Charlaine Harris' True Blood
Occasionally we'll bring you posts by Oline Cogdill, who reviews mysteries for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and other newspapers. Here's her take on Charlaine Harris and the red hot Southern Vampire books:
As a critic, it is always rewarding to see an author whose work you’ve admired reach a level they deserve. As a reader and fan – and yes, I consider myself both – it’s equally rewarding to know that others share your enthusiasm for an author.
For the past couple of years, Charlaine Harris has been getting the attention she’s long deserved. And this year, the HBO series True Blood based on her Sookie Stackhouse series opened a whole new fan base for this author. ... In person, Harris is gregarious with a quick wit and an easy Southern accent. As a writer, she never fails to entertain.
I discovered Harris with her novel Shakespeare's Landlord (1996), her first Lily Bard novel. Lily Bard is a house cleaner and crime survivor who lives a solitary life in a small town. Her tenacity, her determination and the way the author shaped the character rang a bell with me. I then quickly moved on to Harris’ novels about Aurora Teagarden, a librarian with an interest in true crime literature.
Both these series were terrific but it’s when Harris branched out and created her own sub-genre in mysteries -- the Southern Vampire Mystery -- that her books really took off. Dead Until Dark, the first Sookie Stackhouse novel, was published in 2001 and won the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Mystery. Set in Louisiana, it had a regional perspective, a lot of humor, a bit of eroticism and a plot that while included violence was really more cozy than horror.
In her novels, vampires have come out, so to speak, thanks to a synthetic blood manufactured in Japan. But not everyone is so accepting of vampires who have been know to, well, be vampires. Sookie Stackhouse, however, is sympathetic. She’s a waitress in a small town and, because of her ability to read minds, she knows what it’s like to be different.
Harris’ novels re-imagined as a series has become a perfect fit for HBO, with Sookie Stackhouse played by Oscar-winner Anna Paquin and the executive producer Alan Ball, who created the hit Six Feet Under and won an Oscar for the screenplay of the 1999 film American Beauty. True Blood airs Sunday nights on HBO with numerous encores.
Comments
I didn't know the HBO series came from a book. I'll check it out.
Posted by: Erika Robuck | November 10, 2008 10:03 AM
Just watched the first episode of season 2....somewhat disappointed, dismayed and frustrated. Did we watch the series based on the book or some fabrication of the best vampire series of all time. Since when do vampires need to highlight their hair? Layfayette should be dead right now. Sookie should have twenty thousand dollars and what is Jason doing going to a FotS church camp. What have they done to the Sookie Stackhouse series? Why is the Maenad going crazy and shouldn't Sam start having his torrid love affair with her soon? This better shape up. I could go on and on. Try harder HBO!
Posted by: blood lies | June 14, 2009 10:22 PM
since when does tara and eggs live with the maenad, and wtf did she do to merlottes? shouldnt sookie be in dallas by now? I'm soo confused by the show i understand its just based on the books and dosent exactly follow them but this is getting a little far fetched.
Posted by: shifter | June 22, 2009 10:33 PM
I too am sickened by where HBO has gone with True Blood. I'm on my second reading of the books (all 9 of them) and I can't stop rereading. However True Blood is disgusting, predictable, and so not sexy that I just can't even continue watching. Ms Harris says she supports the direction it's going but I'll be she's only saying that because she has to. I can't believe she's not embarrassed to see what HBO has done to her wonderful story.
Posted by: EricLover | September 9, 2009 11:11 AM