Have you ever watched the movie/series adaptation of a book before reading it?
Have you ever watched the movie/series adaptation of a book before reading it?
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Have you ever watched the movie/series adaptation of a book before reading it?
Bleak House. I never would have read the book if I hadn’t seen the series on PBS.
Pride and Prejudice the BBC series, and loved it. Mostly I’ve been happy to read after seeing the movie because the book is usually so much better. Gone with the Wind, Rebecca, Love is a many splendid thing and so many more. Occasionally the movie after the book disappoints. Most recently would be The Book Thief. The book had such an impact on me and the movie was a let down. The acting was excellent, but the powerful narration of the book, to me was underplayed in the movie. That voice I had imagined to be rich, mesmerising and to be honest, when reading the book, it was Morgan Freeman’s voice. I thought the characterising of ‘death’ (Gabriel, God?) was a great literary technique and warranted a stronger voice.
Sometimes its almost better that way so that I don’t hate the movie after I read the book lol if I watch the movie first, i generally enjoy both.
I’m glad that I’m not the only one! :))
I saw Shutter Island on tv before I read the book. The movie ending was better than the book ending.
@Rudette had no idea it was a book! Is it just as creepy?
Yes, and the movie is very true to the book, even down to the wording of many of the lines in the script.
@Crystal yes it followed the book except for the last scene. I read it with the voices from the movie!
Yes many times
I’m intending to watch the movie of moby dick because i’ve been in a reading slump because of this book for months now. I really want to finish it though because i’ve heard so many great things but this book is too difficult for me. Do you think i should finish the book or just watch the movie??
I did the exact same thing with Pride and Prejudice. I watched the movie so it would help me understand the book and now it’s one of my favorite books! I would definitely recommend watching the movie to help understand the book.
@Phuong That is what I do when the book is very thick or hard to understand ( thats what I did for War and Peace). It really motivated me to keep going. So I don’t see something wrong with watching the movie first. ?
Put the book aside and come back to it after some time away if you must, but…..
Persevere! You’ll be one of the very few people who has read the entire novel, as I am. Moby Dick is one of the great novels of all time, and for good reason. It’s absolutely one of my favorite novels, but I don’t think I would have read the entire thing had it not been assigned for my class in American Romanticism when I was in college. Melville was so deep! No film can do it justice.
I was so fascinated by the wide cast of characters, the way in which Melville revealed the attitudes of the American sailors to those from different parts of the globe. How they feared the unknown – fear of people from other cultures, fear of the elements, of nature, of the future, of their captain. How whaling was a world men from all over the globe came together in pursuit of a Leviathan (that they also feared, hated, respected, desired). How Ahab (being more than a bit of an obsessed psycho) could perceive the gifts of each man and use them to his ends; the relationship between Queequeg and Ishmael; and that between Ahab and Pip; and Ahab and the harpoonists. Fear and racism (and their relationship to each other) are interesting elements to track in Moby Dick.
I wrote a paper on my theory that Pip was representative of Ahab’s humanity and that Pip (spoiler alert!) being washed overboard signaled the beginnings of Ahab’s unraveling. At the time, I felt that I was the only one in the class that had actually read the entire novel, perhaps even including our professor ?
You have embarked on a great literary adventure Phuong Anh Nguyen. I find the most difficult books to be the most rewarding. Good Luck to you!
@Maddie thank you I will try my best! I think the language barriers is really the biggest struggle for me with this book. My mother tongue is not English but because I have read quite a lot of victorian literature in English, I’m confident to follow the same route with moby dick. Not to mention that the sophisticated and biblical language of this book is an indispensable part of making it such a masterpiece. Big mistake! Because I’m not only unable to appreciate the language, but also find it painful?… So yeah maybe I should abandon my ambition to read this book in its original language and read it in my mother tongue maybe I’ll be able to finish it
Oh my, yes, that does make it more difficult! I admire you hugely for trying! I couldn’t tell that English is not your first language, not at all. I can also commiserate because I read 17th Century French authors in the original as part of my degree. They weren’t as long-winded as Melville, thankfully. Best of luck whatever you decide to do – you cannot go wrong!
@Phuong I listened to Moby Dick on CDs. The reader was outstanding and the book came alive for me. Unlike many readers I enjoyed the background information about whales and whaling more than the drama of the obsession of Ahab with Moby Dick.
@Melinda omg I’m currently stuck at chapter 32 cetology?
@Phuong I know, it’s a whole book within the book. Honestly, the Ahab story works without it. It just appeals to my curious nature. I’m a weirdo. ?
Almost always a mistake. “The Shining” was a great movie, and the book didn’t seem to live up to it – even though it’s by one of my favorite authors!
I watched Pride and Prejudice before reading the book but only because I couldn’t understand the book and watching the movie helped me understand what the book was saying.
Yes quite often, saw the revenant, the godfather, the shining, ps I love you all before reading the books. Love films as much as books to be fair ☺
Yeah… I did audiobook before reading Wuthering Heights.
Yes, but rarely. GOT I had read only two of the series and I am really more hooked on the show. I watched Netflix’s adaptation of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and decided to read the book. I enjoyed both, just a nice read. I generally am in the group the book was better and rarely watch movies of books I have loved. I think the problem, for me, with reading then watching, is I have the characters already in my mind. Lived Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, I will not watch because Ben Affleck is NOT who I see as the husband, not about liking him or not, he just isn’t the husband to me. Watching them before reading the book, I avoid that, but then I get annoyed with Hollywood for slaughtering a good book and changing the story.
Yes, lots of times. Especially Shakespeare.
yes tons of times…sometimes its what makes me read the book
Only by accident when I didn’t know the movie was based on a book.
I usually afterwards. Want to read a bio on Michael Collins before the movie, but I doubt that will happen. A bucket list item I guess. Lol
Yes, before reading pride and prejudice I watched the 2005 adaptation and fell in love (i was 14 i think), and after that I read the book and fell in love with Jane Austen.
@Diana i think most of us fell in love with Colin Firth rather than Mr Darcy which assisted the reading of the book greatly ??
I never have-either before or after. When I was a kid, I read 101 Dalmatians and then went to the movie. I remember being soooooo disappointed in the movie. I always enjoy the movie in my mind better than someone else’s adaptation for the screen. I am considering watching “To Kill A Mockingbird” however.
Sometimes, just because I know it’ll be nothing like the books
Yes. all the time. i usually see the movie/adaptation before i read the book.
Yes, lots of times. Quite often the movie will inspire me to read the book.
Not conciously. I rarely watch films, so it’s not often an issue.
Les Miserables. Saw stage show a couple of times and movie and loved the book!!
Madam Bovary. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Wizard of Oz.
Usually by accident, I started watching the first season of GOT before I realised it was a book. Was caught up by the time the second series came out!
All the time!
Never. I am a reader
To Kill a Mockingbird.
Yes . The GodFather , Planet of the Apes
Yes, often. Sometimes the movie is the thing that makes me want to seek out the book. This has had mixed results: I enjoyed books such as Z by Vassilis Vassilikos, Seven Days in May by Charles W. Bailey II and Fletcher Knebel, and The Conformist by Alberto Moravia, but felt a bit disappointed by some such as The Golden Egg by Tim Krabbé (source for The Vanishing) and The War of the Roses by William Adler.
Yes always ?
Often I don’t know it’s a book until after I’ve watched the movie
Read the book first!
Yes
Grapes of Wrath
Yes, Lord of the Rings.
Planet of the Apes.
The most recent one was Sharp Objects.