Book ver Movie or series

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Dracula (for example) is dry and dull. It's told in letters and journal entries and is not scar at all. The book is dull.

What's interesting about Dracula is that because of the letters it's written in the first person narrative but from multiple people. You don't often find books written in the first person narrative that have multiple characters telling the story.

On the other hand, the bemusing thing about books with letters is that, like Dracula, the letters give blow-by-blow detail of what happened, as if they were taking notes while those things occurred, and recount long conversations in exact word for word detail. It's unlikely that anyone has that kind of memory or would write it down in all that detail. But it's simply a literary device so I suppose we should overlook it.

[timebug]

I have always loved Dracula, and find that most people who find it dull, are those who have seen too many film versions,and expect fast action, blood splatter, and extreme shocks. The true horror of the text lies in what is implied rather than what is shown,very often.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by timebug

I have always loved Dracula, and find that most people who find it dull, are those who have seen too many film versions,and expect fast action, blood splatter, and extreme shocks. The true horror of the text lies in what is implied rather than what is shown,very often.

I've found that the style of letters/journal entries doesn't work at all. IT makes the book dry and boring. Having to work out what's implied doesn't work. Because the material we have to work with doesn't work well. This is a good idea poorly executed.

[timebug]

Each to their own! As I stated, I have always loved the book of Dracula, and the same with the book of Frankenstein. The latter suffered even more than Dracula from film fans expecting the violent rampages from the film(s) plot, and finding the story 'dull' and 'slow moving'. Both books were of course, products of their respective times. And yes, I have read many horror novels/stories,and can see where people are coming from with their opinions;which I respect, without always agreeing with.

[John F]

The Queen's Gambit

I think the Netflix series is slightly better then the book.

[Tony Richards]

I'm a fan of Walter Tevis, but the Netflix version was riveting from start to finish. A great piece of drama.

[John F]

I just finished book The Witches of Eastwick and saw the movie many years ago. Although my memory of the movie is a little fuzzy, I preferred the movie to the book.

[wildhoney66]

i haven't read that book but i love and adore the film and i have since i was a kid

[timebug]

I found the film of Dennis Lehane's 'Shutter Island' made a lot more sense than the book did. The book (IMO) was badly written or really badly edited and parts of it made no logical sense at all.The film cleared up these glitches and was a much more cohesive narrative.

[wildhoney66]

i haven't seen that one either or read the book, it's funny how that sometimes happens isn't it? one book that i read years ago was Along came a spider (1992) by James Patterson great book, fantastic book the film was decent to be fair but the issues i have it changed too much i think, it wasn't that much they changed but the big bad in the book in case you haven't read it lived on for at least another 2 or 3 books i really don't remember yet in the film he dies.

there are other books i've read where the film was actually better than the actual novel but i can't think any off the top of my head

[timebug]

CONTAINS SPOILER FOR 'FIRST BLOOD' (The Book)


RE an important character dying; I read the book of First Blood by David Morrell
a while before the film was made. In the book, John Rambo is killed at the very end by his mentor Sam Trautmann. In the film, he is arrested and carted off to prison, thus allowing various sequels! In the introduction to the second book, Morrell comments that 'In my book,Rambo died;in the movies, he lives on'...