Forever Amber

Forever Amber is probably one of my all-time, if ever trapped on a deserted island, must have favorite books. I first stumbled upon it in about 11th grade and I consumed it in less than three days (at that time I was an obsessive, obsessive (not to be confused with my now slightly more ‘normal’ obsessive) reader – and a speed-reader too boot). Since then I have reread and revisited the times and places in this book more times than I choose to count. Besides the awe-inspiring detail and life that Kathleen Winsor breathes into every page (Her first husband was doing a collage theme on Charles II and She began reading what He was and then continued reading and researching for another 5 years before taking on the creation of this novel), the characters themselves are deep and fascinating character studies. Amber, herself, besides being the main character, is a living, albeit fictional, embodiment of the Restoration period, which is where all of the fuss about the book being immoral, crude and bawdy truly originates from.

This, however, is not to be a book review post. This, my charming readers, is about how I finally broke down and purchased a VHS copy of the movie starring Linda Darnell and Cornel Wilde that is based oh, so loosely on the book (curse you Legion of Decency!). I figured that I might as well just do it already and since the copy was in all but perfect shape and less than five bucks and I happen to have a DVD/VHS combo player (I’m ‘old school’ remember, hehe), it was fate. I also figured that once I had it on VHS it would come out on DVD ~ It worked that way with “Secret of the Sword” and now I have the entire series of She-Ra and He-Man on DVD. Boo-Yah! Anyway, last night I finally, after years of waiting, watched “Forever Amber” and, yeah, it lived up to and down to all of my expectations. I will give a review of my take on it, however, like most of these classic book to movie adaptations (Jane Eyre, I’m looking at you!), it will take a few views for me to cohesively gather my thoughts. Until then, I urge you to take a look at the wonderfully ribald and frightening world that was England (and more specifically London) in the Restoration Years in Forever Amber.*

Namaste ~ Ella

*Yeah, I know, you are all just dying to have a beach read that consists of a an almost 1,000 page long book, but it is awesome, I swear!