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Between this and that, I managed to finish the first of the Aurelio Zen novels, Ratking, and actually managed to hold off on watching the last of three BBC television episodes until I was finished with the book.
I did that because the story for that third episode was "based on" the novel, which can mean anything from "follows closely," to "happens to have the same title." Among the former types of "based on," I would classify the early episodes of the Sherlock Holmes telecasts produced by Granada Television and starring Jeremy Brett. Nothing comes immediately to mind at the other end of the scale (unless I can get away with nominating the "plot" of the 1967 version of Casino Royale).
Ratking would appear to lean away from the "follows closely" direction. Most of the deviations, I suspect, are driven by limitations of time and budget (the family of the kidnap victim is smaller, their underlying problems are not as diverse, the action takes place in Rome) while others may simply be the result of my noticing things, as for example, the script making no effort, if memory serves, to make sense of the word 'ratking' (it has nothing to do with a 'king of rats'; see, e.g., Wikipedia), whereas in the book, several paragraphs are devoted to the word, and to what it means, and how it relates to the characters in the plot. That said, the appearance of the novel's name in the credits in a "based on" context (and its use as the episode title in online references) is probably insufficient reason to suppose the viewer is owed any kind of explanation related to the title of said book.
All that aside, the author of the Zen series, the late Michael Dibdin, does a pretty effective job creating a Rome (and by extension, an Italy) that offers a very distinctive medium through which his characters move, in much the same manner, it seems to me, as James Ellroy does whenever he describes Los Angeles of the 50s and 60s.
Zen seems to always be stepping through a minefield, trying to figure out how to meet the demands of his job (which include tiptoeing through very sensitive assignments at the behest of The Powers That Be) without getting figuratively—or literally—knifed in the back.
I enjoyed the book. The television episode had its high points, too, and if I ignore the book that it was "based on," it was worth the time spent watching it.
There are no more television episodes. There would appear to be quite a number of other books in the series, however.
Now, if only I could find the time... :^)
I did that because the story for that third episode was "based on" the novel, which can mean anything from "follows closely," to "happens to have the same title." Among the former types of "based on," I would classify the early episodes of the Sherlock Holmes telecasts produced by Granada Television and starring Jeremy Brett. Nothing comes immediately to mind at the other end of the scale (unless I can get away with nominating the "plot" of the 1967 version of Casino Royale).
Ratking would appear to lean away from the "follows closely" direction. Most of the deviations, I suspect, are driven by limitations of time and budget (the family of the kidnap victim is smaller, their underlying problems are not as diverse, the action takes place in Rome) while others may simply be the result of my noticing things, as for example, the script making no effort, if memory serves, to make sense of the word 'ratking' (it has nothing to do with a 'king of rats'; see, e.g., Wikipedia), whereas in the book, several paragraphs are devoted to the word, and to what it means, and how it relates to the characters in the plot. That said, the appearance of the novel's name in the credits in a "based on" context (and its use as the episode title in online references) is probably insufficient reason to suppose the viewer is owed any kind of explanation related to the title of said book.
All that aside, the author of the Zen series, the late Michael Dibdin, does a pretty effective job creating a Rome (and by extension, an Italy) that offers a very distinctive medium through which his characters move, in much the same manner, it seems to me, as James Ellroy does whenever he describes Los Angeles of the 50s and 60s.
Zen seems to always be stepping through a minefield, trying to figure out how to meet the demands of his job (which include tiptoeing through very sensitive assignments at the behest of The Powers That Be) without getting figuratively—or literally—knifed in the back.
I enjoyed the book. The television episode had its high points, too, and if I ignore the book that it was "based on," it was worth the time spent watching it.
There are no more television episodes. There would appear to be quite a number of other books in the series, however.
Now, if only I could find the time... :^)
