The Tomorrow When The War Began book series by Australian author John Marsden was my favorite before I ever read a single Harry Potter book. That's right, there was a time in my life when Harry Potter did not exist. Dark times, I tell you. But rest assured, those dark days of my existence were not entirely as bleak as one might think.
For my fellow Americans who haven't experienced the joy of the Tomorrow series, I feel honor bound to summarize.
Tomorrow When The War Began is the first in a series of seven books chronicling the experience of a small Australian town invaded by a very large and powerful military intent on taking over as much of their land and resources as possible.
In the series a group of teenagers, including the books' narrator, take a camping trip over their Christmas holiday. When they return home, they find their homes abandoned and their families missing. They soon learn the shocking truth about the invasion and come face to face with the question: surrender, hide, or fight? When they choose to fight, they begin to function as guerrilla soldiers and attempt to reclaim their home and their lives. It's a fast paced, gut wrenching sort of story. I get the sweats thinking about it. Marsden really captures the voice of his characters and brings them to life. These books make me want to kick down a door.
The American Library Association has listed the first book in the series as one of the best one-hundred books for teenage readers published between 1966 and 2000. I think this really speaks for itself. I highly recommend any and everyone to read these books. They're timeless, in my opinion, and they're phenomenal.
Now I am generally pretty faithful to the book when a film adaptation is made, but each one I hear about rekindles hope that the film will at least do the book justice. This book series is one that I have for years desperately wished to see made into a film, but by the same token desperately hoped that they won't mess it up. I joined a Facebook group campaigning the creation of such a film. I popped around Aussie chat-rooms hoping to catch some down-under gossip about the possibility. Finally, finally I tell you, I caught wind of the news. It was a glorious day when I learned that not only was the book to be made into a film, but a major Australian film company had picked it up and were pulling all the stops. Just what such a great story deserved, in my opinion. Furthermore, I read that due to the pride many Australians feel over such a successful book series from one of their own, the director was said to make every effort to stick to the book as closely as possible. Psyched didn't even begin to describe me.
To my intense dismay, however, the film is so authentically Australian it's not even being released in the U.S. Not yet, at any rate. The film premiered in September in Australia. I made farfetched day dreams that involved flying to Australia to see the film. I read through every scrap I could find about the film online. It still sounds like it's a film well worth seeing.
My plan for the interim is to order the film off of perhaps Amazon once it's available. My ultimate wish is for the film to be released to U.S. theaters, but apparently the U.S. response to the book hasn't been that high. Silly Americans. Oh if I read one more American article or comment about how TWTWB is just an Aussie version of Red Dawn, I am going to lose it... okay, I digress.
I guess I'll just have to settle for the trailer and my hunt to find the Aussie editions of the books. Let me tell you, they're not easy to come by. At least the UK version of Harry Potter was sold in a set... On the bright side, I have a mission to accomplish while I wait for updates on my chances of actually seeing the film.
Now I am generally pretty faithful to the book when a film adaptation is made, but each one I hear about rekindles hope that the film will at least do the book justice. This book series is one that I have for years desperately wished to see made into a film, but by the same token desperately hoped that they won't mess it up. I joined a Facebook group campaigning the creation of such a film. I popped around Aussie chat-rooms hoping to catch some down-under gossip about the possibility. Finally, finally I tell you, I caught wind of the news. It was a glorious day when I learned that not only was the book to be made into a film, but a major Australian film company had picked it up and were pulling all the stops. Just what such a great story deserved, in my opinion. Furthermore, I read that due to the pride many Australians feel over such a successful book series from one of their own, the director was said to make every effort to stick to the book as closely as possible. Psyched didn't even begin to describe me.
To my intense dismay, however, the film is so authentically Australian it's not even being released in the U.S. Not yet, at any rate. The film premiered in September in Australia. I made farfetched day dreams that involved flying to Australia to see the film. I read through every scrap I could find about the film online. It still sounds like it's a film well worth seeing.
My plan for the interim is to order the film off of perhaps Amazon once it's available. My ultimate wish is for the film to be released to U.S. theaters, but apparently the U.S. response to the book hasn't been that high. Silly Americans. Oh if I read one more American article or comment about how TWTWB is just an Aussie version of Red Dawn, I am going to lose it... okay, I digress.
I guess I'll just have to settle for the trailer and my hunt to find the Aussie editions of the books. Let me tell you, they're not easy to come by. At least the UK version of Harry Potter was sold in a set... On the bright side, I have a mission to accomplish while I wait for updates on my chances of actually seeing the film.
Cheers!
Signed,
RF
