Sam's Notes Taken Along the Way
I am definitely reading this slower than I probably need to because I am anticipating all of the feelings about my dad that the story is inevitably going to stir up. The part about watching people find them and seeing their concern and hearing their prayers made me have to take a break for a bit.
I relate a lot to the "feeling like you're not part of the family" thing. My family all has one really big piece of talent that people acknowledge all the time. Most of it is music, but my dad was an artist, and me - well, I'm mediocre. And most people in my family told me that, even with lessons, I was mediocre. The only point of pride for myself was my writing, but no one in my family is terribly interested in reading so they never realized how much it meant to me.
The scene where Mia's grandpa took her to, and around, New York was so sweet! I always get a little heartsick when I read or watch special "family moments" because I've never really had that. My family is so pragmatic that any trip like that would be seen as a burden. And my family isn't close enough for me to ask extended family, I pretty much have my mom, my brother, and my grandma.
First unrealistic part of the story: The parents who are just "so cool" they don't mind their daughter going to her older boyfriend's music shows for a month before actually having a "family meet and greet". I know my parents were strict, but I also thought my parents' methods made sense - "You can date, but you can date here, under our supervision, because you're a girl. And your brother can date under his girlfriend's parents' supervision, because he's a boy."
The part where they "played each other like musical instruments" was weird. But it also reminded me of the scene in Middlesex (previous book club choice) where the main love interest placed their instrument (some sort of woodwind) against his lover's body and played so the music vibrated against her stomach, thighs, (and I think even her lady bits).
Oh my gosh, reading "modern day" references like "American Pie" makes me feel so old! Like, I don't have "class" because I know what "old movie" they're talking about, I'm just "of that age". Ew!
The story of how Kim and Mia didn't really like each other in the beginning was awesome. Autumn and I weren't great friends at the beginning either, so I related to that part of the story, a lot.
I can also relate to the part of being assumed a "good girl" and having people in authority not believe - or not care - if you do something wrong.
The comparison of what Mia's mother "wanted" her funeral to be like with her husband, and how it actually turned out, tore me apart. "She went with Dad."
I hate the end. I hate it so much.
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Quotes Worth Mentioning
"Dad grins at Teddy's noise, and seeing that, I feel a familiar pang. I know it's silly but I have always wondered if Dad is disappointed that I didn't become a rock chick. I'd meant to. Then in third grade, I'd wandered over to the cello in music class..."
"They must have places to go, the people in these cars, but a lot of them don't turn back."
"Even though they don't know who we are or what has happened, they pray for us. I can feel them praying."
"I think I had this notion that love conquers all. I thought that getting to this part was the challenge. In books and movies, the stories always end when the two people finally have their romantic kiss. The happily-ever-after part is just assumed."
"I didn't know how to rock-talk at all. It was a language I should've understood, being both a musician and Dad's daughter, but I didn't. It was like how Mandarin speakers can sort of understand Cantonese but not really, even though non-Chinese people assume all Chinese can communicate with one another."
Kim about Jews: "My people know how to fight with the best of the, but with words, with lots and lots of words."
",,,like they don't consider eyelids worthy of gentleness. It makes you realize how little in life we touch one another's eyes. ... Eyelids are not like elbows or knees or shoulders, parts of the body accustomed to being jostled"
-- I personally touch my eyes a lot, and I fiddle with and pluck out my eyelashes when they won't stop getting tangled together.
"Mom was adamantly pro-choice. She had a bumper sticker on the car that read If you can't trust me with a choice, how can you trust me with a child? But in her case the choice was to keep me."
"I know this sounds ridiculous, but I'm glad it wasn't me. I don't think I could have borne it. Kim had to bear it."
-- Makes me think of the day Autumn told me she was glad that I lost a parent first because I was the strongest of the three of us.
"All the magic kisses in the world probably couldn't have helped him today. But I would do anything to have been able to give him just one."
"Seventeen is an inconvenient time to be in love."
"Kim will be okay. She'll move on. She'll leave Oregon. She'll go to college. She'll make new friends. She'll fall in love. She'll become a photographer... And I bet she'll be a stronger person because of what she's lost today. I have a feeling that once you live through something like this, you become a little bit invincible."
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Book v. Movie
I honestly loved both the book and the movie. I feel the move followed the book almost to a tee which is great. You don't really miss much if you were to only watch the movie - other than I think I cried a lot more during the book. Some of the major points of "Contrast" were as follows:
-In the movie, the dad is brought to the same hospital with Mia and Teddy. In the book, the dad died on impact, and Mia almost stepped in his brain matter. Also, in the book, Teddy and Mia were initially sent to the same hospital, but then Mia was transported to a different hospital. So while Mia is up choosing whether or not to stay, she doesn't get to visit Teddy (or see Willow) until after Teddy dies at the other hospital.
-In the book, the band is called Shooting Star, in the movie it is called Williamette Stone
-In the movie there is a scene where Adam prints out pictures of the ceiling at the auditorium Mia is to perform her audition for Julliard. This doesn't happen in the book, but I think this was a welcome change and a beautiful scene. (Especially when she is at her audition looking nervous, but looks up and sees the familiar ceiling and calms down before performing).
-They didn't give Adam the exact same speech at the end. In the book he says, "If you want me to quit the band and move to New York with you, I will. If it's too hard, and you wanna leave everything and everyone behind, that's fine to. I'll do whatever you want me to do, as long as you'll stay." In the movie he says, "I'll do whatever you want me to, as long as you'll stay. I know now that it doesn't matter where we are, as long as we're together."
-The ending is exactly the same. And I hate it. If they don't make the sequel into a movie, too, I'm going to be so pissed.
