The Ice Storm: The Shooting Script (Newmarket Shooting Script Series Book)

Rating:
Summary: The Ice Storm: Good or Bad?
Review: Though it starts out somewhat slow, Rick Moody's novel The Ice Storm provides some excellent insights as to how life was for middle class families in the 1970s. Much of the novel actually takes place in the characters minds, through their thoughts which I personally think is a great way to tell a story. There are very vivid descriptions, the characters are easy to "attach oneself to," and the novel is filled with many different emotions. Overall, I can definately see why this book has become a National Bestseller and I would reccomend it to others. In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I plan to read "Purple America" and "the Garden State", Moody's other two novels, next.

Rating:
Summary: Suburbanites in crisis and bad weather
Review: Very taken with Moody's novel Purple America, and having recently endured a like weather phenomenon, I recently read and enjoyed Moody's 1994 novel The Ice Storm. Like Purple America, Moody compresses his entire narrative into one 24-hour period, and takes as his subject suburbanites in crisis. In this novel, unerringly capturing the zeitgeist of 1973, Moody tells of marital infidelity, youthful sexual exploration, spouse-swapping (one of the best scenes is a "key" party, where the married couples place their housekeys in a bowl, and the women later draw keys and go home with whichever men to whom the keys belong), and senseless tragedy when a teenager is electricuted during the storm. Moody once again demonstrates his skill as a writer: his prose is never less than interesting, and is often spell-binding both in its language and story. (I understand that The Ice Storm has been made into a movie, and I am curious as to how Moody would translate into film. A trip to the video store is in order).