Paper Moon

Rating:
Summary: The other side of "The Grapes of Wrath"
Review: First of all, I was befuddled with everyone talking about a book titled "Addie Pray." I saw the film "Paper Moon" and later read a book with the same title and picture on its paperback cover, never realizing that Addie Pray was the original title of the book by Joe David Brown: they changed the title to coincide with the film in re-published versions of the book after the film became popular.

I love both the novel and film. As usual, the novel makes more of a social statement. If you check IMDb for the tagline to the film - "As P.T. Barnum put it, 'There's a sucker born every minute.'" - you get a sense of the difference between the point of view of the book's author as opposed to the producers of the film. The film producers are after the carnival-like novelty of a crooked bible salesman and his too cute daughter, who's also a thief at heart and, by the way, a better one than her father, who is basically a loser. The reason for this is clear: films are basically hi-faluted carnival acts. Apparently, the audience member is just another sucker.

The novel, on the other hand, carries a great deal more compassion for the human condition, particularly human frailty. Not to say that the film wasn't at all sentimental in this way. Ryan O'Neill's character, the loser father, was treated sensitively by director Peter Bogdanovich. But he (Bogdanovich) is unique, a prime example of the kind of compassionate intelligence that flourished to some extent during the Let It Be trend of the early 1970s, a trend that could do the human race well if it was allowed to continue forever. The producers/distributors reveal, with their tagline, a more Hollywood-typical ruthlessness. Like "Ha ha, people. You're all jsut a bunch of suckers ripe for the taking."

True, the overt theme of the story & film is basically about how hilarious it might be to watch such father/daughter con artists, especially when these con artists are working in 1930s territory where stupid, faithful Christian farmers etc. (middle America) dwelled. But the most important part of the story happens toward the end, when the thieves are confronted with their toughest mark: a more experienced thief (Mr. Robinson?, can't remember).

This character is far more developed in the novel. He's great fun in the film. But in the book he's downright Marxist. Indeed, one of the greatest anti-capitalist epigrams ever written, in the tradition of Wilde and Twain, is spoken by this succesfully affluent crook, in what is otherwise merely a silly/fun little dark comedy of a story (paraphrasing): "Anybody can make money. It doesn't take any great talent to do so. No, people who make money are merely people who can't do anything else. But it takes real talent to be a fine musician, or an artist..." Something like that (I don't have the book with me now). But you get the point.

Clearly, Joe David Brown, like John Steinbeck, was an author with an important, righteous opinion on the weaknesses of our capitalist system. He died a few ears after the movie was made. Too bad it wasn't Reagan who died and Mr. Brown, instead, the "great communicator" of the 1980s.

Rating:
Summary: a must read
Review: paper moon the book. from someone who grew up watching the movie. i remember being a little bitty thing sitting on the floor with my toys watching this movie with my mom. ive always loved it. (granted mom was a little bit more weary when tatum oneal came out with "little darlings" with christie mcnichol *laughs*)
well then i found out, now at the age of 24, that its a book. wow, im fast. lol
the book is somewhat different but the same story. mose is played under the name "long boy" though his true name is still moses. they include cons they didnt put in the movie. they put in some rather important to the plot parts about the story. they talk about addies mother which wasnt done much in the movie. also the burial scene wasnt in there because addie had known "long boy" since she was very little and they had always had a connection unlike in the movie where addie meets him for the first time at the funeral at opening of the film where he is reluctant to take her on the road.
the story also takes place over her being from ages 6-11 unlike the movie which didnt go that long through things. the book after you start it you cant put it down. i was up last night in the wee hours of the morning still going "ok, just one more chapter". its something that you should either see before the movie or after it, though if i could have gone back i would have read it first but i was way too young. when i first saw it i was still practically gnawing on the bars of my play pen...

Rating:
Summary: PAPER MOON
Review: This is an excellent book. Having long been a fan of the movie, what a joy to discover the book that started it all. Addie Pray is a hilarious and charming narrator and her adventures pulled me happily along. A real treat. For anyone who likes stories of sassy girls growing up.

Rating:
Summary: PAPER MOON
Review: This is an excellent book. Having long been a fan of the movie, what a joy to discover the book that started it all. Addie Pray is a hilarious and charming narrator and her adventures pulled me happily along. A real treat. For anyone who likes stories of sassy girls growing up.

Rating:
Summary: a must read
Review: Too long out of print, this paperback is a beauty. A compulsively readable book. Addie Pray and Long Boy take the South by storm. It's fun and fast, but also weighty and moving. The amazing movie was based just on the first third.

Rating:
Summary: PAPER MOON RULES!
Review: Too long out of print, this paperback is a beauty. A compulsively readable book. Addie Pray and Long Boy take the South by storm. It's fun and fast, but also weighty and moving. The amazing movie was based just on the first third.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and complementary
Review: Written in the style (and context) of Steinbeck, this book is excellent.

The remarkable thing about the book, though, is that it is one of the few instances where you should read and see both the book and movie. If you liked the movie, the book provides more stories and adventures; if you liked the book, the movie brings the characters, setting, and geography to life.

The book is very readable; in fact, I read all 300 pages in a day! I highly recommend this book; the movie only makes a very good story better.