Hello all! Welcome to Movie Monday; we will be comparing the book Serena (review of which you can find here) with the movie. This segment will be brought to you by our guest blogger, Jen (who did the book review for Serena).
Book by: Ron Rash
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 4.3/10
The North Carolina mountains at the end of the 1920s - George and Serena
Pemberton, love-struck newly-weds, begin to build a timber empire.
Serena soon proves herself to be equal to any man: overseeing loggers,
hunting rattle-snakes, even saving a man's life in the wilderness. With
power and influence now in their hands, the Pembertons refuse to let
anyone stand in the way of their inflated love and ambitions. However,
once Serena discovers George's hidden past and faces an unchangeable
fate of her own, the Pemberton's passionate marriage begins to unravel leading toward a dramatic reckoning.
Hey all! This review is going to be done by our guest blogger, Jen!
A little background on the wonderful Jennifer, she is the literacy specialist at the school I work at. She recently just got back from her honeymoon in Aruba where she reveled in the fact that she could actually read for fun instead of as just part of her job. We were talking about the books she read and I asked her if she wanted to write a review to share with everyone! So without further ado...
Author: Ron Rash
Goodreads rating: 3.55
Pages: 371
The year is 1929, and
newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton travel from Boston to the North
Carolina mountains where they plan to create a timber empire. Although
George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an
illegitimate child, Serena is new to the mountains—but she soon shows
herself to be the equal of any man, overseeing crews, hunting
rattle-snakes, even saving her husband's life in the wilderness.
Together this lord and lady of the woodlands ruthlessly kill or vanquish
all who fall out of favor. Yet when Serena learns that she will never
bear a child, she sets out to murder the son George fathered without
her. Mother and child begin a struggle for their lives, and when Serena
suspects George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons'
intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel as the story moves toward
its shocking reckoning.
Rash's masterful balance of violence and
beauty yields a riveting novel that, at its core, tells of love both
honored and betrayed.
