Far from the madding crowd.

'Far From the Madding Crowd' by Thomas Hardy inspired the wonderful graphic novel 'Tamara Drewe' which is being released this week and I am overwhelmed with eagerness to see it. The graphic novel (I really quite like still calling them comics but the sort of comic I read always seems to be referred to as a graphic novel these days) is by Posy Simmonds and is absolutely smashingly good. Vaguely based on the Hardy book which I have not read (not a fan of his) it tells the tale of Tamara Drewe's return to her girlhood village following a nose job and her successes as a hack journalist. It is tremendously funny and frightfully middle-class, indeed the latter characteristic is a common theme throughout Simmonds' work which is perhaps why I find her so amusing an author. 'Tamara Drewe' is Simmonds' best work, though 'Gemma Bovary' (inspired by Flaubert's Madame) is also jolly good.


The film stars Gemma Arterton who also played Hardy's Tess from 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' in a BBC adaptation a few years ago. She seems like the perfect choice for Drewe, as does Roger Allam as Nicholas Hardiment, but I remain unconvinced by the choice of Tamsin Grieg as Hardiment's wife as in the comic book she was most plump and that weight fit the character to such an extent that having her on screen as thin literally seems to detract something from Beth Hardiman. I plan to see it this Friday after it's Thursday release and am so looking forward to it! 

For those who wish to see the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_ySyvfzKUE

The graphic novel was originally serialised in the Guardian newspaper just as 'Bridget Jones' first appeared in installments in the Independant. I wish newspapers still serialise books but the only example I can think of is '44 Scotland Street' by Alexander McCall Smith which was in the Scotsman, and sadly I do not enjoy his work. When his books first started appearing I bought 'The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency' and disliked it so much that I didn't get much beyond the first chapter. 'The Diary of a Nobody' which I mentioned in my last entry also first appeared in serial form back in the glorious days of Punch magazine. I do so wish Punch was still in existence for I have often thought I would adore it.

Graphic novels get a funny wrap from society in general but I have long been a fan. I am not at all into what I refer to as superhero comics but adore the work of Daniel Clowes who wrote 'Ghost World' (also an excellent film) and 'Ice Haven', Alan Moore who wrote 'Watchmen' and 'V for Vendetta' (both truly dreadful films) and 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' (a horrendously bad film). I think most other girls are put off reading them due to the emphasis on superheros but they really should give them a second look. Posy Simmonds' work is particularly easy to get into as her books feel like pure books due to the large amount of text she incorporates. I very much enjoyed seeing 'Scott Pilgrim vs the World' last week and am rather interested in comparing the film to the graphic novels of the same name which  good friend assures me are much better than the big screen version.

Confusion.

A few weeks ago I started writing emails to my ex-boyfriend by instead of sending them to him I have saved them all in my draft email folder. It feels really cathartic and cleansing to be able to tell him all the things I feel about our split and about him, and yet for him not to know or respond. While we were together I used to tell him about how I felt and he used to not properly listen/ change the subject/ totally forget what I had said a few minutes later and so this way works even better as it means there is now no reason for me to get cross with him for having failed to listen to me.

I used to think that men in real life were not a patch on men in books and while this remains largely true I must add the caveat that men in books also fall short of the ideal. I know think that ideal men are probably best illustrated by film rather than fiction. Mr Darcy in ‘Pride and Prejudice’ was a cold fish who was very rude to Lizzie Bennet and his only redeeming feature was his wealth, Anna Karrenina and Madame Bovary had a rotten time with men, Rhett Butler only amused himself with Scarlett O’Hara and then left her for merely being the same person she was all along and I can’t think of a single book in which the man both beautifully professes his love and then manages to live up to it afterwards. 

My ex and I have been split for slightly over two months now, two very long months in which I have not had nearly enough to occupy my time and so I have brooded rather while he has made himself very busy indeed and underwent no period of mourning where you don’t stir out of pjs all day and eat way too much while watching a lot of Murder She Wrote… We met up a couple of weeks ago to exchange our things which I found weird but he seemed to like. He wanted to see me again, in fact was most eager to do so and on Monday we did. We not only had lunch together but then met again in the evening for dinner and drinks. I am not being vain, I truly am not when I say that he wants to get back together. From some of the things he said, the way he tried to hold my hand several times etc. He does. And yet he doesn’t. He is not the kind to make any great romantic running after me, he is the type to sit back and see me lots of times and just wait for something to happen without planning anything romantic and without even thinking to himself that he should dress up, take me somewhere special and say wonderful things before kissing me. He will have no plan because that was the way it was when we got together in the beginning, he just kept asking me out and eventually things progressed.

I don’t want to sound bitter, I am not. In fact I was the one who split up with him. I am only confused and unsure of what I want. He is lovely and although there were other things behind the breakup the catalyst was definitely his pulling out of our plans to live together. That is what makes it so confusing: I split up with him because I loved him enough to live together but because he didn’t and I felt a great need to protect myself by not staying with someone who didn’t love me as much as I loved them.

What makes it all more confusing is that I can’t think of a single book where there is the same dilema! Even the torrid romantic life of Natasha in ‘War and Peace’ did not encounter this problem. On a side note I was frightfully disappointed by the way she ended up. She was stunningly beautiful and charming and catnip to men and yet she ended up with the most boring chap in the whole book and turned out frumpy, fat and a complete housewife. I was horrified! I saw the opera of the same book last year and thought it rather marvelous although in it for some ridiculous reason they missed the whole ending and Natasha actually didn’t end up with the bore which I found rather amusing!