SAYATA

Book: The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud
Movie Release Date - 11 June 2010 (USA)

New Movie starring Zac Efron and Kim Basinger - The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud Based on the Book......
Review From Publishers Weekly....
Not even death can keep two brothers from meeting to play ball: it sounds like a sentimental TV movie, doesn't it? Actually, Sherwood's second novel (after The Man Who Ate the 747) is warmhearted but not maudlin, exploring the bonds between the living and the dead and the lengths to which we'll go for love. A secret jaunt to a Sox game ends in tragedy when Charlie St. Cloud, who isn't old enough for a driver's license, crashes the car he pinched from a neighbor. The hearts of Charlie and his younger brother, Sam, stop, but miraculously, Charlie is resuscitated. Thirteen years later, Charlie is 28 and working as the caretaker for the Marblehead cemetery where Sam is buried; he's also spending every evening playing catch with the ghost of 12-year-old Sam, who's putting off going to heaven for the game. Charlie's world gets shaken up, though, by feisty, beautiful Tess Carroll, a sailor who had plans to be one of the first women to circumnavigate the globe solo. They have a perfect date, and sparks fly. But then news comes that her boat is lost at sea, and Charlie, whose gift of seeing spirits has grown, realizes that her fading apparition is the result of a failing effort to rescue her. Sherwood tugs at readers' heartstrings throughout the novel, and the sentimentality mostly works. Charlie's final effort to save his lady love from ghostly oblivion strains credibility, of course, but isn't that the point of a tale about love triumphant?

On Amazon the book received both good and bad reviews. That is in part because Ben Sherwood over all writing is not stuck in a genre so some people bought it expecting one type of drama but discovered a totally different type of story. Some people don't like fantasy type stories while other people enjoy the escapism. Many people who like escapism don't want the story to be overly sad.

Despite the bad reviews the average review of 45 people was very good. At time of this posting the Amazon.com Sales Rank: #47,683 in Books. It will be interesting to see how the movie is scripted and how well it does.

Actors / Cast

Zac Efron ... Charlie St. Cloud
Kim Basinger ... Louise St. Cloud
Dave Franco ... Sully
Amanda Crew ... Tess Carroll
Donal Logue ... Tink Weatherbee
Tegan Moss ... Cindy
Augustus Prew ... Alistair Wooley
Charlie Tahan ... Sam St. Cloud
Brenna O'Brien ... Salesclerk
Julia Maxwell ... Rachel
Matt Ward ... Derek Conners
Miles Chalmers ... Latham
Paul Duchart ... Reverend Polk
Paul Chevreau ... Hoddy Snow