The most heartbreaking aspect of the story for me was, that Lennie had an innocent mind and never wanted to hurt anyone or anything. He just wanted to be affectionate, so when the ending comes it shatters your heart completely. "The best laid schemes of mice and men / Often go awry" is a verse from a poem by Robert Burns, and when the name of the book comes from that, you know that not everyone will have a chance for a happy ending.

Lennie enjoyed George's descriptions about the farm they would one day own, where there would be plenty of food and they could work only for themselves. George convinces Lennie, that they have things a lot better than other migrant workers, because they have each other. This is only emphasized by the people in their new work place, where everyone are lonely in their own way.

I enjoyed this, but I still have to lean towards Grapes of Wrath, where Steinbeck's post-Depression social consciousness really explodes into full bloom.

Liked the main plot and some of the characters were real and likeable, but some of the vignettes felt a bit glued on. For some reason I just simply didn't like this despite its redeeming qualities. I don't know, everything just shuffled and the writing was very factual (the opening chapter was nice, though). This is by far the most different Steinbeck novel I've read, so if you want to try his works, you might not want to start from this one.

Who would have thought a Swedish suburb in the 80s and vampires go so well together? Then again, Blackeberg seems like a depressingly bleak place to live so maybe it's not that surprising. When I saw the Swedish film at a screening of a local film club, I just thought "what the hell did I watch...?", but it grew on me after a few days when I couldn't stop thinking about it. That's usually a sign for me that there's something special going on.

This isn't about cheap thrills (like so many modern horror films nowadays are), but there's some serious social critique as well. The fact that the author himself grew up in Blackeberg gives some credibility to it. Life is grey: the bums hanging out at a local diner have no more sense of direction in their lives than regular divorce families have, not to mention the bullies Oskar is tormented by, who take out their anxiety on others and surround themselves with bad influence. Not even Eli gets real satisfaction from blood, because it's just something that needs to be done in order to stay alive.

Despite the bleakness, there are some glimpses of humour here and there. Unlike in films, I can usually take anything in books, but a few scenes were damn repulsive. One of them, however, made me laugh out loud because the image in my mind was just too amusing. Or maybe it was just my sense of humour, and everybody else were completely horrified :D It just reminded me of the Evil Dead type of films, where something is really disgusting but also oh-so-funny.

I also loved the author's interpretation of vampires. Although I'm usually more old school in this one, Eli is one creepy creature when she's hunting. Really unusual. It's like she's a modern vampire, but at the same time traditional and avoids all the clichés. Along with the descriptions of Oskar's dad's alcoholism, the way Eli starts to learn how to behave and play like a child again is the most touching thing in the book.

Material for Bachelor's thesis

Turned out to be useful for my research for about two sentences. But hey, it's Billy Wilder so didn't mind reading the whole thing, would have borrowed this from the library at some point anyway. Besides, I got an idea for my Master's thesis so not a waste of time in that sense either.

Hopp understandably spends more time in the more well known (and better) films, but it would have been great to have at least some insight on the others too, especially Avanti!. It's still worth the read for even the fantastic photos alone.

I knew the basic theme beforehand, but the actual plot became familiar when I saw Ossessione (1943). I've also seen the American version with Lana Turner and John Garfield, so there wasn't anything new left when I started to read this. In this case seeing the film(s) before reading the book was even worse, because I couldn't really get anything out of this psychologically or in a deeper level than just the events.

Cain's writing style does fit this genre quite well, but the economical way of using words occasionally balances between paper thinness and elegance. If the story hadn't been told in first person's point of view, it would have felt more like a film noir script. I also don't know if it was just me, but at times it was difficult to keep up with who was speaking.

However, there was one quote by a woman who trains and sells large cats that encapsulates the mood: "If it was people, he would be a crazy person. It comes from being bred in captivity. These cats you see, they look like cats, but they're really cat lunatics".

Findus, you rascal, you're too cute to handle! Love love your trousers.

Material for Bachelor's Thesis

Using Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a tool for discussing phrasal verbs in slang:

"Xander: "Hey, Snyder, heard you had some fun Friday night. Have you come [down] yet?" Principal Snyder is a frustrated little man, but not as frustrated as the clipped form would imply."