Garth Jennings

Alright, I'll admit it. I'm often drawn to a book because of its cover. There's nothing wrong with that. Why else would they hire people to make them attractive and spend so much time designing them to be eye-catching? And then there's the blurb on the back of the book. These can range from evocative, cringeworthy, perplexing, or in some cases spoiler-y. Even after reading the back of the book jacket of today's book and seeing the title and looking at the cover image I was still surprised to discover just what this book was about. Maybe you're all smarter than me. Can you guess what Deadly 7 by Garth Jennings is about just from the name? What if I told you that it was about a little boy who had 7 little monsters accompanying him on a rescue mission and each of them had a very separate personality? The main character of Deadly 7 is Nelson who comes across a machine which creates 7 monsters that only he can see. One is always sleeping, one is angry about pretty much everything, one keeps stealing everything in sight...have you figured out what they are yet? I almost hope you haven't because then I won't feel like such a dolt. This is Garth's debut novel but he's no stranger to writing as he was the genius behind the movie Sing. However, this book is pretty much nothing like that movie. This story feels like it could be rooted in our present but with a decided twist. There's an ever-present feeling of dread while flipping the pages of this book which honestly I think that a lot of kids feel at this age. Remember the anxiety and fear when you realized that you were changing and you didn't know into what? Jennings taps into that and uses the monsters as a way to illustrate it which I think is rather brilliant. I have to say that the plot of this is kinda all over the place but the writing is solid so I have hope that further books by him will be tightened up and be even better. Nonetheless, it was a quick read and entertaining and I think it would be a good springboard for conversation. It's a solid 6/10.… (més)

Arthur Dent -nimisellä maan asukkaalla (Martin Freeman) on todella huono päivä. Kaikki alkaa siitä, kun puskutraktorit ovat ajamassa hänen talonsa nurin. Sitten Arthurille selviää, että paras kaveri on avaruusolento – eikä tässä vielä kaikki. Koko maapallo tullaan räjäyttämään, koska tarvitaan tilaa hypergalaktiselle ohitustielle. Arthurin ainoa keino selviytyä on liftata ohiajavaan avaruusalukseen.

Uskomaton seikkailu alkaa maailmanlopusta, eikä sillä matkalla mikään ole sitä, miltä näyttää. Arthur saa tietää, että elämän tarkoitus on luku 42 - ja oppii, että vastaus kaikkeen löytyy sähköisestä kirjasta Linnunradan käsikirja liftareille...

Linnunradan käsikirja liftareille perustuu Douglas Adamsin samannimiseen kulttiklassikkoon. Adams itse on ollut mukana kirjoittamassa elokuvan käsikirjoitusta. Loistavan käsikirjoituksen, ohjauksen ja näyttelijäkaartin lisäksi elokuva tarjoaa uskomattomia tehosteita, jollaisia ei ole ennen nähty. Elokuva nousi USA:ssa katsojatilastojen kärkeen ja on ollut valtava menestys kaikkialla!
(DVDPLAZA)… (més)