キャミー・タング著「戌年」連載小説 プロのドッグトレーナーであるマリ・ムトウは、厄年を迎えている。 犬小屋と訓練所の改築をしながら、いつも不服そうにしている家族と同居することになった。母と姉に言わせれば、犬の毛とよだれかけにまみれる仕事は、家族にとって恥ずべきものだという。彼女は元カレを説得し、数ヶ月間犬を預かってもらうことにした。しかし、彼の兄は、数週間前に彼女が誤って車に追突した、怒り狂ったセキュリティ専門家であることが判明する。 アシュウィン・ケイトウは十分な問題を抱えている。叔母が玄関先に現れ、同居を希望している。彼は彼女にすべてを借りているので、断ることができません。母親が家を出て行った後、ネルおばさんはアシュウィンと弟を引き取り、愛のあるキリスト教の家庭で育てた。しかも、弟のダスティもアパートを追い出され、居場所を求めている。しかし、彼は犬を飼っている。そして、その犬の飼い主は誰だと思いますか? しかし、旧友でオアフ島のノースショアでデイスパを経営する私立探偵のエディサ・ゲレロから依頼を受ける。マリの施設で奇妙な破壊行為があり、3年前に失踪したエディサの妹の財布を発見する。エディサはマリが危険な目に遭っているのではと心配する。警備の専門家であるアシュウィンがすでにマリを知っていることを知ったエディサは、忙しい若い女性を密かに監視することを彼に依頼する。 アシュウィンは、活発でのんびりとしたドッグトレーナーに不本意ながら惹かれていく。彼女は、幸せそうな母親を思い出させる。その母親の裏切りによって、彼は人と距離を置くようになったのだ。マリは、アシュウィンの冷たい外見を見抜き、彼が家族に忠実な男であることを認める。彼は、彼女のキャリア選択を批判するだけの母親や姉とは違う。 マリのバラバラな家庭とアシュウィンのバラバラな家庭の中で、過去を隠そうとする人たちから、彼らの周りに危険が迫ってくるようになる。彼らは、影で動く秘密に光を当てることができるのか? 過去に発表されたパートへのリンクはこちら。 *** 第8章 - 恐ろしくも真っ白な不動産書類 『みんな仲良くできないのかな?』 マリは無用に力を込めて箱に本を投げ入れた。最近、なぜ彼女は人生の中で全員と言い争いをしているのだろう?もしかすると、これは本当に悪いアイデア
Captain's Log, Supplemental
Okay, I was going to hold this for next week but I can’t hold the frustration in any longer. I finally saw Mansfield Park on Masterpiece Classic and it’s horrid (to channel Jane Austen).
The story moves WAY too fast. The different issues dealt with in the book speed by so fast, I wonder than anyone who hasn’t read Mansfield Park can even understand what’s going on.
The characters themselves are completely changed. Fanny is lively and girlish instead of timid and demure. And I agree with Kaye and Ruth, what’s with the hair down on her shoulders? How could the hair and makeup department let her get away with looking like a hoyden? I also agree with Kaye about Fanny’s heaving bosoms throughout the movie—so out of character for a “poor relation” to have such low-cut gowns.
I do have to say one thing—I really enjoyed the moment Edmund tells Fanny that Mary Crawford is the only woman he could want for a wife—Billie Piper’s look is so exactly what I’d expect Fanny’s would have been, wanting to burst into tears and exerting herself to hide it.
Mary Crawford is still witty (at least the lines taken from the novel, not the lines given to her by the scriptwriter), but more demure and not as lively, gay, or teasing as she was in the book. The script also erased her growing friendship with Fanny after Maria married.
The script never really shows Mr. Crawford’s slimy, flirting side with Maria and Julia, so when Fanny refuses him in the movie, it made me wonder what’s so wrong with Mr. Crawford and so wonderful about Edmund!
Mrs. Norris is completely obliterated. The main emotional force who shaped Fanny’s character growing up has become bland and almost invisible. When she left, I could care less.
Plus the actors who played Mrs. Norris, Sir Thomas, and Lady Bertram are all too young to be their characters.
The humor of Lady Bertram’s indolence is gone. The actress has a few pert lines that makes her seem insipid rather than a figure of fun.
Sir Thomas appears mean rather than old-fashioned and strict, as he was in the novel. The scriptwriter took all his most hateful lines out of context—out of the awkwardness he originally spoke them in—and had them spring out of his mouth at moments that only make him seem like a boor.
Mr. Rushworth is no longer a thickheaded buffoon that you can’t help feeling sorry for despite the fact he’s an idiot. In the movie, he’s just a rather boring young man with 12,000 pounds a year.
Here I deviate from Kaye and Ruth—I think James D’Arcy is only okay-looking as an actor, and not all that fantastic as Tom Bertram.
And what’s with turning Fanny’s ball (in the novel) into a picnic and holding a dance on the lawn???
