With a Little You on Your Shoulders: Arrrrroooooo!

The Wild Things by Dave Eggers

I didn’t want to wait for the Reviews in Review: October Books Edish post to mention this little wonder. Why? Well, that should be obvious for a couple of reasons: 1) The movie is coming out in two weeks and 2) there is no way that I can walk around living life without saying word-one about this story.

Okay, now that my face has adequately dried from the damp and pathetic red mess that it was five minutes ago…

…don’t worry. I would never spoil anything for you. Some of you may even be thinking, “Pffff, what’s she going to spoil? I was reading this book when I was four years old. Come on!” Well, jerk, that is certainly not the attitude you’re going to want to have while reading this or seeing the film. I hope that you won’t act that way at least. I hope that you’ll dig down deep – or not so deep for those like myself – and find that little you, and put them on your shoulders and take them along for this wonderful journey.

Now, I want to address some basic questions.

Is the book good? Yes.

Did I cry? Yes, the end was…

Would I read this to my children? That’s rather presumptuous of you to ask. I mean, I’m only 26 years old. What are you implying? That my biological clock is ticking and since I am a lady I must be thinking about having kids? How dare you ask me that! And yes, I will absolutely be reading this to little Utah Jack and Indiana Danger.

Will the book be the same as the movie? You may have heard by now that this novel is an extension of Sendak’s original combined with the upcoming film’s screenplay. That said, I think Eggers probably puts it best when he says (in the Acknowledgement section):

“The children’s book Max is, after all, a version of Maurice, and the movie Max is a version of Spike. The Max of this book, then, is some combination of Maurice’s Max, Spike’s Max, and the Max of my own boyhood.”

Eggers also says, “…along the way, while getting lost, Max-like, in the thicket of the plot, I found other pathways into and out of the island…”

So, are they exactly the same? No. And how fortunate we are that this is the case. Now, not only do we get to read a fantastic new version of a childhood love, we get to see a new version of said new version of previous mentioned childhood love.

I’m so excited. Ahem, now please excuse me while I go cry for a bit more before wandering out the streets to scream “Arrrrooooooo” at passing cars.