Stardust

Since I can't have a star, I'll settle for stardust. I am fortunate that Bing shared her love for Neil Gaiman's works and gave me the books - really one of the best presents anyone can get. While Neverwhere is very good, it's Stardust which irrevocably made me a Gaiman fan.

I haven't grown out of fairy tales and Stardust is an excellent old-fashioned fairy tale for adults (marked "for mature readers"). It's rare for modern authors to write in lyrical and old-fashioned prose and I love the slow, dreamy feel of the story. Gaiman's stories are never straightforward. There's just something dark about them even in this seemingly simplistic love story.

This is the cover of my illustrated version filled with beautiful, whimsical water colourings. How can I ever read the non-illustrated version again??

So I watched the movie with alot of apprehension. I was disappointed and disgruntled during the first half cos they changed so many parts and the movie couldn't portray the dreamy quality of the novel. Actually the whole movie felt overly dramatic, obvious and loud. The story's suppose to be quiet and subtle. Ironically, I began to enjoy the movie more as the plot completely diverted away from the actual book version. (Captain Shakespeare's a whoosy??? Yvaine killed the witch with a bust of starlight? Dad and mom reunited?) I gave up trying to compare and concentrated on the action.

And I started rooting for Thristran Thorn (isn't it a delightful name *sigh*) when he decided to keep his hair long. He looks AMAZINGLY cute in the innocent, blur way and you just can't help forgiving his flaws! I like that they played up the humour in the movie especially the parts where Yvaine kept rolling her eyes and making sarcastic comments, Cap. Shakespeare and his totally irrelevant antics and the ghostly bros with their totally droll remarks. Hilarious!

Claire Danes will always be Juliet to me. She even sounded Juliet-ish when she did a monologue on love, how it is "unexpected, uncontrollable, unconditional, unpredictable, unbearable" and how we often mistake it for loathing... It's so cute how she glows each time she's happy. Charlie Cox (he's only 3 years older than me!) is the perfect Thristran and I'll be looking out for him in future.



Looking forward to see how upcoming print-to-screen adaptations perform especially Ian McEwan's Atonement and Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials).