Tag Archives: book vs movie

Book vs Movie: Gone Girl

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It’s time for another Book vs Movie. Psycho murder conspiracy edition. I just finished Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl after weeks of only being able to read a little bit at a time. I have a confession though: I watched the movie first. I’ve mentioned before that I actually don’t find it horrible to watch the movie before reading the book. There are some cases when reading the book first is better (and that’s most of the time) but there are some books (like The Maze Runner) where you need that little bit of extra assistance to really get into the book. This book and movie combo is the former.

When I watched the movie Gone Girl it was because I really wanted to see it, and didn’t want to wait until I had read the book. I was too antsy. So I made the executive decision to go ahead and watch it… Holy crap. That movie is one plot twist after another. I won’t say anything to ruin the movie (or book) for anyone because honestly it just has to be seen to be believed. But I watched the movie and thought it was one of the craziest movies I’ve ever seen — so I had to read the book.

I borrowed the book from my sister and started reading right away. For me, the story was kind of slow in the beginning simply because it was almost exactly like the beginning of the movie. It was like reading a screenplay rather than a novel. My issue here was that when I was watching the movie, I was completely enthralled within five minutes. And because the first part of the book (it’s written in three parts) was exactly like the movie, I felt like I was just watching the movie. No extra juicy details they had left out, no different plot twists – just a blow-by-blow of the movie (or rather the movie was a blow-by-blow of the book…hmm…) But nonetheless, the story was great to start out with, I just already knew what to expect.

I was starting to really wish I hadn’t seen the movie first only because the writing was so amazing. Flynn is one of those authors that can make even the most unlikable characters likable, but can also take away any shred of decency in that character in an instant. In Flynn’s case it’s really more of liking the character, unliking the character, liking the character, hating both characters, etc. So, because of all this, I was really starting to get down about it. I thought I had ruined the whole book by seeing the movie. Why did I ruin such a good thing?? But then I hit the last few chapters before Part Two, and oh my god was it amazing! I got to a point where I just refused to go to bed. I was like, “Nope. I know it’s 11:30pm and I know I have to get up early tomorrow, but nope. I’m just gonna keep reading. Que sera sera.”

And thus began my absolute love for this novel. I refuse to tell you anything about the actual story of the book, but I will summarize to you what the back cover/back of the dvd allows its audience to know: On the morning of their fifth anniversary, Nick Dunne reports his wife, Amy, missing. He acts very strangely, and even lies to the police, which causes everyone in their small town, including the police, to wonder if he had anything to with her disappearance.

Sounds like a simple whodunnit, right? Nope. Just…no.

This is one of the most interesting and edge-of-your-seat movies I have seen in a really long time. But this is one of those cases where I just wish I had read the book first. The book had so much more detail, and so many more plot twists. And even the characters were slightly different after the first part! Reading the second half of the book was like someone telling you ahead of time, “Dumbledore dies!” But then reading Harry Potter and finding out *SPOILERS* Snape killed him. It’s knowing one thing and reading another.

This book was excellently written, and wonderfully executed. It was a really great book. But don’t get me wrong! The movie was spectacular!! They chose all of the actors perfectly, and they truly did a better job turning a book into a movie than a LOT of other movies based off of books I’ve seen. I would say the movie was 90% accurate to the book, and that’s a big amount of correctness.

So yes, the movie was great. But hands down the book was better. Book: 3 Movie:2.

My sister argued, however, “The book didn’t have Ben Affleck’s penis in it, so the movie automatically wins.”

Valid point.

Until next time!

Rachel

To See or Not To See? That Is The Question

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At my sister’s house this morning I noticed a book in her bookshelf: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I’d like to preface this story by saying that my sister is not someone who likes to read. She likes the idea of reading, but can never finish a book – I love her anyway, but I give her endless crap for it. That said, she had Flynn’s book in her bookshelf, facing the room. Not with the spine showing, with the cover showing. So of course my first instinct was to say, “hey! Put that book in with the other books properly! It misses its friends!”

But then I looked at the cover, which had been altered from it’s original state so it could be recognizable for the movie’s audiences, and instead started thinking about just how much I want to see that movie. It looks amazing! It’s like a well-written Lifetime movie! The book-lover in me tells me to read the book first and then see the movie, which I had originally decided. But is it always better to read the book first?

Here’s the thing: if you’re not planning on reading the book, then you should by all means see the movie. But what if you want to read the book and see the movie? It’s a toss up! We’re all guilty of seeing a film first and then being so excited about the movie that you want to read the book. Usually, you read the book afterward and realize just how much more amazing the book was and you wish you had read it first. Especially because now you picture the actors as the characters!

However, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I’m generally an advocate of reading the book first, don’t get me wrong. But picturing actors is natural, and I find it really helpful a lot of the time. For example, I read The Hunger Games series before the movies came out and I loved the books. After seeing the first two movies I re-read the series and pictured the amazing Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss. Let me tell you… she is an AMAZING Katniss!!!! When I picture J-Law as the main character, I’m thrilled! I see the features perfectly, I can picture her facial expressions, and it’s wonderful! When I try to think of the character I used to picture before seeing Lawrence as Katniss, I actually remember a different actress that I mistakenly thought looked exactly like the character – Lawrence wins as Katniss. So what’s the difference? If I’m going to end up picturing celebrities as my protagonists anyway, why not see the movie and picture their flawlessness??

I mean, Ben Affleck is in the new Gone Girl movie. Is it really that bad to have to picture Ben Affleck when you’re reading? NO! (I’d like to mention this now, because I won’t get the opportunity again – hate me if you will: I prefer Matt Damon.)

So what’s the big deal in seeing the movie first? Other than the bragging rights you get to have (“I already read the book so I know what happens at the end so if you don’t buy me the large popcorn/drink combo I’ll tell you the end of the story before we watch”) I don’t really think there’s a huge problem with it! I’m a big re-reader. Some of my favorite books I’ve read maybe 10-15 times. A lot of those books have been turned into movies, and honestly I really don’t mind picturing an actor as the main character, or the villain, or even just the butler. I like having a more vivid idea of what the character looks like, talks like, and what their expressions are. I like thinking of the characters as real life people, and sometimes seeing the movie first helps with that!

So my deliberation: if you like a bit of risk, see the movie first! It’s not always bad, and then when you read the book after you see it, you get the same story but in so much more vivid detail! So next time a book turned movie comes out, try seeing the movie first. Maybe you’ll like it!

Until next time!

Rachel

Books I Want To Read Part 1

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It occurs to me that I’ve told you to read books, but I haven’t told you what books I look forward to reading! It’s weird because I read a lot of books, but I also have a HUGE amount of books that I buy in bulk purchases that I want to read and haven’t gotten the chance to… yet. This will have to be separated into a couple of parts because there’s no way I can cover them all in one blog post.

That said, I’d like to talk about the first book I’ve been wanting to read: Samantha Shannon’s The Mime Order which I’ve been waiting for, for over a year, has FINALLY arrived!!! I told you a bit about The Bone Season, and I told you I’ve been waiting for her new book to arrive at my house so I can read it. Well, I pre-ordered the book online about a little more than a month ago to make sure I’d get a copy the day it came out. On January 27th, the day The Mime Order came out in stores and online, I got an e-mail saying that my shipment had been delayed. I was sad, but I figured that it would ship the next day and then I’d be all set with my new book for overnight shipping. Nope. It took until January 31st for them to ship me my book, and I got it three days ago, February 2nd. I was very frustrated, but I have it now, so let bygones be bygones. I am so ecstatic that it has finally arrived, though! You’ll all be getting a review of the book as soon as I’m done!!

