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27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
M. Night Shyamalan's THE SIXH SENSE (novelization), August 15, 2000
Novelizations are tricky. Most are cold marketing ploys worth less than the paper they're printed on. But a rare few are labors of love --- created for fans of the film. Lucky for us, Peter Lerangis of Scholastic Books has made a small, quiet masterpiece that honors the film it adapts, and acts as a wonderful supplement. It's also a breezy, absorbing read. The descriptions of the characters' thoughts and feelings ring very true. Particularly Lynn Sear. She is positively heroic in her devotion to her troubled boy. And Cole's love for her is as profound as his desire to protect her from the horror of his secret. Their story is powerfully rendered here, just like the movie. In fact, the book reads much deeper because you get to "hear" Lynn's inner conflict throughout. And poor, sweet Cole? We understand him even better when we learn what a good Catholic boy he is. He can't lie to his mother. So he throws up a fortress around his worried heart.Though Lerangis is judicial in what deleted scenes he chooses to adapt, there are some very nice compromises between the script and the finished film. He opens a chapter with an expository but emotional description of the dead men that two of Cole's toy soldiers represent to him. Shyamalan shot this scene with Cole telling Malcolm the story of these two real soldiers but it wasn't seen until the DVD's release. But the best example of Lerangis' economy comes in the hospital scene after Cole has reveals his secret to Malcolm. Shyamalan originally scripted the scene to end with an overhead shot of Cole in bed with oodles of ghosts all around him. It would've been a cool shot, to be sure. But it was forced perspective, too literal. It would've pulled the rug of denial right out from under Malcolm and destroyed the audience's suspension of disbelief. It would have completely nullified the exceptional chill factor of the following sequence where we get our first taste of Cole's terror in the late night invasion of his home by the suicide ghost. Luckily, thanks to Lerangis' deft expository touch, the essence of Shyamalan's idea remains. When Malcolm finally believes Cole and tells him to listen to the spirits that haunt him, Cole tries. But when faced with his most disturbing encounter ever, the poor little girl who's mother made her violently ill until she died, Cole thinks what Dr. Crowe asked of him is impossible. His instincts always told him to run, to get away from the ghosts as fast as possible. He has never stood his ground with one of them before. But we believe that he can draw up his courage and do. Gotta give props to the writers at Scholastic Books. They get no respect. Kinda like child actors. It's disappointing that Peter Lerangis is not involved in the upcoming book series. I trust him with these characters. He certainly wrote a balanced, entertaining book here. He hit all the movie's high points beautifully. And he flat-out nailed the depth of both the pain and the bond between this mother and this son. Upon Cole's cathartic revelation of his secret to his mother, Lerangis makes us feel the oppressive weight of Lynn's fear being lifted from her soul. He also restored Night's original, beautiful ending and it works. So curl up on the sofa some rainy afternoon and dive a little deeper into these lives you can't shake from your memory. Have a cup of tea or light the fireplace if you feel a chill. Or was that just the prickly things on the back of your neck...?
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DVD ~ Firdous Bamji
by David Benjamin
by M. Night Shyamalan
by David Levithan
See all 9 books this book cites
