Sebastian Faulks ~ There's More!

I've done a bit of poking around - small bits of research I should have done perhaps before I wrote my raving little review.

I came across many reviews of Birdsong, none of which found any fault with the book whatever, let alone a structural flaw. I'm not saying that I'm wrong, and I am not at all changing my view, I'm simpy reiterating the fact that this is merely my personal opinion, that's all.

I also discovered that Birdsong is the second of what has been described as Faulk’s “trio of French novels”.

The first of these was released in 1991. The Girl at the Lion D'or is the tale of a troubled young girl in a little French town called Janviellers during the 1930's. The final book in the trio details the life of its title character, Charlotte Gray, a young Scottish woman in WWII England.

Okay, the summations I've provided are quite trite; I've not read either of these novels yet.

But Charlotte Gray will be next because, although only released in 1999, 2001 saw the wide release film version of the book, by Australian director Gillian Armstrong and starring a woman I consider to be one of the most talented film actresses of today, Cate Blanchette.

Armstrong is an Australian director who has won numerous awards for her work, including the Women in Hollywood Icon Award for her lifetime contribution to the industry.

Armstrong earlier directed Blanchette and Ralph Fiennes in the ultra disturbing (to me) Oscar and Lucinda. Extremely well-acted, well-shot, and interesting story the last 20 or 30 of minutes of which are almost unbearable to watch. I will give away only that there is no happy ending, not really. I reveal this bit because I was so unprepared and astounded by the creeping and compounded turn of negative events, that I’m sure I will not watch the film again. (In fact, I should hardly write about it as it’s been several years and the details are merely a wash of hope turned to chagrin.) And this says a lot because I will watch any film featuring Blanchette (hence “Bandits”: a cute flick, but worth renting for her performance alone), and highly respect the work of Fiennes as well. I had, in fact, rented Oscar and Lucinda immediately following the release of Schindler’s List in a desperate attempt to smear the hideous image of Amon Goeth from my trembling mind. I was fairly sure no film in which I saw this man, straight through the end of time, would be able to do the trick. Of course, I was wrong.