Sunday, March 21, 2010

...and Books Are Better than Movies

The Time Traveler's Wife

I love movies, but - let's face it - most that are created from books are a letdown. I think Silence of the Lambs is the only film that did its book version justice.

The Time Traveler's Wife has been one of my favorite novels for the last four years. I've read it eight times, and I was worried about the film interpretation. The actors? Great. The screenplay? Off. Everything happens too quickly. The pacing is strange. The story isn't as full as the book's.

Obviously, a novelist can give the reader so much more on paper than a director can on celluloid, and a book as complex as this one loses a lot in translation. Henry loses his edginess; Clare her brightness.

I think the people who see the movie first and then read the book will be happy, but any fan of the book will ultimately be disappointed.

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