Cowboys & Aliens

A movie came out this summer that I wanted to see. It was called COWBOYS & ALIENS. I still haven't had a chance to see the movie, but after reading the book I'm glad I didn't take my kidlet to it unawares. Think of it as a cross between a Western and ALIEN (the sci-fi movie)/SUPER TROOPERS and a horror flick. At least that was the impression the book left me.

Anyhoo, I was walking through Target and saw the book on the shelf and bought it. This was what so many agents/publishers are clamboring for--something that was familiar or the same, but different. I wanted to understand the hype.

The first thing that struck me was that this book is a novelization. What that means is a screenplay was written, the movie was shot or in the process of being shot, and the powers that be decide someone needs to write the book. I don't know the order of things here, I'm just guessing, but TOR publishing was contacted and then they snagged a writer who has novelized stories before. Even though I haven't seen the movie, I've seen enough clips to know who the characters are and which actors portray the main ones.

I think novelizing a movie is less common than making a screenplay out of a book, but don't quote me on this.

The second thing that struck me was that the Point-of-View (POV) was omniscent, which means the  narrator knows the thoughts and feelings of all of the characters in the story versus just the main character in the scene. Or to put it a little more bluntly--this could be considered 'head-hopping', especially if it is done a lot in a scene.

This book head-hops, in my opinion. but after awhile it didn't bother me quite as much. Perhaps it was because I knew this was a novelization and the reader was sort of like the camera filming the scene. For example: amnesiac Jake thinks this, ". . . opened his eyes again, strikingly blue eyes that glinted like cut sapphire." Yeah . . . he wouldn't have a clue what color his eyes were. nuf said.

After I finished the book I realized something else. The character (amnesiac Jake Lonergan) who is introduced on the first page and featured throughout the book and ends the story, isn't the main character. The person with the strongest GMC (goal, motivation, conflict), and has more to gain and lose in this story is Dolarhyde. Dolarhyde grew in character and learned to forgive himself in this story. Jake had already changed the direction of his life PRIOR to the aliens taking him.

Hm, interesting. There was a lot about the way this story was written that irritated me, but I still finished it. There was a little more internal narrative (Jake) in some places that was a little overdone, so I skimmed it--mainly because the author tried to make Jake the one who had the greatest conflict when he didn't. It did make me cry near the end when a secondary character died and Dolarhyde finally realizes what he had and lost.

But will I reread the book?  No.

It isn't a 'keeper', so I'll give away.

Later, Peeps!