Imitation of Life (Literary Cinema Classics Series)
Registered by 
GoryDetails
of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 7/14/2011
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
GoryDetails of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 7/14/2011 This Book is Currently in the Wild!
3 journalers for this copy...
I enjoyed the 1934 film adaptation of this novel, starring Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers, and had been wanting to read the novel. I got this slightly-battered trade paperback from Better World Books (via the link on the "affiliates" page under the BookCrossing site's "store" tab) - and it turns out it's a movie-tie-in edition, but with the 1959 film starring Lana Turner and Juanita Moore. [There are stills from the movie interspersed throughout the text - a nice enough touch if you prefer that film version, but I admit I didn't care for it. Your Mileage May Vary.]
The first film is a bit truer to the setting and events of the book than the second one is, but both films leave out many of the details of how hard the heroine had to work to get her career off the ground (not that that would necessarily make riveting viewing!), and both films also pulled some emotional punches regarding the main characters' love lives. [Oddly enough, the book has the happiest ending by far for one of the central characters, one that's ignored and subverted in both films. (Granted, she has to pay quite a price for it, but it's one she's willing to pay - and a sensible one under the circumstances, though I can see why that part didn't get into the films!) But to make up for it, the book's a good deal more savage to - another character. I couldn't believe what I was reading; those who think that people wrote namby pamby books in the '30s simply weren't paying attention!]
In a way the story's quite a downer, revealing the few blind spots in an otherwise admirable character who has fought long and hard to provide for herself and her dependents, but it's also a keen look at attitudes, hopes and dreams - both of the period and those that are universal. The view of racial relationships can be a bit hard to take, even though the story presents a single black mother and a single white mother working together to create a hugely successful business. (The films made more of an issue of young Peola's attempts to pass as white than the book does, though it has some poignancy here as well.)
The first film is a bit truer to the setting and events of the book than the second one is, but both films leave out many of the details of how hard the heroine had to work to get her career off the ground (not that that would necessarily make riveting viewing!), and both films also pulled some emotional punches regarding the main characters' love lives. [Oddly enough, the book has the happiest ending by far for one of the central characters, one that's ignored and subverted in both films. (Granted, she has to pay quite a price for it, but it's one she's willing to pay - and a sensible one under the circumstances, though I can see why that part didn't get into the films!) But to make up for it, the book's a good deal more savage to - another character. I couldn't believe what I was reading; those who think that people wrote namby pamby books in the '30s simply weren't paying attention!]
In a way the story's quite a downer, revealing the few blind spots in an otherwise admirable character who has fought long and hard to provide for herself and her dependents, but it's also a keen look at attitudes, hopes and dreams - both of the period and those that are universal. The view of racial relationships can be a bit hard to take, even though the story presents a single black mother and a single white mother working together to create a hugely successful business. (The films made more of an issue of young Peola's attempts to pass as white than the book does, though it has some poignancy here as well.)
This book's going into my Based on the Book bookbox, with this book serving as the bookbox journal. The box will be on the way to the first participant soon. Enjoy!
Part of the "Based on the Book" bookbox that is travelling around the States.
To be released as part of the "Based on the Book" bookbox. Sending it off!
Chosen from GoryDetails' Based on the Book bookbox
This is the first book from GoryDetails' "Based on the Book" box I've finished reading, although I've started another. I'm just realizing that this bookbox theme has some unexpected benefits. Not only did I get a nice selection of books personally chosen by The Wry One, not only am I discovering some authors new to me, but I'm getting a glimpse into some different times and attitudes.
Not that I'm an expert, but this book seems firmly set in 1933, the year it was published. The idea of a woman supporting herself, and becoming successful, was completely startling. Bea was clever from the very beginning, realizing she could carry on business by mail using her deceased husband's business card which gave only his first initial (which was also hers). I don't agree that the career-building wouldn't be riveting - it was so detailed and well written, it was fascinating reading.
As far as the film adaptations, I'm pretty sure I'd also prefer the original 1934, mainly because it was much closer to the book. What do you suppose the thinking was behind changing the original Bea to a film star? So the stills from 1959 were a bit distracting, since they usually didn't really coincide well with the book.
The two challenging themes in the book were the racial attitudes and the successful independent woman. It appears to me that we've made more progress in the first area than the second (but then, I've just finished reading Kathryn Stockett's 'The Help' which may have affected my viewpoint). But as Bea is first trying to get a bank loan to start her business, she's told pointblank that the only way a woman should have income is through a man, either by marriage or whatever other arrangement she can contrive. What do you want to bet there are still men who think that, even if they won't say it out loud?
Fannie Hurst's writing is a bit exuberant for my taste, but it's certainly vivid and easy to read; I can see why she was such a best-seller. The back cover blurb does her no favor by comparing her to Susann, Krantz and Collins - she was a much better observer, and recorder, of her time.
But that's just one person's opinion. Future readers, what do YOU think of this book?
Not that I'm an expert, but this book seems firmly set in 1933, the year it was published. The idea of a woman supporting herself, and becoming successful, was completely startling. Bea was clever from the very beginning, realizing she could carry on business by mail using her deceased husband's business card which gave only his first initial (which was also hers). I don't agree that the career-building wouldn't be riveting - it was so detailed and well written, it was fascinating reading.
As far as the film adaptations, I'm pretty sure I'd also prefer the original 1934, mainly because it was much closer to the book. What do you suppose the thinking was behind changing the original Bea to a film star? So the stills from 1959 were a bit distracting, since they usually didn't really coincide well with the book.
The two challenging themes in the book were the racial attitudes and the successful independent woman. It appears to me that we've made more progress in the first area than the second (but then, I've just finished reading Kathryn Stockett's 'The Help' which may have affected my viewpoint). But as Bea is first trying to get a bank loan to start her business, she's told pointblank that the only way a woman should have income is through a man, either by marriage or whatever other arrangement she can contrive. What do you want to bet there are still men who think that, even if they won't say it out loud?
Fannie Hurst's writing is a bit exuberant for my taste, but it's certainly vivid and easy to read; I can see why she was such a best-seller. The back cover blurb does her no favor by comparing her to Susann, Krantz and Collins - she was a much better observer, and recorder, of her time.
But that's just one person's opinion. Future readers, what do YOU think of this book?
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