{"product_id":"a-movieand-a-book-isbn-9781400076178","title":"a movie...and a book","description":"\u003ci\u003e“Life is a game: it's a movie and it's a book. It's not always easy, but there is always a way. You just have to look at it the right way.”\u003c\/i\u003eIn this stunning debut, Daniel Wagner delivers a soulful examination of the forces that both drive us and oppose us. Jim Frazier is a writer with very little to show for it. He worries that the only way to achieve success is to lower the bar, sell out, and pander to commercialism. Meanwhile, somewhere far away, a woman named Liz and a man named Lou are stranded on a desert island. While they are faced with an obviously serious problem, the two have some more important issues to discuss. As these two seemingly separate stories converge, Wagner presents a meditation on the worlds we inhabit that will resonate long after the credits roll and the last page has been turned.“A sly novel. . . . Figuring out what is fiction and what is reality is half the fun of this book.” –\u003ci\u003eMilwaukee Journal Sentinel\u003c\/i\u003e\"I'm honestly not sure whether I was so happily hypnotized by \u003cb\u003ea movie . . . and a book\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003ebecause of the spellbinding film it unspooled in my mind or because of the way it held me enrapt as a novel. But I do know that I was absolutely mesmerized by it from the start to finish.\" –Chris Bohjalian, author of \u003cb\u003eMidwives\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003cb\u003eThe Buffalo Soldier\u003c\/b\u003e\"A must-read for fans of \u003cb\u003eMemento\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003cb\u003eAdaptation\u003c\/b\u003e.\" –Eric Garcia, author of \u003cb\u003eMatchstick Men\u003c\/b\u003eDaniel Wagner lives in Basel, Switzerland. \u003cb\u003eA movie...and a book\u003c\/b\u003e is his first novel.the movie\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe see a big empty room.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf course, it's not a room the way we know them, with length, width,  height, and all. It's just a room projected on a screen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a way, it's a dirty trick. We aren't used to empty rooms. Yet an  empty room is understood in one glimpse. So after the short time it  takes your brain to realize, It's an empty room, you start to wonder,  What for? Is it possible that the whole thing blows up all of a  sudden? Or is it a lousy movie and they simply couldn't afford more?  And while thinking about it, while thinking about these kinds of  things, the movie makers have you already glued to your seat. I guess  they teach this stuff in art school nowadays.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs expected, the big empty room is still on the screen...and some  whispering is already spreading through the theater--What a setup.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn a way, you can't blame the movie makers, though. It's us. It's our  messed-up attention span. If you just start telling a nice story,  right from the beginning no one is interested. Me neither, naturally.  Sometimes I sit in front of the TV thinking about--\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHold on, an old guy enters the picture, holding a chair in his hands.  He places the chair in the middle of the room and takes a seat.  Basically he looks like a typical old man. He wears a baseball cap  and old-fashioned glasses, and there is some excess skin around his  mouth.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat's another trick. Just use a guy who looks a little funny--with  too much skin around his mouth, for example--and the viewer, again,  starts to think about it. Probably only half consciously you start to  wonder if he had this excess skin even as a child. Then you try to  picture him as a child. It doesn't make much sense, so your brain  starts to look for other solutions. It could be a side effect of  arguing with his wife, some might speculate. Others may even start to  worry a little and wonder if gravity can do this over time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat's how the brain works--and don't think the movie makers don't  know it! They use your curiosity, they make you wonder, that's all  they do; and while you're thinking about those things, you already  start to relate to the characters. That's the whole trick.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI didn't even notice it. He's holding a book in his hands. He gives  it a little shake. He gives it another little shake...and the excess  skin around his mouth joins the shake a little.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow he's leafing through the book.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt looks as if he's starting to read from the book.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut no, he just looks up again, starting to speak. \"They asked me to  read this book to you. Actually, it's not a book; it's a movie they  said.\" The way he's acting, it's clear he doesn't have any idea  what's going on--they probably just picked him from the street and  shoved some money in his pocket. All you need to do is take an old  guy who doesn't have all his marbles, then give him an  assignment--but make sure you don't explain it so well to him that he  will behave awkwardly--and in nine out of ten cases it comes off as  funny. No one knows why. But it's funny anyway.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe's leafing through the book again, as if he's not sure how to begin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I probably should start to read now.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow he's looking all around the place for some sign of  confirmation...a nodding head, or a thumbs-up from the movie  director, I guess.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSomeone probably nodded. In any case, the old guy puts his shaking  index finger to the book, squints a little, and then finally starts  to read.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"We see the outside of a suburban house from a moving perspective,\"  he reads, then stops and sends a puzzled frown into the book again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHa! You should see what happens now. He twitches, as if a fly were  bothering him on his neck.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ahhh...I guess that's a comment for the movie director,\" the old guy says.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow he smiles proudly into the camera and the flesh around his mouth  tightens a little.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Okay, let's start again,\" he says, and clears his throat. \"We see  the outside of a suburban house from a moving perspective.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd now we see a suburban house on the screen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow we see the old guy again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow the suburb--\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow the ol--\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI guess it's supposed to transition us into the movie. As if your  brain slowly starts to picture the old guy's words.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe now see the suburban house continuously.