Nought Quite What I Expected

At the start of March the BBC aired the first episode of their adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s critically acclaimed novel Noughts and Crosses.

Whenever anybody asks me what my favourite book is, I answer Noughts and Crosses  without hesitation. I am extremely invested in entire series and world of the novel and have reread each book numerous time and enjoyed each reread. So when the news that the BBC were producing an adaptation of my fav book I was thrilled beyond words, seeing as I had missed out on watching the theatre production.

Soon my thrill turned to apprehension; were they going to ruin my favourite book of all time like so many  adaptations have done before? There’s always that thought of how far from the source material will the writers and directors stray, will I even recognise what I’m watching, are they going to take away key characters and add new ones? The list goes on. I delayed watching the series for about a week as a battled with the thought of being sorely disappointed, but a friend of mine urged me to watch it saying it was enjoyable, so I did.

I took me until half way through the second episode to stop making direct comparisons between the book and the BBC drama, and although there were some changes I personally didn’t like it was indeed highly enjoyable overall.

If I’m completely honest there wasn’t a huge amount of things that I completely disliked however some of the changes made definitely irked me. Straight out the gate the  I was quite disappointed with the set up of Callum and Sephy’s relationship . The growth of their relationship in the book really highlights how social prejudices and racism is often a learnt behaviour, the innocence of their friendship and their blossoming love only made everything around them more prominent and raw and consequently made the ending more tragic. Though the performance from Masali Baduza and Jack Rowan soon had me overlooking that particular detail.

There were two characters that I wasn’t particularly blown away by, the first was the added character of Lekan as Sephy’s boyfriend. I really didn’t see the point of their relationship in the grand scheme of things. Jonathan Ajayi did a brilliant job of making me dislike him until the bitter end with his blatantly racist behaviour towards Callum and all Noughts, however I feel like there was very little need for him to be Sephy’s boyfriend, it cheapened his role to that of a scorned lover, instead of a blatant racist, maniac.

The second character who I was not a big fan of was Jude McGregor. Now I believe that the Jude McGregor that Blackman wrote was an antagonist of many layers, however the Jude that Josh Dylan presented was a diluted, two dimensional version, who sort of stumbled his way through the series without the same purpose his book version had. A real shame.

With that being said I absolutely loved the transformation of London into this beautiful hub of Africanness. It really is the Africa they don’t want you to see and it was so refreshing for it just to be displayed in all it’s glory as the social norm.

From the celebration of black beauty on the billboards in the city, to numerous fashion statements made by Sephy and other characters, to the versatility of the natural hairstyles worn by each character, to the having a black female Prime Minister who was surrounded by her peers in terms of race; Noughts + Crosses was a brimming with the kind of representation that is needed more often on mainstream television.

Of course the celebration of blackness is immediately and deliberately juxtaposed by the treatment of the Noughts and of course drives home underlying issues of racism in society. Some could say the racism shown to the noughts was done with a certain level of eloquence however I would argue that is it no more eloquent than what is experienced in contemporary society (which is obviously the point).

From the micro-aggressions of Crosses pronouncing Nought’s names wrong, to having the Noughts that join Mercy Point don the same hairstyles as their Cross counterparts (and look ridiculous as they did it) it really drives home how Noughts are forced to adopt another culture in order to assimilate into the society. I’ve seen many comments on social media with people commenting about how Meggie McGregor’s hair was always in tight curls, somewhat mimicking the afro hairstyle. A direct reflection of how many black women straighten their hair in order for them to appear presentable in a professional work place.

The scene with the plaster was such a penny drop moment for me when I read the book and it’s such a shame that there wasn’t more of an emphasis on in the TV series however I was glad that it was kept it as many people would have been disappointed if it has been omitted completely.

Overall Noughts + Crosses is definitely a piece of drama that needed to produced by big organisation such as the BBC. It explores so many themes and injustices that are experience by many in the 21st century. It is quite telling that a book written in 2001 (almost two decades ago) is still so relevant today. Noughts + Crosses is by no means the solution to racism and prejudice however it continues the narrative and allows for further discussions and ultimately change.

The ending definitely leaves the door wide open for second series and a continuation of the book series. I was thrilled that Callum remained alive and thee pair stayed together as it emphasises the love story as the focal theme of the entire series. It is fairly common that films and tv programmes that explore social injustices often end on happy ending, when so often the worlds their are attempted to emulate have no such happy ending, take Get Out as a prime example. I’ve been told to take into consideration that the ending allows for a second series, however there are four more books in the series so material for a second series has already been written but we will see what happens if and when a second series will be announced. I definitely hope there is and hopefully it is an enjoyable as the first.

