The Girl Who Fell From the Sky

I've been home sick from work for a full week. You'd think I would have read a million books by now, well at least taken a big chunk out of the seven I have checked out from the library. But someone recommended I watch this show, and I conveniently picked up the first two seasons right before this monstrous flu attacked. But the DVDs are done, and though season three is waiting for me to pick up at the library, a hour drive each way just to pick up the DVDs does not seem like a pleasant trip. So, I've started on the books now. The first one I picked up this morning is The Girl Who Fell From the Sky.

There is a new TV Series on right now, The Firm. I like it well enough. (I like Josh Lucas.) But the show isn't doing well, on it's way to being canceled. The writers tried to be creative. Each episode begins and ends with either flashbacks or flashforwards. I don't really care for it. That may have to do with my crazy little aversion of reading the backs of book or of movies or watching the preview of next week's episode at the end of a TV show. Their creativity doesn't abide well with me.

In 2010, Kathryn Stockett was a guest lecturer at the Sundance Author Series, and sadly my friend and I talked about attending for too long, and by the time we did something about attending and actually sat down to buy tickets, they were sold out. And sadly, we missed Heidi Durrow in 2011. I read The Help well before I knew Stockett was scheduled to speak. I had planned to read "Girl Who Fell" before Durrow came to speak, but we didn't get tickets anyway, so I postponed. A shame really. Another great book. Another opportunity to listen to a talented author missed.

I was thinking about the authors' series this morning. Thinking about when The Help was being made into a movie, there were suddenly newspaper articles about people claiming infringement, claiming that Stockett based her characters on their own lives. I was thinking about how Adele's ex-boyfriend had claimed that he should benefit from her latest success since their break-up was much of the inspiration for some of the songs. I was thinking about how sad it is that our society is so sue happy. Inspiration has to come from somewhere. Emotion has to come from somewhere. Experience teaches us. Experience inspires us. Without inspiration, without emotion, without experience, we wouldn't have these great stories. But talent, talent is what assists Adele to put to music the pain of her heart. Talent is what provided the outlet for Stockett to write her story. Talent is what Durrow demonstrated in writing "Girl Who Fell."

A piece of Durrow is in this story. This isn't her story. The story isn't based on her life experiences. But pieces of her are melted into the story. There is a truth to much of the emotion felt by the protagonist. I appreciated the reality her experience brought to the story.

I also appreciated the creativity of her storytelling. The is some use of flashback to help us understand the characters and the story. I like how she does it. I like how each chapter is told by one of the characters in the story so that for that one to ten pages, you dive deeper into the one character. You still learn of others and of the story, but you get just a little bit closer to one person through each brief chapter.

This is a really random post, full of random thoughts - blame the cold medicine I am taking right now if you like. =) I enjoyed this book. It is a quick read, but a thought provoking read. Especially following the events in yesterday's news, it was a timely read. I have had a lot of thoughts this morning regarding many aspects of this story. I hope you take the chance to read this one.

Enjoy.