Arabat

[DSeid]

I’ve read the two that are already out (with my eleven year old), and while I have some quibbles, over all, not bad. Anybody reading these? thoughts?

[shelbo]

@DSeid

I’ve read the two that are already out (with my eleven year old), and while I have some quibbles, over all, not bad. Anybody reading these? thoughts?

[nitpick]Abarat[/nitpick]

I enjoyed the books too – they are a real work of art, and the story is good. Clive Barker is an interesting guy. They could make a really cool movie in the style of some of those “paintings come to life” movies, like Polar Express.

[Edward_The_Head]

When did the second one come out? I read the first one years ago, but haven’t seen the second one. I’m not even sure if I remember the first one now.

[MrDibble]

@DSeid

I’ve read the two that are already out (with my eleven year old), and while I have some quibbles, over all, not bad. Anybody reading these? thoughts?

I have read them - loved them. I love Barker, he’s gotten better with time, I think (but still no 3rd Book of the Art, damn it…). I have a hard time seeing how it could be filmed in such a way as to not be just SFX spectacle without depth, though.

[Thudlow_Boink]

Hm, I was only aware of the first book until seeing this thread.

I read the first one, and liked it but didn’t love it. It gave me the distinct impression that Barker wrote it by first creating a bunch of weird paintings, under the influence of hallucinogens or (more likely) his own overactive imagination, and then dreaming up a storyline to go with them, with the result that the book had some great, imaginative stuff, but as a whole was too disorganized and random to be really first-rate. But maybe I’m not doing it justice because it’s been awhile since I read it or because it’s only the first part of a multi-volume epic.

Anyway, I seem to remember finishing the book feeling glad I had read it but not particularly eager to read more.

[DSeid]

shelbo, thanks and sorry.

Just found this… http://www.clivebarker.info/newfilmsb.html

"Abarat will be a movie but I am fighting very hard for them not to try making it too soon. We are no longer making Abarat with Disney, that is now official, the work is back in my hands and my ownership, I owe them nothing. I suppose you could say there were creative differences, I don’t know. Certainly the way they wanted to do it was not the way I wanted to do it. I realised a short while after getting into the deal with Disney and I’m glad it’s come to this conclusion where we can make this movie. Though I have to tell you, there was a man called John Harrison, who did Children of Dune for Sci-Fi channel and a bunch of other movies, and who has just done a really smart version of the bookend tale from The Books of Blood; it’s really very, very good. John has done a very fine draft of Abarat which covers Books 1 and 2.
"In about six months I’ll be writing the third book and I’ll be writing the third and fourth books back-to-back; we’ll really have this narrative on a roll and these paintings are getting made. As you know there’s a lot of paintings now, certainly enough now to start my imagination going - and actually the painting part of it is the hardest part - so we have about 500 paintings that are part of that mythology which could form part of the narrative element for Books 3, 4 and 5.
“My thing to the filmmakers is, ‘Wait until I’ve written Book 5 and I’ve delivered everything and then make your movie.’ The reason I say that is because Candy doesn’t age significantly - she ages maybe three years across the five books and if you’re going to do this properly then the actress can’t age overmuch either and you’ve got to have all the books written and all the screenplays written before you start.”
Sowing The Seeds Of The Story Tree
By Phil and Sarah Stokes, 28 August and 4 September 2006 (note - full text here)

[wonky]

I recently tried to read the first one and ended up feeling just sort of squeamish and ill. The images were too grotesque for me, but I regretted not being able to finish.

[MrDibble]

@Thudlow Boink

It gave me the distinct impression that Barker wrote it by first creating a bunch of weird paintings, under the influence of hallucinogens or (more likely) his own overactive imagination, and then dreaming up a storyline to go with them, with the result that the book had some great, imaginative stuff, but as a whole was too disorganized and random to be really first-rate. But maybe I’m not doing it justice because it’s been awhile since I read it or because it’s only the first part of a multi-volume epic.

Firstly, there are distinct thematic links between Abarat and Barker’s other adult work, like the Books of the Art (Especially Everville), Imajica or Weaveworld. So I don’t think the paintings are his primary inspiration, as it were. I could be wrong, but the theme “weird parallel world with even weirder inhabitants” is old hat for Barker.

Secondly, it is very much a larger work. And the second book is better than the first, IMO.

Lastly, how the hell does Barker manage to look so good at his age? Him and Gaiman, it’s just not fair…