Sigrid Fanfiction Reviews

IF A BODY CATCH A BODY COMING THROUGH THE RYE

This fanfic was written as part of the authors school English project. He has clearly well researched the book. The voice he has given to the character Holden is near identical to the one given to him by Salinger, the original author. He has also referred to events that took place in the original, something I think is important to maintain the mood of the book. Had the author been too liberal with his imagination in this fanfic it would have deterred from the message in the story. Holden battles an inner monologue familiar to most adolescents, touching on themes of depression, alienation and sexuality. First published in 1951 this fanfic reveals the relevance it still holds among modern readers, and the ease at which the author was able to re-create Holden's voice shows that the themes of the book are still universal.



500 DAYS OF AUTUMN

This fanfiction is terrible. As a follow-up to the film 500 Days of Summer I found it predictable that the 'story' be based on a girl named Autumn. As it happens Autumn is a real character from the film and not a cringe-inducing attempt at irony. The fanfic is as cliched as you would expect and it appears the author is using it as a diary entry for his own failed relationships. It is written in first person as a male character but I am convinced the author is a lonely and desperate female who is living vicariously through the Summer/Autumn fantasy. Apart from the spelling and grammar bombshells the fanfic re-creates perfectly the unimportant sap of the original film, and in that sense the authors writing is a success.



THE FLIGHT

A well written fanfiction based on the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. It recalls a moment that took place in the film (or book); the famed kiss between Holly Golightly and 'Fred'. The author has set the scene competently and Fred's apartment and the New York stoop are pictured clearly in my mind reading this. Holly Golightly is originally enigmatic and neurotic with a naive spontaneity about her, a thick skin she has developed due to her job as an escort. The character the author of the fanfic has created differs from this as her thoughts and feelings are exposed due to the style of narrative they have used. Holly is self-analytical in the fanfic when she should be remaining a mystery to the reader.


ONE LESS LOOSE END

This fanfiction is based on two characters from the film American Psycho - Patrick Batemam and Donald Kimball. In the scene Bateman kills the police detective Kimball, then contemplates his existence. The spelling of Kimballs name changes throughout, an error that adds to the somewhat unkempt retelling of the fictional scene. The film is narrated by Bateman using passages from the book by Bret Easton Ellis so the character has a pre-established personality. Patrick is a twenty-something wealthy Wall Streeter, a victim of the eighties boom in yuppie culture, with an affinity to fine food, clothes, women, alcohol and murder. The author has used these obvious character traits with little imagination and no real attempt at furthering the story. His vocabulary is true to the narration style used by Ellis but his execution is poor and he has failed to make sense of an event that could have been a great addition to the original plot.


UNINTENTIONS

This is a sinister take on a Winnie the Pooh tale. It is very brief and a work of complete fiction. Though it is not referencing any existing Pooh story the author has managed to explore depth in the characters regardless. It is told with the same inquisitive nature of original Pooh, all the while discussing themes of suicide and alcoholism in the fabled young animals. To successfully re-create the tale telling so distinctive to A.A. Milne in a few paragraphs is a great achievement on the authors part.


PINE BARRENS

A fanfiction based on the staple Sopranos episode "Pine Barrens" in which Christopher and Paulie take their colleague from the Russian mob, Valery, out to the woods to shoot and bury. In the episode he escapes but due to it being a snow storm they assume him dead. This fanfiction gives an alternate ending to the episode and Valery lives, finding his way back to the road and stealing Christopher and Paulies car. It is plausible as a Sopranos plot and I would have enjoyed the episode had it played out that way but it is difficult to believe in text form as the over describing of Valerys surroundings in the forest takes away from the "kill or be killed" suspense that Sopranos is famous for.


LOVE

This fanfiction is based on the film My Neighbour Totoro. It is told from Totoro's point of view. He is the spirit of a forest where two girls, Mei and Satsuki, move to the neighbourhood of. Their mother is ill and he spends time with them, cheering them up. This fanfic tries to explain the love between Totoro and the two sisters. It is not told well, and if you have not seen the film it would leave a lot of gaps. I hope that my fanfiction, which is going to be based on the same film, does not come across this way.

GROWING UP

This fanfic is based seven years after the film My Neighbour Totoro. Satsuki and the boy interest Kanta have grown together and are falling for each other. It is more about the relationship between Kanta and Satsuki than about Totoro and the other keepers of the forest. It deals with facing adulthood and whether that will mean losing the power to see Totoro, along with their innocence. I am not so interested in this aspect of the Totoro story.

LAST RIDE

Similar to the LOVE fanfic this is about Kanta and Satsuki growing up and forming a bond. They take their last ride on the Cat Bus together before becoming too old for the fantasy. The fanfiction has conveyed the excitement Satsuki and Mei felt riding in the Cat Bus in the film, I hope to somehow convey this in my own fanfic.