Tomorrow, When the War Began

Staying true to the nature of this blog, I decided to read through this book as it's about to be released as a movie out in Australia. To be honest, I got interested in watching the trailer for it only because of the The Temper Trap's song, Fader.

Then the trailer caught my interest, so I ordered the book to read it - always important to read the book before the movie, what do you think?

Well, I managed to read it non stop for a whole day, so hats off to a riveting read. Also, it was refreshing to read something 'teenager' esque and being set in he 90s, it wasn't filled with the teens that whine and moan about issues etc - this was real, survival, we-have-to-get-through-this told from the point of view of Ellie - nice to see it through her eyes as well. Everyone begins to come into their own in this tale of 'coming home to find your country has been surprise invaded by unknown people and not knowing why'. It reminded me of a lot of dreams I have had.

I also wanted to read this purely to explore the relationships and tension or camaraderie that is inspired when a group of young people are in crisis (yes, call it research - all reading is research for writing in some form). My only irk (and I risk hypocrisy here) is that Ellie was rather male like in her tendencies at times, while Lee (the guy she has a thing for) appears to be more 'deep' and 'sensitive'. Oh yes, I sound thoroughly stupid now - scratch that, I like that there is a role reversal and the gals are really shown to be made of tough stuff. Points for that.

I do want to read the next one, if only to find out more about the wider story here - i.e. who are the invaders and why is this all happening anyway?  

Check out the trailer to the upcoming film here. Dare I say that it looks like the Aussies are staying true they are keeping faithfully to the book's narrative (and not casting Caucasians where there should be Asians *cough* M Night Shymalan in The Last Airbender *cough*)