P.S. Stormy should not act, it’s not for him. Stick to rapping Big Mike.

Reached – Ally Condie

Hey guys!

It’s been a while. I actually finished reading this book a while ago and have almost finished  the new book that I’m reading. I’ve just been really busy so I haven’t had the time to do a review but I’m back now!

So the final book. I hate final books in series because I feel so lost, especially when I have no idea what to read next, luckily I have a list of books that I’m interested in so I should be fine for a while.

The Review:

All good things must come to end and I was quite sad to put this book down. Ally Condie moves from a dual narrative to a tri-narrative (I don’t actually think that this is a word but I’m sure you know what I mean). The story comes from the point of view of Cassia, Xander and Ky. Now I know I said I loved dual narratives in my previous review, though I am not so keen when there are three or more people. I always find myself uninterested in one person’s point of view and tend to rush through or slow down. I think Condie anticipated this however as the story is broken up into different sections, so the point of view of a certain character is prioritised and so I found myself not being bored of the same character throughout the novel, which is often what happens with other books

I loved how character and events from the first and second book were weaved in so effortlessly into this book. With all loose ends tied, I couldn’t help myself from oohing and  awwing when I came across a bit that hadn’t quite made sense until then.

All in all I really like this book, and the entire serious, though I must say in terms of dystopian fiction is wasn’t as dire and post-apocalyptic as I would have like but then again the genre is very broad, this particular series focuses more around the themes of totalitarianism and control.

The only thing I can say I didn’t like was the outcome of the love story. I never seem to be on the side of the author when it comes to resolving a love triangle. I mean I was and still am Team Jacob!

Overall I give this book at 3.7/5

I’ll have a review of the Tarzan film coming shortly as well as the new book that I’m reading.

Crossed – Ally Condie

Hey Guys! Back with another book review.

I just finished reading Crossed, it took me longer than expected as I didn’t start reading it straight away. The torrential down pours that accrued about a week and a half ago soaked my bag with had my book in it and so I had to leave my poor book to air dry for a few days (it was that bad). I busied myself with trips to the cinema and binge watching Dance Moms so all was good on the entertainment front.

The Review

The first difference from Matched (the first book) and Crossed (the second) is that this book features a dual narrative format. And I love, love, LOVE me a dual narrative story. There is something about experiencing the same story from two points of views that I just love.

I like how Ally Condie starts the story is seperate time frames and then brings the characters of Cassia and Ky together, it’s a bit confusing a times but it doesn’t last for too long so you catch on quite fast. This book really focuses on character development, we get to learn a bit more about Ky, and his life before he and Cassia met and fell in love, and we also learn about what drives Cassia which I really liked.

I enjoyed the introduction of the new characters Indie, Eli, Hunter and Vick. I like how each character works into the development of the story and aren’t just there for decoration. She even kills one of them off, and have two leave after they serve their purpose. I think this really allows the reader to get to know the characters and remember things about them as they don’t have to constantly contend with learning new information about them.

One criticism from me would be that Condie seems to focus a bit too much on the love triangle forming between Cassia, Ky and Xander and if this were to be turned into a film franchise then I can see a division between the fans and the forming of two camps: Team Xander and Team Ky. Hopefully the love triangle doesn’t play too much of a part in the final book as there so many tiny revelations that need to finally come out in the last book I would hate to spend so much time reading about how much each teenager lovers the other one.

Overall I give this book 3.5/5

Matched – Ally Condie

Hey guys! I just got back from holiday in Zante and just finished reading the first book in the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie. I’ve never come across any of Ally Condie’s stuff but after reading Matched I will be looking into more of her fiction.

As a big fan of dystopian literature, I came across Matched while Googling a list of Dystopian literature to read. The premise of the book, where young people are matched with their life partner is what initially got my attention.

The Review:

The plot follows 17 year old Cassia, it starts on the day of her Match where she finds out she is matched with her best friend Xander, however things go wrong when she sees the face of another boy on datapad, Ky, and starts to fall in love with him.

Although not an action-packed page turner like other dystopian fiction with teenage protagonists (The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner), this novel really manages to mimic the real life realisation of the flaws in the world that many young adults ago through as they come of age. It can be quite slow at time but Condie really excels in placing the reader in the position of Cassia, so her revelations are our revelations. However there are times when the reader may be left feeling like an outsider due to some of the terminology used that is specific to the fictional society. Though Condie does try  her best to explain it without breaking the narration.

I can’t wait to read the next book, hopefully it is a bit faster paced as the initially story has been establish.

Overall I would give this book at 3.5/5