Monday 14 July 2008

A Personal Low Point

How the mighty are fallen. What would Virginia Woolf say if she knew what I'd just read. Granted, the whole book took me less than an hour, but that's still an hour I could have spent in the company of Laura Ramsay, Clarissa Dalloway, Miss La Trobe.

I've just read High School Musical : The Book of the Fi
lm.

My very dear friend Mel bought it for me, since we have shared (ironically, you understand) the rollercoaster of emotions that is Troy (basketball player) and Gabriella (Maths genius) discovering affinity through song. She asked me to write about it on here, and being the slavish man I am...

If you've seen High School Musical, then you've read all the dialogue in this book. N.B. Grace, who appears to have penned all manner of such books (though also looks like a note reminding about the Gospel) has turned his/her hand to writing a book in the easiest way possible. Grab a script, and throw "He said, thoughtfully"; "She said, inwardly groaning" and so forth, throughout. Repeat as needed. Surprisingly, however, it is done unobtrusively, and makes for an enjoyable enough read.

But why do I write about it here? Well, some of you may be the parents/grandparents/friends/siblings of someone who is reluctant to read much. If that person is a pre-teenager, possibly with a crush on Zac Efron/Vanessa Anne Hudgens, then maybe this book would lure them into the reading fold... Worth a shot, anyway.

Happy, Mel? ;-)

8 comments:

  1. I must confess I have actually seen the movie - and the songs do kind of get in your head!

    Sarah

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  2. Heeheehee. Very.

    Though I see you are still clinging onto some spurious reputation as somebody who didn't thoroughly enjoy the book and get full marks on the accompanying quiz. ;o)

    Thanks for lowering your brow... xx

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  3. we're soaring!
    flying!
    there's not a star in heaven
    that we cant reach!

    love it!

    lge

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  4. Arrgghh! How COULD you do this, Simon?!

    One of the main reasons I read blogs is that it gives me an opportunity to shut myself in my study and escape from round-the-clock High School Musical!

    We have the films (I and II), which are watched and danced and sung-along to in preference to any other films (except perhaps Grease and Hairspray). We have the books. We have the sticker books and colouring books. We have the pencil case and pens and ruler. We have the lunchbox and drinks bottle. We have the t-shirts and the dance-wear. We have the piano and guitar music. We even had a HSM dance party for my younger daughter's birthday last year. I have never sat and watched either of the films all the way through. I don't need to - the music and, ahem, 'dialogue' are constantly playing in my head. And ours isn't even an extreme case - it's simply the natural and unavoidable consequence of having a six-year-old daughter.

    Please resume normal service as soon as possible!

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  5. My daughter was in a school production of the play. It wasn't too terribly painful to sit through. I'll give it that!

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  6. So you'll be off to see High School Musical 3: Senior Year, presumably?
    Not having seen High School Musical, I can't really comment, but would you say that the one thing missing was a colon in the title? Because, if so, we may have stumbled upon perfection.

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  7. Juliet... I feel quite guilty now.
    That sounds like some kind of living death. I am sorry for adding to your pain.

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  8. Hi Mel - please don't worry about it. I was just suffering from shock when I wrote that little rant - and dismay at finding that HSM had infected even the erudite literary byways of the bookblogosphere. But that's the Power of Disney for you!

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