I’ve been fascinated with all the coverage and hoopla over the movie The Great Gatsby. Apparently the release of the movie has increased the book sales dramatically.

Heard that within the last few months it sold 400,000 copies or something like that, way more than the 20,000 it sold in Fitzgerald’s lifetime.

And becoming so ‘popular’ tarnishes the book in the estimation of the powers that be.

Which brings me to the basic problem with ‘literature’.

It’s ‘exclusivity’.

One critic even called the book’s plot “pulp”.

Oh man, pulp is one thing I wouldn’t call it and I didn’t even like the book!

One review quoted a passage calling it evocative and beautiful and I just thought, “meh!”.

Basically it’s about a stupid criminal pining after a stupid broad. Ridiculous!

But it’s interesting about the idea of ‘pulp’.

One of my favourite books is The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. I like it way better than Anne of Green Gables!

And even though there is a part of the plot that is definitely pulp, sheesh, what’s wrong with that!?

I think it’s horrible that the literati are such a darn cynical bunch that anything that contributes to a ‘happy’ ending is considered pulpy.

There’s something wrong with all of this.

Look at the ideas the book is exploring.

The main idea in The Great Gatsby is the melancholy of longing. He wants to fit in with the big boys and get the girl, even though she’s a dimwit.

But then so is he.

The Blue Castle is about about how a death sentence can free you of fear and give you the courage to go out and get what you want.

The biggest irony is that the author herself never followed her own advice. She ended up marrying the more ‘respectable’ suitor instead of the one she really liked and he turned out to be a pretty loony.

From what I read Lucy Maud based the character of Roaring Abel on her husband.

Anyway, the only problem I had with the book is that it does get a bit Jane Eyrish, and I’ll say no more than that for fear of spoiling it.

But then comes Lagaan, a movie that hearkens back to my growing up days watching Bollywood movies, the old kind, where they dance with Chinese and Burmese influences.

It’s nice to see that it got 95% on Rotten Tomatoes so that even they recognized how good it is!

It’s funny but I was thinking about it the other day and then when I clicked on Netflix, there it was!

And I watched it, and it was just as good the second time!

And yet, at the end my hubby said that the ending was a bit pat.

A bit pat?

Aaargh!

That’s like calling it pulpy!

Nope. It’s just good!

It’s called an ending people! You need to end the problem! Resolve it.

Hence–resolution!

Anyway, read The Blue Castle, watch Lagaan, and wait till The Great Gatsby hits the small screen–for free!

That’s my suggestion.