Let the Right One In

So this will be my third post on this story. I’ve been doing very little reading for the last several years, but I loved the movies that were made from this work so much that I felt it necessary to find out if they really stacked up to the source. It turns out that both movies were pretty faithful, the first more than the second, but both left out quite a bit of story, most likely because a film that did everything in the book would probably be shunned by most civilized audiences.

The most glaring omission from both movies is the truth of the relationship between Eli and Håkan, who is often referred to as her “father” by people who can’t see the subtext. When I saw the first film I assumed he was a long-time protector/familiar of sorts with a romantic connection to Eli. Let Me In sort of confirmed this assumption, but made it seem a bit more innocent somehow. It turns out that Håkan is a straight-up pedophile and was only recruited by Eli a short time ago, after he had been outed as the pervert he was. There are many portions of the book written from his perspective; he sees Eli as some sort of god/goddess, but also as a sex object that remains slightly out of reach, much like the young boys who hold his fancy. His violent ventures are efforts to endear himself to her and gain sexual favors. Some of his mental narration is pretty disgusting really. Also, the movies both remove his character entirely after his “death,” whereas in the book he continues to have a part, although not in the same way; again, pretty gruesome.

The second biggest difference was handled much better in the original film, but still not as explicitly as in the source. Eli is not a girl. She says this in both films as I recall, but it’s easy to assume she just means that she’s a vampire; there are a couple of frames in the first movie that expand on the line, but it’s easy to miss and also ignore. In the book, Oskar eventually starts referring to Eli as “he,” but I think I remember he doesn’t always stick to that pronoun, as it’s hard to make the distinction when faced with his/her outward appearance. The theme of homosexuality is much more pronounced, but it never becomes the major theme; that remains friendship.

There are a few other characters who are given more of a focus, like Oskar’s friend Tommy who was dropped entirely for the theatrical versions as I recall; it was a bit hard for me to care about him given this fact, but his storyline definitely got more interesting near the end. Lacke and Virginia, the star-crossed lovers from the bar, are both given larger roles, but following the same general story arc from the first movie. The policeman Staffan seems to be who the cop from the second is based on, although there isn’t really a whole lot of correlation between the two. Oskar’s bullies are humanized a bit more.

Eli his/herself seems much more like an adult than portrayed in the movies, although he/she claims that she still feels like a twelve-year old even though she’s over 200. It may be a fault of the translation from Swedish, which was evident in the American movie, but the dialogue between children never really felt quite natural; it might be intentional I suppose. This is not a natural relationship.

As expected, it’s a really good book. I think I may have enjoyed watching the first movie more than reading this, but I can only attribute that to the love the filmmakers had for it.

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever

I think I started reading this first trilogy about three to four years ago. My transition to a more technologically focused life has made my reading habits become very drawn out. I’ll often put a book down for months at a time, especially if it bores me at all. Unfortunately these books are in the old style of very heavy description, and thus are quite often a bit of a chore to get through. However, they are not bad books, and not your average fantasy series.

The main difference from every other fantasy story I’ve ever read is that the protagonist is a bit of an antihero. An unwilling, angry, self-hating guy with leprosy. He’s transported from his miserable life as a writer whose career has been ended by his disease, to your average fantasy world full of very Tolkein-esque creatures and lore. In the first book, he establishes his disbelief of this reality very strongly, even though it feels exactly like real life; as a leper though his concept of reality has become a dismal one, and he takes this land of health and vigor as a threat to his mental self-preservation. He ends of doing some kind of nasty stuff in this world he claims to be false, and can’t help but hate himself even more. The people of The Land somehow painfully look past his misdeeds, as he is of course supposed to be the fabled savior of legend, reincarnation of Berek the Half-hand (he lost two fingers to his leprosy), bearing the white-gold ring of wild magic, which happens to be his wedding ring from our world.

Then there’s a lot of arguing, Covenant saying “Hellfire!” about 357 times, a bunch of walking and riding horses, and battles of good vs. evil. Most of the story is filled with tragedy at least in part brought into play by Covenants refusal to accept his place as the savior. He goes back and forth between worlds a few times, and each time the real world becomes more and more dismal while The Land follows suit. It’s a pretty difficult read really; not a lot of happy stuff happens. There’s a jovial giant character, but as the story goes on his mirth diminishes, understandably considering his situation of being the last of his kind, for which whose demise he blames himself somewhat unjustly. Of course the end results in a kind of victory for good, although Covenant’s take on the whole thing is still largely one of dismissal, even in the face of death. He’s a pretty frustrating guy.

As a whole I enjoyed the story, it just took a really long time to read it. I think if it had compressed the descriptive stuff and made the characters a little fuller, I would have sped through it much quicker and had a better grasp of the message. As it is though I don’t think I’ll be reading the second trilogy. It’s just too much of a task. Still, it’s an interesting look into the mind of a man who cannot accept that his life can change from a state of decay, and yet pushes away any hope of health in order to continue his painful existence. Remind me never to get leprosy.