It's actually amazing, the way that Lindgren's books keep really touching me. Whenever I re-read Brothers Lionheart (as I often do), I always end up crying - even if I always realised that as far as happy endings go, that is a happy ending. And it really is quite a feat to convey that to a five-year-old - but you need a very distinct sort of style to be able to convey that to both a five-year-old, a twentyfive-year-old, and a seventyfive-year-old, which I think was what Lindgren accomplished.
I have to agree with you about the film version of Lionheart, though. I actually went to see it at an arthouse cinema in Bologna a few months back (curiously, the audience was exclusively made up of Scandinavian-looking girls in their 20s), and while I did have this vague idea that it wasn't as good as the film version of Ronja (or the tv series of Pippi or Saltkråkan or Emil), I was rather disappointed. The awful haircuts aside, there's also Katla the big bad papier-maché doll.
Oh, and thank you! The football Iliad has been giving me so much trouble, and been eating so much of my brain-space, so I'm glad that you like it.
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It's actually amazing, the way that Lindgren's books keep really touching me. Whenever I re-read Brothers Lionheart (as I often do), I always end up crying - even if I always realised that as far as happy endings go, that is a happy ending. And it really is quite a feat to convey that to a five-year-old - but you need a very distinct sort of style to be able to convey that to both a five-year-old, a twentyfive-year-old, and a seventyfive-year-old, which I think was what Lindgren accomplished.
I have to agree with you about the film version of Lionheart, though. I actually went to see it at an arthouse cinema in Bologna a few months back (curiously, the audience was exclusively made up of Scandinavian-looking girls in their 20s), and while I did have this vague idea that it wasn't as good as the film version of Ronja (or the tv series of Pippi or Saltkråkan or Emil), I was rather disappointed. The awful haircuts aside, there's also Katla the big bad papier-maché doll.
Oh, and thank you! The football Iliad has been giving me so much trouble, and been eating so much of my brain-space, so I'm glad that you like it.