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The usual credits start to roll,\" the old guy reads.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEven though we now see this suburban house, we still hear the voice  of the elderly guy. It's like you're looking at a picture book with  your grandfather.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The scene changes. We are now in the house, in a room that has been  emptied for renovation,\" he reads.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd--swoop--there we see this room on the screen. Someone is painting  something next to a window.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ethe shooting script\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNARRATOR (an elderly man). Jim, a man in his forties, was holding a  brush and a bucket of paint. He was drawing a decorative line on the  wall next to the window. He stepped back to scrutinize his  work--probably more to plan the next step than to dwell on his  success so far. He looked irritated about something--the way a man  must look when his wife has repeatedly told him to renovate some room  he doesn't even like to use or something.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJim was trying to give the window an ornamental frame. Again, he  didn't look too happy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJim came to a decision.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e(We clearly see that he has come to a decision...)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNARRATOR. He took a chair, and put it in front of the window. Then he  stood on it and started to look for the beginning of the adhesive  tape. First with his fingernails, then with his teeth. Finally he put  the end of the tape on the wall. This time over the window--the same  way he must have done earlier on the sides. It looked awkward. The  chair was too small and he had to work so far over his head that he  could hardly see what he was doing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt this moment the door opened and Beth came in. She was eating an apple.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBETH. How's work progressing?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNARRATOR. Jim apparently couldn't hear her. Or he was so deep into  the taping that he wasn't able--or in the mood--to process an answer.  Right at this moment he ran out of tape.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJIM. Damn it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBETH. What's wrong?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJIM. Tape's empty. Do you really think it needs a line over the  window? I think it looks pretty good like this.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNARRATOR. It is obvious to the viewer that it needs one.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBETH, still eating her apple. No. It definitely needs one.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJIM, exhausted. So give me some tape.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e(We see a close-up on Beth's mouth chewing the apple.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNARRATOR. Jim was looking at Beth, annoyed at the way she ate her apple.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBETH. Hmm. (She gives it another glance.) If you lead your brush real  carefully, you can do it without the tape.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJIM. Come on--I can hardly see it from down here. (He sighs.) I told  you, we need a ladder.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBETH. You move the brush, and I'm going to lead you from back here. I  can see it beautifully from here...Just move the brush real slow.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNARRATOR. Jim didn't care about the line anymore, so he put his brush  to the left starting point.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBETH. Okay, you can start.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNARRATOR. Jim started to move the brush.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e(We see a close-up of the brush going over the wall.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBETH'S VOICE, from behind. A little up.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e(We keep looking at the moving brush.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBETH'S VOICE, again. Now down.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e(Our view cuts from the brush to Beth.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBETH: Up. (She tries to focus better on the brush.) I said up--you're  still going down!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNARRATOR. Jim made a face toward the window.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBETH. Down. (She observes it, then gets a little irritated.) Down!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNARRATOR. This last comment from behind triggered something Jim  couldn't--and didn't want to--control. He made a small but clearly  exaggerated downward move.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBETH. Up! Up! Up!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNARRATOR. The already much-strained rubber band in Jim's mind snapped.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJIM, stupidly mimicking Beth. Up! Down! Up! Down! (He looks back to  Beth.) What about this! (He starts to move the brush up and down over  the wall.) Eh? What about that! Up! (Up goes the brush.) Down! (Down  goes the brush.) Up! (Up goes the brush.) Down!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNARRATOR, casually. Another rubber band snapped.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBETH, shouting. Are you crazy? Are you absolutely crazy!?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNARRATOR. Jim started to echo again.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJIM: Are you crazy? (And up goes the brush.) Are you absolutely  crazy?! (And down goes the brush, spreading paint all over the wall.)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNARRATOR. A door slammed shut. Beth was gone. About two seconds  later, the door opened with a jolt and Beth was striding in with shoe  polish in her hand. She started to smear the shoe polish all over the  other wall.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBETH, shouting. What about that...eh? What about that!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt this moment the scene cuts with a black flash and we are hovering  over the ocean. The elastic surface reflects gray-green patterns, the  way it does on cloudy summer days. The song \"Blanket\" by Urban  Species starts to play. It gives the cloudy weather something snug.  The credits continue to roll.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe keep looking at the surface of the water. After a while some  single raindrops start to hit. Then the rain gets a little heavier.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe camera starts to move now, floating over the water. Gradually the  rain ceases.