Now onto some of the books I want to read:

  • This second one is embarrassing that I haven’t read it yet, but I really want to read it!! The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. My last post mentioned the book Let it Snow by a trio of authors, one of whom is John Green. If his other books are anything like what he wrote in that novel, I will love this book. Everyone already seems to love both the book and the movie, so I really need to read it ASAP. Sorry John Green lovers! I’ll read it as soon as I can! (And maybe make a book vs movie in the process!!)
  • Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Another book turned movie that I have yet to read. The movie looks amazing, and I contemplated seeing the movie first, but then decided against it (just FYI, I could write an entire blog about that alone. It’s such a tough decision!!!) I honestly don’t know too much about the novel except that there’s a murder and they’re trying to figure out who killed the person. But everyone has said that the book is amazing with a million plot twists, so I’ll give it a shot!
  • The next book, All My Friends Are Superheroes by Andrew Kaufman, looks amazing. It’s about a a boy who has superhero friends, and marries a superhero. But one of her ex-boyfriends hypnotizes her so her husband is invisible. The husband then has a limited amount of time to get her to see him or she never will see him. It seems like such a weird concept that it HAS to be amazing. I’ve heard great things about it, so I look forward to reading it.
  • The last book that I reeeeeally want to read is the first of a series: A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for so long. Every time I see it I say, “Oh! I’ll read that next!!” and then I get distracted by shiny objects and forget about it for a while. From what I gather of the book, it follows a girl whose family comes from a long line of witches. She finds an old alchemy book that awakens all types of demons and monsters and other sinister things and she’s the only one who can stop them. It looks so good. This is really the exact type of book I love to read most, and it’s even a series!! I can’t wait to read it. Soon… soon…

So that’s it for now, I have so many more to tell you, but I know if I keep going it’ll be a list of 30 books I want to read. So I’ll split this up and keep you posted on some stuff I want to read as it comes along. I hope you’re all enjoying the first of the next six more weeks of winter! Has it been six weeks yet?

Until next time!

Rachel

Book vs. Movie: Unbroken

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Ah, yes. The age old debate. Which was better? The book or the movie? This is a tough question because in most cases I find that the people who enjoyed the book they read, find it incredibly difficult to keep a truly open mind about the movie. Why? Because we read it first before it was popular! It’s childish — maybe a little bit “hipster” to say we read it first before it was cool, but that’s the way it is. Chronic readers have this shared goal with one another: to read as many books as possible, as quickly as possible. So when we read a book that comes out and then three years later they start advertising the movie, we’re all like, “hey! I read that book!!” and tell everyone we possibly can that we’ve read that book first.

I do this all the time. The most recent case is for the new movie Unbroken. This a very sensitive case for me because a) I truly loved the book; B) I truly loved this man’s story; And c) they changed the name completely!!! The book I read, written by Louis Zamperini and David Rensin, called Devil at My Heels, was Zamperini’s first book about his real life triumphs and tribulations before, during and after World War II. I won’t spoil the movie or book for anyone, but this man endured being in the 1936 Olympics in Germany and meeting Hitler, being lost at sea, and being taken into a Japanese prison camp… And he lived to tell the tale.

The book was spectacular. I thought it had the right amount of conversational tone, without the topics he was discussing being taken lightly, or as something to shrug off your shoulders. It had an important message about forgiveness, but it wasn’t preachy. It was just an all around amazing story and novel. So when I began seeing trailers for the new movie Unbroken that Angelina Jolie had directed, I was thrilled. I figured, ‘hey, they changed the title, but the title of the book is a bit long for a movie, so that’s understandable.’ That was until I went to Barnes and Noble and found the newly published book called Unbroken, rewritten and published to suit the movie! Furious. I was furious. How could they do such a thing? Take this man’s life story and rewrite it to make the movie more money? On a logical, business side I completely understand it. I’m sure a lot of the money the movie and this new book makes is going straight to the recently deceased man’s family, which is admirable. But as a reader, and someone who loved the book, I was disappointed.

That said, my boyfriend and I went to see the movie together when it came out and I was actually really excited. Despite my disappointment of the new book, I still loved Louis’ story and thought anything Angelina Jolie directed must be amazing. So I had a really open mind. To my surprise, it was nearly exact to the book. They left out little pieces, and most of the end when he crusades for religion, but I can understand that – religion is a touchy subject. But it was a great movie.

So, now I have a dilemma. Book versus movie.

The verdict is not surprising: Book! Book! Book! But I have to say, this one gave me a run for my money. Even with my appreciation for the movie – the effects, the way it was shot, and, of course, the actors (who were amazing, by the way) – it still didn’t cut it for me.

First book vs movie tally? Book: 1 Movie: 0

Until next time, read to your hearts content!!!

Rachel