Running Out of Time

Rating:
Summary: good story
Review: I read this book several years ago, but when a movie was released that closely resembled the plot of this book, I became entranced and had to read the story again to compare them. I thoroughly enjoyed rereading the story and recommended that you do so also, but if you enjoy this you might as well see a movie that has the same sort of 'village'ish theme to it. Bon Voyage and happy reading.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: This book may have inspired the movie "The Village." A group of people fed up with modern day living set up an isolated town where they pretend it is 1840. They raise their families, keeping up the 1840 charade so that a whole generation has begun to grow up with no idea that they are really not in 1840. Jessie is a teen girl who fits this profile.

The town is beset by diphtheria and supplies that were coming from the outside world seem to be getting cut off. Jessie's mother reveals the town's secret to Jessie and tells her she needs to travel to the "outside" world to get medicine for the sick children. She tries her best to explain some of the things Jessie may encounter but it is impossible to explain the future to someone without a concept of it.

Several tense moments ensue as Jessie is racing through an alien world as time is running out for some of her sick friends. With scenes reminiscent of Cliff Robertson's episode of the Twilight Zone, Jessie is overawed by futuristic things that she can't understand.

Excellent writing by Ms. Haddix!


Rating:
Summary: You decide....
Review: This is a great novel for young and old. I actually liked it much more than the movie, The Village. In fact it probably would have made a better movie. At any rate, one can see where M. Night Shyamalan could certainly have gotten the idea for his movie, The Village. This book, unlike the movie, The Village, is action packed. A good fast read. So buy it, read it, and decide for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Running out of time
Review: I really enjoyed M. Night Shyamalan's film, "The Village", and later read that there was controversy over where the idea for the film had originated. It had been suggested that the premise of the film had been taken from this book. My curiosity having been peaked, I decided to check for myself. I was surprised that the book was one that had been written for the young adult market. Still, I did not let that deter me from buying the book, though it had been decades since I had been a young adult. I was pleased, however, to note that the book had been designated an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, so all was not lost.

The book is an easy and pleasant read with a very compelling storyline. It tells the story of thirteen year old Jessie Keyser, who all her life has believed that she lives in the nineteenth century frontier village of Clifton, Indiana. When diphtheria starts claiming the lives of the village children, her mother tells her that it is not really 1840, as Jessie has been led to believe, but 1996. It appears that the village in which Jessie has grown up is actually a historical preserve, which its inhabitants are forbidden to leave. Jessie, however, is entrusted with a very important mission. She is to leave the preserve and seek help for their village in the outside world, avoiding capture by those who would seek to silence her in order to maintain the status quo and the secret that they are harboring in Clifton.

This is a very imaginative debut novel with a strong storyline that will appeal to those who are fond of historical fiction or time travel tales. It is most definitely a plot driven, rather than character driven, story. While it is simply written so as to appeal to the young adult market and teens, the story is so compelling that adults will also enjoy it, as long as they keep in mind the targeted audience. As for its similarity to the film, "The Village", there can be little doubt as to why someone would suggest comparison between the two.

Rating:
Summary: Good Book but not the inspiration for "The Village"
Review: After reading about how Shyamalan supposedly stole the idea for "The Village" from this book, I decided to buy a copy and read it for myself. Being that it's a juvenile fiction book, it only took me an hour and a half to read. I did like it however. It's a decent book but it only mirrors "The Village" in a few plot elements and even those are drastically different. For instance the main plot twist in "The Village" was revealed at the end of that film, while in the book it is revealed early on. Still I enjoyed the book, the author does a great job of making it really seem like 1840 before revealing it is really 1996, even when read over again. If you liked "The Village" as much as I did then you would probably like this book.

Rating:
Summary: running out of time
Review: Finally M. Night Shyamalan is uncovered for the second-rate hack that he is. This was an awesome book but M. Night Shyamalan stole it, added a retarded man and some lame looking monsters, and turned it into one of the most atrocious movies ever to hit the big screen. Perhaps we shouldn't have such a sense of shock, since this isn't the first time 'ole "Sham"-alan has plagiarized the basic storyline of a young adult novel. Remember the Sixth Sense? That was a good movie, but it was even BETTER as a book called The Ghost Next Door by R.L. Stine, Goosebumps #10, in which a girl suspects her next door neighbor of being a ghost, only to discover in the end that it was actually her all along who had been dead.
Shyamalan is stealing "his" "ideas" for these movies from these young adult novels, or else he is just so completely unoriginal and unimaginative that they coincidentally share an uncanny resemblance to one another. Either way, READ these books and SKIP the lameness that Shyamalan likes to call "movies."

Rating:
Summary: Adequate Haddix Book, but no "The Village" Connection
Review: This juvenile book has received a great deal of publicity since it was announced that Haddix and her publishers were considering a plagiarism lawsuit against M. Night Shyamalan. Shyamalan's 2004 movie The Village has some elements in common with Haddix's book. Specifically, in each work the young characters mistakenly believe they are living in the 19th century when they are in fact living in an isolated area of the modern world.

A few points should be cleared up here. No one is ever going to go to prison for plagiarism, so there is no question of "pressing charges" against Shyamalan or anyone else. As for plagiarism itself, the threshold for proving it is relatively high. Plagiarism means more than similar plot devices being used. Otherwise, everyone who wrote a novel about a lawyer who falls afoul of the mob would be guilty of plagiarizing John Grisham (and he himself would be guilty of plagiarizing countless authors who preceded him).

For that matter, Haddix didn't invent this plot device herself. For instance, read Race against Time, which Piers Anthony wrote 30 years ago. Several Philip K. Dick works also employ the same trick. There's nothing wrong with reusing such a general design. Haddix was free to put her own interpretation on an old idea, and Shaymalan should be allowed to offer his own version as well.

The device itself is very common in sf and only someone with a very limited experience would have assumed that Shyamalan must have been directly inspired by Haddix. It is much more likely that both Haddix and Shyamalan were first exposed to the idea through some other works.

Haddix herself seems to see a "smoking gun" in the fact that in each case the plot twist is revealed at the end, but of course that is the only logical time to reveal such a twist! It wouldn't BE a twist if it were revealed on page three or in the film's opening credits.

The book itself is adequate and follows the tried and true Haddix formula (actually this was one of her earliest efforts). It would be a lot shorter if the characters would just use a little common sense, but that's a common failing of most young adult literature these days.