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfter a moment--a moment long enough to make us forget the first  scene, and long enough for us to get caught up in the peacefulness of  the music and the ocean--the camera starts to level up and we can see  the horizon. In front of us is a small island. We are heading toward  it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe float for some time along the sandy shoreline, with the cloudy  horizon to the left. Then we spot two people on the shore. We float a  little closer to them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ea movie . . . and a book\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I don't know,\" said Lou, lying on his back in the sand. \"And in a  way, I don't even care.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLiz was looking toward the ocean. She was sitting right next to Lou  in the sand. It was a special sitting position she had, with her arms  closely around her pulled-in legs--the way someone sits to keep warm  on a cloudy summer day on the beach. It's especially recommended if  you're wearing only a dark blue bikini, along with a comfortable gray  sweater with a hood. The way she looked at the ocean was the way a  small girl would, safely at her mother's side after she had just seen  a young bird lying dead on the curbstone. She had glassy eyes and  there was something dreamy about it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It looks like rain again,\" she said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I don't care,\" came from the body to her right. \"Rain is beauty.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You're crazy,\" she said, and shivered a little, pulling her naked  legs a little closer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I'm not.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You definitely are.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I'm not,\" Lou said. \"I'm just a misunderstood Chinese intellectual.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You're not,\" Liz said, pulling her shoulders up a little. It brought  the hood of her sweater a little closer around her neck. \"You're  American.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLou kept looking toward the sky for a moment. Then he said, \"What are you?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What do you mean?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"How would you describe yourself if you had to?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I'm me.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You're boring,\" said Lou, and shook his head methodically from side  to side, shaping the mold in the sand a little deeper. \"Try it--try  to tag a label on yourself. It isn't that easy,\" he challenged. Then  he added, \"You know, just for fun.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLiz didn't answer. She was looking toward the sea.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLou raised his head a little to see what she was doing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe wind blew a strand of hair over her face. She brushed it away.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLou observed it with interest, kept his head suspended for a moment,  then lowered it back to the sand.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I'm the only normal person in the world,\" she finally said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ha! That's great!\" Lou smiled toward the clouds. \"That's certainly a be--\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe started.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDistant thunder had interrupted his pleasure. He sat up to look at  the big black cloud over the ocean. After a moment he lowered himself  back into the sand. \"Did you know that I kind of like it here?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLiz seemed to be listening but didn't say anything.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I like it here because we have an assignment,\" he said. \"It wouldn't  be the same if we had planned to get here. If we had planned it, it  would be totally different.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLiz still didn't say anything, but just lowered her chin to rest on  her kneecaps. It seemed to be a better position to look dreamily at  the ocean.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"It's a game...It's a movie and it's a book,\" Lou continued, then  thought it over. \"Do you know what a movie and book are?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"What do you mean? Of course I know it,\" said Liz. \"A book is written on p--\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I don't mean that,\" Lou interrupted. \"It's a saying.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  He closed his eyes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Or, better, it's something like a philosophy of life.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith the word philosophy he raised his eyebrows a little.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe pressed his lips together.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The philosophy of the Japanese intellectuals, I guess.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Ha, you're so funny,\" said Liz. \"First you are this great, but  misunderstood, Chinese intellectual, and now you are a Japanese  intellectual.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe was smiling at Lou while rolling her eyes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Okay, okay.\" Lou was amused. \"Let's make it a great, misunderstood  Eastern intellectual then, if you will.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor a moment neither of them said anything. And only the sound of the  small waves and the light wind coming in from the sea kept the place  from indulging in a complete silence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"So what's behind the saying? What did you call it again...a movie  and a book?\" said Liz after a while. \"So what's the big wisdom of the  saying...if there is any?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Oh, there's a lot of wisdom,\" Lou asserted, wagging his head  seriously in the sand. \"If you know what a movie and a book are, if  you really know what it means, you start to--I don't know, I guess  you just start to look at life a little differently.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"So, a movie and a book?\" said Liz. \"I never heard of it.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Maybe it's just a family saying. I don't know,\" said Lou. \"My father  used to say it. I was never sure he got the wisdom of it, though--I  guess he just picked it up from his brother.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA moment of silence followed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"So what does it mean?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"In a way, it just helps you to get over two difficult situations in  life, that's all,\" said Lou. Then after a moment he said, \"A movie is  the first situation, it's when something strange or crazy happens to  you. It could be something as stupid as walking into a pole, for  example.\"","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303817728229,"sku":"NP9781400076178","price":11.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781400076178.jpg?v=1767720662","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/a-movieand-a-book-isbn-9781400076178","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}