but I had no clue that three years had gone by at the book's end.
Now, Gilmour is quite a good writer in the way he crafts his sentences. It's quite an easy read and when he talks about film, he really shines. It's just a little unfortunate that the family aspect of the book becomes repetitive and falls a little flat.
In my opinion You should have interpreted the first chapter as the first 2.99 years. Then the rest of the book just happens in one day.
ReplyDeleteI own this book...I have yet to open it
ReplyDeleteIt's not bad at all, Eric. I think I make my comments sound a little harsh. It's certainly one of the better books I've read this year....probably in the top 20...
ReplyDelete