REVIEW I: Charlotte Gray, by Sebastian Faulks

Right, this is possibly the only time I may well say this so prick up your ears accordingly- the film was better than the book.

I was so utterly disappointed with the book that I think I may well have been in shock after reading it because I couldn't work out if I liked it or not and sat pondering it for while. I decided after a glass of wine, or rather more accurately I would wager, a bottle of white Spanish plonk whilst sitting on the balcony of the villa we were staying in on holiday, that I came to the conclusion, I most definitely did not like it. Unfortunately I did see the film first, something I rather hate doing, mainly because I do know what films can do to books like the Da Vinci Code (though Tom Hanks did play a lovely Robert Langdon), Harry Potter (traversty- all but the fifth!), Persuasion (the latest tv version- TRAVERSTY with capitals my friend!), The Golden Compass, Eragon, oh and many a film besides.

However, first let's start with the positives...

Faulks convincingly sets the story in a time, place and situation. Charlotte's contension with her parents is portrayed brilliantly and the resolution of this subplot is satisfying, and the film is all the poorer for missing this whole plot out. The characters are very real and you can really relate to them. On the other hand, this can be a weakness in the form of the protagonist. Charlotte Gray as the protagonist was disappointing.

Not wanting to compare to the film, but intending to anyway, she appeared in the book weak, unsure and so dependent on others I wondered on what the scriptwriter for the film (Jeremy Brock) used as a basis for Charlotte, so stark was the contrast between the book and the film.

As I said, having watched the film first, I expected Charlotte to be this strong woman who, ok has to rely on others, but in the end makes a stand, and a very poignant one, that I was literally devastated not to have been in the book. I howled at the film's gait towards the ending and when it finally reached the climax I cried at the happy ending possible at such a time....

This could not be further from the book. I couldn't believe the ending... the airman called Richard Cannerly so did not deserve her, even though as much as I came to despise her inert attitude throughout the developing plot. I suppose it would have been realistic, but at the same time, the war did create many heroes. She seems an unknown anti-hero and at one point during my night of pondering I wondered why on earth write a book about it... then I calmed down and did begin to see the good side to the novel. So back to the positives...

Yes... well, Faulks understands men very well, but not women. Faulks writes very compellingly because I did finish the book, but I did dislike it....

Ok, ok, I can't be entirely positive about it, but no surprises there it seems! Julien and his father were constructed in a way that makes us like them, but then Charlotte disregards them so the reader is in constant confusion as to whether we want Charlotte to be with the airmen Cannerly or with Julien. The airmen is portrayed in a very mixed light, tainted more on the side of dislike or so I felt, so we are so unsure of where we stand. I actually wondered whether she was wasting her time searching for cannerly and whether she felt duty bound rather than feeling true love. When she fell in love with Julien, she was a different woman, she had changed, she had other dreams, other plans, another way to see the life. When she went back to Britain, she realised that. Now, she loves Julien and not Richard Cannerly.

The blurb of the book says she will find her true self during the story but in the book she doesn't. She chooses to stay fundamentally the same. Going through something like this would have changed her more dramatically than the book showed.

So in conclusion, watch the film leave the book... get your hankies ready and enjoy!

SYNOPSIS: Set in World War Two, Charlotte Gray falls for an airman who takes a stupid mission, crashes in the region of France and Charlotte wants to help with her excellent French. She gets recruited by the Allies to aid the French Resistance movement against the Vichy government and goes to France where she involves herself with the country's turmoils and its suffering people.

P.S. Cate Blanchett plays Charlotte Gray in the film; she is awesome, despite some critique on her Scottish accent in the film.