Book Review: Dead Beautiful by Yvonne Woon (Renée Finds Dead Things)

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Emma

I found this book misplaced beside Kelley Armstrong’s Bitten in my town bookshop and purchased it on impulse.  Why? The title grabbed me along with the witchy image of the girl on the cover and the misty, green forest in the background.  This is Woon’s debut novel and follows Renée Winters as she enrols in the mysterious boarding school Gottfried Academy in Maine, a place full of rules and regulations, a world away from the laid back Californian lifestyle she is used to.  Renée is drawn to dead things.  She finds her parents bodies in the woods in California and dead animals in the garden of her school in Maine during Horticulture class; so just what is it about the quiet student Dante that reels her in?

I liked Renée; the strength of her character shines through in the way she copes after the tragic death of her parents.  She plays a relatable sulky teenager for a short time but then gets on with her life and accompanies her grandfather back to the east coast where she meets her roommate Eleanor and immediately makes an enemy of the crabby and puritanical Mrs. Lynch, and develops a crush like every other girl on the mysterious Dante.

I loved the gothic setting of the foreboding boarding school with secret passageways, the secret gathering of students to conduct a séance, and the strange aura surrounding the mysterious teachers and unusual subjects they teach such as Crude Sciences, Horticulture and Latin (The Language of the Dead).  The solitary setting of Attica Falls compounded the sense of isolation and alienation that permeates the novel’s pages.  One of the most memorable characters for me is the wicked Mrs. Lynch who commands the hallways with her ruler for measuring the girls’ skirts. Having attended an all girls Catholic school myself I am very familiar with the fixation on obeying ludicrous dress codes.

Dead Beautiful is not another young adult vampire romance.  The mysterious Dante is something else. If your curiosity is piqued, buy the book.  While I felt it could do with a little more character depth, I relished the Hogwarts style of Gottfried and I’ll be seeking out the next part of the story.  ****

Check it out on Amazon HERE

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Film Review: Breaking Dawn (Loved It)

Posted on November 26, 2011 by Emma

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this film. Though I am an avid fan of the Twilight books, their translation to the screen hasn’t been smooth.  Dialogue that was a little corny on the page had me cringing in my seat during the last three movies and I was extremely puzzled by how the makeup artists of New Moon and Eclipse seemed so intent on making supposedly beautiful creatures look so horrible.  The lack of action on screen has also not helped.  The result of such low expectations? I loved Breaking Dawn, particularly the second half when the movie really picked up speed.

Dialogue still cringeworthy? Check.  Vampire makeup still awful? Double check.  (Note to those responsible for this on the Twilight movies, Interview with the Vampire was shot back in 1993 and the makeup people on that flick, nearly twenty years ago were able to make the vampires pale but pretty!)  Okay I’ll let this gripe go for now.

So why did I enjoy Breaking Dawn so much?  SPOILERS AHEAD.  Do Not Continue Reading If You Haven’t Seen BD Yet.

There was a welcome return of the film score from Twilight which had a beautiful soundtrack and the CGI effects were amazing, particularly the way they altered Bella’s body.  I never understood how badly her body suffered when I read Breaking Dawn but seeing her emaciated form on screen was shocking.   I have found Stewart bland in the last two films but she impressed me here with her acting skills.  Her fear turning to confidence walking down the aisle, her sadness when saying goodbye to Jacob as they danced, and her agony during the birth scene were all conveyed well.  Pattinson doesn’t have much to do as the lovelorn Edward but I did sit up and take notice of him when he’s in the make-shift hospital room with Bella after she’s been told she’ll die from heart failure.  His outburst, “You haven’t given me a choice,” finally allowed him to show another emotion other than poetic melancholy.

I enjoyed the comedy which has been much needed in this saga.  Emmett as always had me laughing with his one-liners.  Charlie continues to be one of my favourite characters, and a dishevelled and a tipsy Renee singing a lullaby to Bella on stage at the wedding reception had me in stitches.  Bella’s attempt to seduce Edward in her black lingerie was played for laughs and provided some much needed light relief.  Aro’s brief appearance at the end was a delight.  “First it’s the spelling, then it’s the grammar.”

The venom spreading through Bella’s body was beautifully portrayed as was her changing body from human to vampire.  Her life flashing before her eyes at the moment of her human death was genuinely touching.  It was nice to see her human friends at the wedding, even it was too brief, and Jacob and his werewolf pack got some more screen time.

I’m looking forward to the next part; it’s just a shame we have to wait a whole year. ****

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