Itsy Bitsy

For discussion of John Ajvide Lindqvist's short story collection Pappersväggar
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Wolfchild
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Re: Itsy Bitsy

Post by Wolfchild » Fri Aug 19, 2011 12:52 am

johnajvide wrote:Actually I quite like the english title, it might even be the first instance where I prefer a foreign title to the original.
And, yep, the swedish title is a quote from Ronja Rövardotter.
With that said I am a bit surprised that they choose this particular story från "Pappersväggar", since I think is the ... least good one. (Can you say that?). But it´s quite simple and effective, so maybe that´s the reason. It almost wrote itself in two or three days, as I remember. It was written before I even had a publisher for Let the right one in.
This is the least good? I guess I should be really looking forward to the English release of Paper Walls then, because I quite enjoyed this story. I really liked the way, when his dream was presented, I took it to be symbolic of the situation that put him in the tree, but then at the end I found that it was also a quite literal representation of his situation as well. That little passage with the dream at first seemed to be just adding color to the story but actually it tied the whole thing together for me.

One thing I didn't quite understand though... it may be just a translation issue, or an issue of mental acuity on my part...

Right before he drops the camera there are the lines:

[quote]He hears a crack. A club bangs into the small of his back and pain shoots from his tailbone, exploding in his head.[/quote]

"Club"? What club? Where did it come form? Where did it go? Je ne comprends pas. :think:
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Nightrider
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Re: Itsy Bitsy

Post by Nightrider » Fri Aug 19, 2011 1:12 am

He hears a crack. A club bangs into the small of his back and pain shoots from his tailbone, exploding in his head.
I took that line quite literally. It seemed like the last thing that happened to Frank in the real world...His obsession with his work finally caught up with him. Frank was actually killed (don't know by whom, but I'm sure it had something to do with that couple he was trying to photograph) or had a heart attack and died .So subsequently the rest of the story is spent in his personal hell. Sort of variation on "An Occurrence At Onwl Creek Bridge".
Last edited by Nightrider on Fri Aug 19, 2011 5:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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a_contemplative_life
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Re: Itsy Bitsy

Post by a_contemplative_life » Fri Aug 19, 2011 3:21 am

Wolfchild wrote:
johnajvide wrote:Actually I quite like the english title, it might even be the first instance where I prefer a foreign title to the original.
And, yep, the swedish title is a quote from Ronja Rövardotter.
With that said I am a bit surprised that they choose this particular story från "Pappersväggar", since I think is the ... least good one. (Can you say that?). But it´s quite simple and effective, so maybe that´s the reason. It almost wrote itself in two or three days, as I remember. It was written before I even had a publisher for Let the right one in.
This is the least good? I guess I should be really looking forward to the English release of Paper Walls then, because I quite enjoyed this story. I really liked the way, when his dream was presented, I took it to be symbolic of the situation that put him in the tree, but then at the end I found that it was also a quite literal representation of his situation as well. That little passage with the dream at first seemed to be just adding color to the story but actually it tied the whole thing together for me.

One thing I didn't quite understand though... it may be just a translation issue, or an issue of mental acuity on my part...

Right before he drops the camera there are the lines:

[quote]He hears a crack. A club bangs into the small of his back and pain shoots from his tailbone, exploding in his head.
"Club"? What club? Where did it come form? Where did it go? Je ne comprends pas. :think:[/spoiler][/quote]

It's called "your lower back going out on you." It kinda feels that way.
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Re: Itsy Bitsy

Post by DMt. » Sat Aug 20, 2011 1:11 am

Instant Old Age :twisted:

<angle of grunt / >

Jitto
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Re: Itsy Bitsy

Post by Jitto » Mon Aug 22, 2011 4:32 am

Does anyone know how to download the kindle version of this from the UK? I tried searching everywhere but it only appears on the US amazon site

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ofelia
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Re: Itsy Bitsy

Post by ofelia » Sun Aug 28, 2011 1:26 pm

JakobM wrote:
ofelia wrote:I couldn't stand to watch the film. If I had been a child at the time then probably I wouldn't mind it, but it was just so awful..
Actually, apart from the cheesy special effects (which is a very small part of the movie) it's pretty good. There are some great actors in there like Allan Edwall, Per Oscarsson and Lena Nyman. Incidentally, Ronja Rövardotter was directed by Tage Danielsson who was Hans Alfredson's friend and life-long collaborator. See, there's always some connection to LTROI (however tenuous). :lol: /J
Okay. It's just that it was another case where I came from reading the book first and the film was jarringly different. It wasn't even the cheesy factor, I didn't much like the two kids. But I really have to work on acceptance of film adaptations... :)

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