Friday, December 30, 2011

Sharing 'Little Dorrit'


Four people sit, staring enraptured at a TV screen. On it, actors and actresses play out the stories of their characters. As a certain character comes on, they are greeted with smiles or groans. Every so often someone explains a minor detail to one of the others. This is me, Charlotte, Mum and Dad, watching 'Little Dorrit'.

Ever since I received the 'Little Dorrit' mini series for my birthday, I have loved it. The actors caught me from the first few moments, and the story sucked me in and held me. I enjoyed the series so much, that I wanted to share it with someone. And who better than Mum and Dad?

Mum was enthusiastic about it, having started the actual book. But before she would watch the mini series, she wanted to finish reading the book. So we set ourselves a challenge. Read the book, and finish it this holidays.

Charlotte charged through the book, finishing way ahead of the rest of us. Mum finished next, persevering longer than me. Me? I just finished the book yesterday, after putting it off and reading around it with great skill.

Only a few nights ago we sat down to start watching the mini series. Mum, Charlotte and I knew the story almost off by heart by then. Dad however knew nothing about it. But he quickly picked up on it, and hardly needed any explanation from us.

When we finished watching on the first night, Charlotte and I waited anxiously to see what Mum and Dad had thought of it? Would Mum be bothered by the fact that it wasn't exactly like the book? Would Dad not like the characters? Had they enjoyed it as much as we had?

Yes, they had enjoyed it. 'Little Dorrit' was a great success. Everyone watching it had found a character they liked. Everyone had something to say. Watching the mini series again was great fun for me, but what was even better was that I was sharing it with others, who loved it too.

4 comments:

  1. I've only watched that version of Little Dorrit and I must say the actors, filming and everything about it was super amazing - except I had the story figured out within the first hour and it took me another six to find out if I was right!!!! IT DROVE ME CRAZY!!!!! But my brother loved it so much I bought it for him for Christmas - he's been watching episode by episode every night. It's fun I and I hope once he is done with it...again maybe I'll get to watch it with him and enjoy it without having the haunting mystery hanging above my head.

    Sounds like an absolute blast!!!!

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  2. How fun to share it with family! I love when you can enjoy the movie / series as much as you enjoyed the book. So cool!

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  3. Jessica, Charlotte and I made the mistake of reading the viewing notes as we went. Unfortunately we 'accidentally' read too far and found out most of what happened. Though the mystery surrounding Arthur and Amy didn't become clear until I read the book. That's my one quibble with the series. Apart from that, it is such an awesome mini series. And the best bit is, we now have the BBC Bleak House mini series too. Guess what book I'm currently reading!

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  4. Peggy Eddleman, I find it's so rare to find a movie and book I love as much as each other that I'm treasuring 'Little Dorrit'. It's a wonderful addition to our Regency/Victorian movie collection.

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