Book Reporter Says: Watch the movies.
This summer, I read two books and then watched the movies because I was curious: I didn't like the books, but the movies were popular. Were the movies better? Both of them were! Read on for book details (because they're not worth reading). No spoilers as to the changes made in the movies (but obviously, some details included).
In the novel version of, "The Devil Wears Prada," the main character acts more like the character Emily in the movie: bitter, unhelpful, and she doesn't learn about fashion by the time it ends. Also, she goes to Paris not because she's respected; she goes because Emily gets mono. Then her boss flips out that the twins' passports have expired and how dare the main character not be able to magically renew US passports over night? The boss was really difficult to identify with, and so was the main character. The former was unreasonable beyond belief, and the latter was really a miserable and self-centered person who repeated herself a lot to emphasize how annoyed she was about something. It wasn't great writing or an interesting story. The movie on the other hand had a resourceful main character who didn't like her job, and then learned that there are things about fashion she didn't know, making it worth respect, and that there were things she could grow from, and grow away from.
The second book was, "Shutter Island." After I read that, I wanted to rewrite the story and make something far better than the forced ending it affords. I thought hard about adding a double-cross, or a big reveal that one character had been right-all-along. The movie was great in that the whole time, it went along just like the book, with one small change at the end that made it much better. The change was so small and suddenly, with just a minute of dialogue and action added to the end, it was a deeper and more satisfying story. I was impressed.
Movies go through test audiences and it goes to show that in come cases, collectively, we can make something better than any one of us alone.
In the novel version of, "The Devil Wears Prada," the main character acts more like the character Emily in the movie: bitter, unhelpful, and she doesn't learn about fashion by the time it ends. Also, she goes to Paris not because she's respected; she goes because Emily gets mono. Then her boss flips out that the twins' passports have expired and how dare the main character not be able to magically renew US passports over night? The boss was really difficult to identify with, and so was the main character. The former was unreasonable beyond belief, and the latter was really a miserable and self-centered person who repeated herself a lot to emphasize how annoyed she was about something. It wasn't great writing or an interesting story. The movie on the other hand had a resourceful main character who didn't like her job, and then learned that there are things about fashion she didn't know, making it worth respect, and that there were things she could grow from, and grow away from.
The second book was, "Shutter Island." After I read that, I wanted to rewrite the story and make something far better than the forced ending it affords. I thought hard about adding a double-cross, or a big reveal that one character had been right-all-along. The movie was great in that the whole time, it went along just like the book, with one small change at the end that made it much better. The change was so small and suddenly, with just a minute of dialogue and action added to the end, it was a deeper and more satisfying story. I was impressed.
Movies go through test audiences and it goes to show that in come cases, collectively, we can make something better than any one of us alone.