A Discovery of Witches Dream Cast

 For me, I just can't really imagine the characters being as old as they actually are in the book (except for Martha), so for most of my characters they will look a lot younger than they are really described to be. These characters I pick for my dream cast for A Discovery of Witches are what I pictured the characters to look like while reading the book.

 Matthew de Clermont- Henry Cavill.....For me, the actor who I found  looks the most Matthew like is Henry Cavil. From his similar features to how Matthew was described on the book as tall, board shoulder, lean, with green-grey eyes to short black hair. Even from Diana's description of Matthew as "Board shoulders narrowed into slender hips...thick equally black eyebrows..high-angle cheekbones meeting brows that shielded and shadowed his eyes." (18) fits Henry Cavil's features, especially his strong defined jawline trademark (described in IMDB) all screams perfect vampire material. Also, he is known for many of his roles (The Tudors and Immortals)  and has won/nominated Golden Globe 2007 and Emmy 2008.Even Stephanie Meyer called him the perfect Edward Cullen for her Twilight series (but he was too old to play Edward by the time they started filming).

Diana Bishop- Amanda Seyfried...As for who I pictured Diana to be, it has to be Amanda Seyfried. As the book describes Diana as having a sharp nose and  long chin, and shoulder length blond hair. In this photo of Amanda, I think it fits Diana's physical description really well. It also shows  a bit of Diana's "unruly" hair from all her pent up magic, that she describe as hard to manage. As for acting, she is well known for many of her roles in shows and movies such as Mean Girl, Mamma Mia, Red Riding Hood and Veronica Mars. So I think with her acting experience, I am sure that she will be able to protray Diana well.

Ysabeau de Clermont- Charlize Theron...When I was browsing through actress to see who looks the most Ysabeau like, I stumbled upon the actress Charlize Theron. For why I think she looks like Ysabeau is because she has the mature yet youthful look to her in this picture (since she is Matthew's mother but also has a appearance that looks younger than Matthew), and also feels as if she could protray the cold, witch hating Ysabeau when she first met Diana, and then gradually become warmer and have a softer expression.Diana describes Ysabeau as "Elegance...high slash cheekbones..dazzling white skin and hair the colour of honey"(224), so I think that the physical description fits Charlize Theron quite well. So overall, I feel that Charlize Theron is the most fit to play Ysabeau de Clermont.

Martha- Miriam Margolyes..Probably the only character that I could picture as really old was Martha. Since when she was first introduced, she was described as "stout old woman with skin like snow and a mass of incongruously dark hair" (225). So I chose Miriam Margolyes as Martha because she is a kind character who supports Diana during her stay in Sept-Tour and is also a parental figure for Ysabeau. With Miriam Margolyes, she has alot of acting experience and she was even in Harry Potter and Romeo+Juliet! Therefore, with her looks and acting experience I think that she would protray the warm grandma feeling that martha gives in the book.

Sarah Bishop- Diane Lane..She is the actress that I think fits the role of Sarah Bishop, Diana's aunt the most. From her looks, she fits the description of Diana's aunt as having bright red hair and feels as if she can pull off Sarah's spunky and quick-tempered personality.She is also known for some of the smash hit movies from a decade or so ago called The perfect storm(2000), The glass house(2001)and Hard Ball(2001). Even when I was searching who looked most Sarah like, I'll have to say it was Diane Lane, therefore I think that she is the most fitted to play Sarah Bishop.

Miriam Shephard- Mila Kunis...Miriam is an vampire who has known Matthew even before the Crusade, but is describes as looking younger than him. Miriam has dark wavy hair past her shoulders and is short like a child.I think that Mila Kunis fits being Miriam because, she has this look that is young yet mature, and seems to fit the personality of Miriam well. Also, she is described by Diana as "fineboned and like a china doll" (465). I also feel that Miriam is a bit of a complex character as even though she dissaproves of Diana and Matthew being together, but still has to obey Matthew's hotheaded command and suck it up. With her acting experience in popular show and movies such as The 70's Show(1998) and Forgetting Sarah Marshall(2008), I think that Mila Kunis will be ideal to play Miriam Shephard.

Marcus Whitemore- Alex Pettyfer..."late twenties, with the blond hair and blue eyes of a California surfer...average height..wiry and energetic" (155) I think that Alex Pettyfer can definitly protray Marcus, since his physical features is just like described with the blue eyes and blond hair. Not only Alex Pettyfer's age is also close to Marcus, so that he can protray him well, he is also English like Marcus! Also when I think of surfers, it's definitly with the blond hair,tanned skin and toned body for sure! Let's not forget some of his amazing roles in movies such as Alex Rider, Wild Child, I am Number 4, Beastly and Magic Mike! Thats why I think Alex Pettyfer is definitly the person I'll pick as Marcus and I am sure that with his acting experience he will be able to protray the fun loving yet sort of mature personality that has.

A Discover of Witches - Too much detail can be confusing！

   Ever heard or read the book A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness? Well, many say that it is an amazing book with great details and I agree that it does have a great use of detail to describe the themes and setting…but ever heard of the quotes “Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify.” by Henry David Thoreau?  Well for me, what I think of this book is that it is too much details, and that it took a whole whopping 579 pages to finish, it really dragged the story on to a point that it just got boring and finally the details really made this book confusing from a prospective of a teenager (who has to finish reading this book for English class).

 Now to start off, A Discovery of Witches is really a book that has great details from the beautiful description of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University where Diana, who is a historian, stays all the time. This really help the readers put themselves into that setting and make the library come to life with “Elizabethan reading desk…three ascending bookshelves...scarred writing surface…gothic windows…. coffered ceilings” (2). But, this book is just too overly detailed with some parts being unnecessary to some parts where I just have to ask did I miss something or what? Especially with the part where Matthew said they were married
 "Did I miss something ?" I finally asked.
 "When were we married ?"
  Matthew's eyes lifted. "The moment I came home and said I loved you. It wouldn't stand up in court perhaps, but as far as vampires are concerned, we're wed." (354)
    Also, sometimes I can't help but wonder, isn't the author just giving Diana a little too much abilities, like she couldn't decide on this a few but must give Diana every single ability to have her become like the "unbeatable" female protagonist, but is still just a damsel in distress waiting for Matthew to save her.  Just like from Truth,Beauty,Freedom and Books  where they commented on how "feels like the author is just vomiting up words. The book's almost 600 pages long and it isn't because the plot's complicated." .In addition,with the book being so long and detailed, the author really dragged the story, especially at the ending where it was made obvious that the book was going to have a sequel to it. Even from other book reviews blogs such as  The Washingtonpost "The ending, in which Diana and Matthew beat a hasty retreat, made me wish the book had started there" just screams that the book was really too dragged on. Lastly, as a fantasy, paranormal lover who just love vampires, magic and historical stories, I haven't been this unsatisfied since reading Twilight! Since this book is made for adult, the words are quite complicated to understand, especially with all those science words such as "mtDNA" where no teen would understand if they don't take science (and the author didn't even do a good job explaining what it means and I had a hard time understanding all those talk about DNA, genetics..etc). Not only was the book confusing, but it was like reading an mature version of Bella and Edward  that just made me wish the story was over already.

Overall, I have to say the book was a disappointment, from it being too overly detailed, to the story dragging on and on without anything really happening except for all the wine and difference places Matthew took to hide Diana from the Congregation and all the confusing detail and language really made this book too much to handle. Details is something extremely important in a story to help make it come alive, but too much detail is just way too confusing!