By Catherine Storr
I had heard of the British film,
Paper House (1990) but over the years, it had become rather
obscure so I assumed I’d never watch it.
When by chance I discovered it on Prime, I immediately decided to order the book that it was adapted from,
Marianne
Dreams (1958).
I wanted to read it first, but as I was reading, I became curious about the film because I knew
it had a contemporary setting, so watched it at the same time I was reading
it.
Book and film were fairly different
animals, and each medium ended up complementing the other.
The short bio
described author Catherine Storr having practiced medicine for fifteen years, but she never
forgot her ambition as a writer. She
wrote her first children’s books for her three daughters. “She loves writing for children because they
understand that fantasy and reality are not opposites – but different ways of
looking at the same thing.”
My seven year old daughter was intrigued as soon as
she saw me reading it. She asked me what
it was about and I told her the premise: a lonely, bedridden girl discovers she has the power to make her drawings come to life in her dreams. A very intriguing premise indeed for a girl who loves to draw.
Knowing that I had already read a few chapters, my daughter asked me what happened next in more detail. Then each day she kept asking me, "Have you read Marianne
Dreams yet?" If I did, I’d have to tell
her what happened. If I hadn’t, then she
would order me to read at least one chapter so I can then tell her what
happened. Bossy kid!
At some point, when I was more
than halfway through the book, she started reading it herself from the
beginning. She would still ask me what
happened, and even if I replied, but you’re going to read it soon anyway. She’d then
say, I don’t care, I want to know what happens.
Olman thought the book might be a little too advanced for her, but my
thinking was that if the kid can read on her own, any children’s book would be fine. And my
summary of the narrative probably helped set things up for her in advance.
The past week had been hot and
humid, and this kind of weather made me listless, so my reading had slowed way
down, even though I had a few chapters left. Before I knew it, the kid was catching up to
me. When she was one chapter behind me,
I read a couple more chapters. Then on
Saturday morning, when she saw Olman reading on the front porch, just as I had
one and a half chapters left of the book, she took Marianne Dreams and joined
her dad reading out front. Fortunately,
I had some hebdos to catch up on, so I wasn't bereft of reading material. When
she came back inside, she went, “Guess what, Mommy?’ And then proudly declared, "I finished Marianne Dreams."
She seemed to like it. I don’t think she found it awesome, and I
think some of the dream-world stuff was a bit too abstract for her, but the kid completed one of her first chapter books all on her own. AND because the kid had read it first, and Mommy read it second, then Daddy had to read it too.
Paperhouse was also quite
good. There was a cool scene with the
elevator (not in the book). There were
quite a number of major differences. First,
there was no The Pencil. There was no
THEM, but there was a HIM. Marianne is Anna. There was a very disturbing scene where Nightmare
Dad was pounding on Anna’s chest. The
ending was different, very bittersweet as it had to do with loss – childhood,
innocence, love. Perhaps it’s because it’s set in 1990 with more modern themes, not to mention the Paperhouse kids are a couple
of years older, pre-teen instead of pre-ado, like Marianne. I’m glad I saw the ending of Paperhouse
first because the ending of Marianne Dreams was much more hopeful,
innocent and happy.
