Guardians 06/War Zone

Having seen the film before reading the novel I had very specific notions of what the book should be like, especially in light of the fact that the screenplay was written by Stuart himself. Needless to say, I was quite wrong. Both the film and the novel are very impressive, although in very different ways. I doubt that a more faithful adaptation of the novel could have ever made its way to the screen, even in countries less puritanical than the US or Britain. It is not so much the ambivalent nature of the incestious father-daughter-brother triangle that makes the novel so challenging as it is the likable nature of the the character of Jessie (the daughter/sister). This is because she seems to lack a conscience completely. Yet she is not psychotic. In her own way, she is even a warm, loving being. This contradiction is, what, to me, makes the novel so fascinating.