And, another big disappointment, they cut out Fanny’s entire time in Portsmouth, which is like a quarter of the entire novel. They replaced it with the Bertrams and Mrs. Norris going to see her mother! Like Lady Bertram would ever travel, let alone without Fanny!
Talk about inaccuracies with the time period, too. Edmund would never have been in Fanny’s room, which he is two or three times, and Fanny would never have been in Tom’s room, no matter that they’re cousins—especially with Tom shirtless! And the waltzing at the end was scandalous for the time.
And why did they have hand-held cameras for the entire movie? I started getting sick after only 5 minutes into it, which really really really annoyed me because I couldn’t watch without a roiling stomach for the entire 2 hours.
All in all, I wasn’t as antsy watching Mansfield Park as I was when watching Persuasion on Masterpiece, which I think is because I was rather prepared for a mediocre adaptation of one of my favorite books. Or maybe it’s an indication of how bad I thought Persuasion was.
Okay, I was going to hold this for next week but I can’t hold the frustration in any longer. I finally saw Mansfield Park on Masterpiece Classic and it’s horrid (to channel Jane Austen).
The story moves WAY too fast. The different issues dealt with in the book speed by so fast, I wonder than anyone who hasn’t read Mansfield Park can even understand what’s going on.
The characters themselves are completely changed. Fanny is lively and girlish instead of timid and demure. And I agree with Kaye and Ruth, what’s with the hair down on her shoulders? How could the hair and makeup department let her get away with looking like a hoyden? I also agree with Kaye about Fanny’s heaving bosoms throughout the movie—so out of character for a “poor relation” to have such low-cut gowns.
I do have to say one thing—I really enjoyed the moment Edmund tells Fanny that Mary Crawford is the only woman he could want for a wife—Billie Piper’s look is so exactly what I’d expect Fanny’s would have been, wanting to burst into tears and exerting herself to hide it.
Mary Crawford is still witty (at least the lines taken from the novel, not the lines given to her by the scriptwriter), but more demure and not as lively, gay, or teasing as she was in the book. The script also erased her growing friendship with Fanny after Maria married.
The script never really shows Mr. Crawford’s slimy, flirting side with Maria and Julia, so when Fanny refuses him in the movie, it made me wonder what’s so wrong with Mr. Crawford and so wonderful about Edmund!
Mrs. Norris is completely obliterated. The main emotional force who shaped Fanny’s character growing up has become bland and almost invisible. When she left, I could care less.
Plus the actors who played Mrs. Norris, Sir Thomas, and Lady Bertram are all too young to be their characters.
The humor of Lady Bertram’s indolence is gone. The actress has a few pert lines that makes her seem insipid rather than a figure of fun.
Sir Thomas appears mean rather than old-fashioned and strict, as he was in the novel. The scriptwriter took all his most hateful lines out of context—out of the awkwardness he originally spoke them in—and had them spring out of his mouth at moments that only make him seem like a boor.
Mr. Rushworth is no longer a thickheaded buffoon that you can’t help feeling sorry for despite the fact he’s an idiot. In the movie, he’s just a rather boring young man with 12,000 pounds a year.
Here I deviate from Kaye and Ruth—I think James D’Arcy is only okay-looking as an actor, and not all that fantastic as Tom Bertram.
And what’s with turning Fanny’s ball (in the novel) into a picnic and holding a dance on the lawn???
And, another big disappointment, they cut out Fanny’s entire time in Portsmouth, which is like a quarter of the entire novel. They replaced it with the Bertrams and Mrs. Norris going to see her mother! Like Lady Bertram would ever travel, let alone without Fanny!
Talk about inaccuracies with the time period, too. Edmund would never have been in Fanny’s room, which he is two or three times, and Fanny would never have been in Tom’s room, no matter that they’re cousins—especially with Tom shirtless! And the waltzing at the end was scandalous for the time.
And why did they have hand-held cameras for the entire movie? I started getting sick after only 5 minutes into it, which really really really annoyed me because I couldn’t watch without a roiling stomach for the entire 2 hours.
All in all, I wasn’t as antsy watching Mansfield Park as I was when watching Persuasion on Masterpiece, which I think is because I was rather prepared for a mediocre adaptation of one of my favorite books. Or maybe it’s an indication of how bad I thought Persuasion was.
Comments
other than that lol i agree with everything else you said about it. i got sick in the beginning when they kept batting around that badmitton thing!!
The hand-held camera filming for this and Persuasion was just weird. And rather nauseating. If a director can't do it right...why bother? *sigh*
And poor Billie's hair...yeesh. Plus I don't think the costume department properly altered these dresses to actually FIT her.
Completely agree with you about the way people were constantly waltzing in and out of each other's bedrooms...especially at the end when Edmund walks in on Fanny and she's in a nightdress WASHING HER HAIR. I was like what the heck?!
Thanks for the link. :)
I can't believe they completely left out Portsmouth. Not only is it a quarter of the novel, but it's a very important quarter of the novel!
Ah, well. On to Miss Austen Regrets.