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Nicholas Kotar

Fantasy inspired by Russian fairy tales

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how we deal with time

Arrival – the Movie is Better Than the Book (Gasp!)

Yes, I said it. I was surprised I said it. But there are some cases when the movie is actually better than the book. It’s rare, I’ll grant you. But I had a very clear example of this recently with the movie Arrival. I saw it for the first time, actually, in Russian (with Russian dubbing, which was… odd).

It left me weeping.

Now, granted, we had just had baby #2, and the plot of the movie revolves around having a child, and the big reveal at the end was devastating. And beautiful. And inspiring.

So recently I decided I’d read the story upon which the movie is based. It’s a novella, titled Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang. I was excited to see how much better it was than a movie that I still (after rewatching) consider one of the best of the last decade.

Well. The movie’s better. (Ducks, anticipating tomatoes and rotten cabbages).

Hear me out. I talked about that, and about what both stories can tell us about how humans interact with time and eternity, in my new video.

Or you can listen to the audio here:

If you’d like to hear/see more of these kinds of posts, make sure to subscribe to my youtube channel.

Want to sample my own fiction? I have a lighthearted tale for you to start with. Enter your email below and I’ll send you a comic fantasy short featuring an epic standoff between a possibly predatory mermaid, a bunch of crazy Cossacks, and a sheltered seminarian.

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Written by:
Nicholas
Published on:
May 17, 2019

Categories: Blog, Book Reviews

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