Happy new year! How is it already 2015? Time has flown by! Do you have any New Year traditions? Making resolutions, plans for celebrations, etc? I usually just get together with friends or family and hang out until the ball drops and then go to sleep. Sometimes I'm so awesome that I don't even make it to midnight before sleep overtakes me (yawn).
I didn't make any resolutions on purpose, per se. I usually say things like "be healthier" blah blah blah. Obviously that doesn't really mean anything. It isn't a SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). It accomplishes being relevant and time-bound (health is always relevant, and time would be bound to the particular year for which the resolution was made), but not really all that specific, nor measurable, and as a result not really achievable. How do you achieve something you can't measure and haven't even specified?
This year, I signed up for a 100 mile bike ride. Technically it's 104 miles. It's called Reach the Beach and is a bike ride starting in Portland and going all the way to Pacific City at the coast, supporting the American Lung Association. My boss has participated in this ride with his wife and various friends for about 7 years, and he's been trying to convince people in our group to sign up this year. I caved. I guess it counts sort of as a NY resolution because it's a goal to do something to improve myself (health) this year, but I hadn't thought about it in the context of a resolution until it was actually New Year's Day, and I'd already been signed up for it for a few days by that point. So anyway, it's May 16th (Time-bound), so I have over 100 days to train still. 100 miles is a LOT (Specific, Measurable), so I'll need to start training as soon as possible (Achievable). I keep putting it off, though... it's cold and wet outside!! But thankfully my parents let me borrow (have?) their trainer so I can set my bike up in the living room and ride while I watch a movie or something. I'm hoping I'll get into pretty good shape doing this (Relevant) since I don't get a whole lot of exercise outside of an hour of crappy volleyball once a week. We'll see how it goes. I'm excited and terrified at the same time! Thankfully husband Nick and friend Ryan signed up with me so I have their support as well.
Anyway, the reason I titled this post "If I Stay" is because I wanted to write some thoughts about the book of the same title. I read it over Christmas and then found out that it's also a movie! When I bought it, I'd seen it on a top seller list at Powell's, my favorite book store in Portland. It wasn't until I started reading it that I realized it was intended for a teen audience, indicated by the URL for the publisher's teen page on the bottom of the front cover. It certainly read like a teen (maybe even tween?) book. It had simpler language and didn't go into too much depth about the setting or the characters. And there were definitely teen themes throughout (teen romance, high school, etc).
The story follows a teen girl who grew up in a tight-knit musical household; her dad was part of a punk rock band for several years and her mom was heavily involved in the band as well. As a result, she picked up music, but of a completely different genre: classical, via cello. On a snow day in the Portland area, her family decides to visit some friends and on the way they get into a horrible car accident which kills her parents and critically injures herself. The story then goes back and forth between her current state (out-of-body experiences while she's in the hospital) and background of her life, family and her aspirations for her future in music and love.
While the book was a good read, I would probably give it a 3 out of 5. I found myself constantly wanting more out of it. I wanted more resolution (two major parts of the story are left unresolved). I wanted more description of the setting to really ground me as I read. While the story is based in a Oregon, there aren't a lot of specific
references to places, just a lot of generic vague descriptions. As a
result, it just kind of had this shallow surface feel to it like the
author had the intention of it but not the commitment to researching it or giving the reader a full understanding of it. Except for the mention of Portland and Oregon and one specific building downtown, it could've been anywhere.
Part of me feels that my rating of 3 out of 5 isn't quite fair. I'm an adult reading a teen story; maybe if I were a teen reading it, I'd think it's a great book. I'm an Oregonian reading a book set in Oregon written by a non-Oregonian; maybe if it were set elsewhere, I wouldn't have cared as much since I'm not as knowledgeable about other locales. I don't know. I just know I was left wishing the author had gone deeper in almost every aspect.
I won't go too much into the movie... But don't see the movie right after you read the book!!! The movie is such a loose interpretation of the book! I'm a purist and when movies are based on books, I want them to match. I want the characters to look the same, I want the plot to be the same. I can understand cutting a few things out of the plot for time's sake, but not needlessly altering the plot just because the director felt like it. There were so many inconsistencies that I was constantly saying "that's not how it happened!" or "that's not how he/she looked according to the book!" Even though the movie itself is fine on its own, I was so bothered by the differences between it and the book that I almost wanted to stop watching partway through.
One thing I did like was that one of the major loose ends in the book was tied up in the movie (I won't spoil it).
Back to some more adult reading.... I'm currently working my way through "White Teeth" by Zadie Smith. So far, much better! I'll possibly do a review of that when I finish. We'll see.
Sorry, no photos today. Hopefully tomorrow if I get around to editing some photos!
