Book Review – The Book Was Better: the Triumphs and Travesties of Book to Film Adaptation

“The Book Was Better: the Triumphs and Travesties of Book to Film Adaptation” by Louise Willder,
One World Publications

Now here’s a rather tasty little treat for those of us who adore both film and books, a little meditation on something that, let’s be honest, every reader who like cinema has thought at some point, especially when it involves an adaptation of a personal favourite read – “the book was better”. It’s a subject almost as old as the medium of cinema itself – I’m sure there were some debating what was lost translating works like Dracula to the big screen in the 1930s, or Margaret Mitchell’s phenomenally popular Gone With the Wind, way back in the day, and it is something we still worry about and debate. And not just we readers – sometimes the authors too; recall the late Anne Rice, queen of vampire fiction, when Tom Cruise was first announced as the actor to play the six foot, slim, blonde, French aristocratic vampire Lestat in Neil Jordan’s lush filmic adaptation.

To be quite fair to Rice, many of us who loved the book had pretty similar feelings at the time of that announcement, and to be just as fair to us, given the disparity in appearance between the actor and the described character, that’s not exactly surprising. Of course, as it turned out in the end, Cruise threw himself into the role, losing weight to highlight cheekbones, bringing out that decadent vicious streak that Lestat holds. And this is part of the appeal of Willder’s book for me – this is no ponderous academic work, pontificating on the paradigmatic and syntagmatic nature of the text, while stroking one’s beard in a thoughtful manner (yes, I am thinking of some of my former college lecturers here!), it’s written by someone who clearly loves books and films, and has opinions on which work and which do not (and why). You may agree with some, disagree with others, but you’ll most likely find yourself nodding in understanding regardless.

I should make clear this is no cinematic bashing tome though – Willder is not out to trash all cinema and venerate all literature, oh no. While she will discuss bad adaptations – including some corkers that are in chapters headed “Unwatchables” and “Unfilmables”, she also lavishes praise on good adaptations of books, some which are as pure as they can be to the source, given it is a different medium and therefore requires some alterations (it is, after all, an adaptation). There are also some where additions or nuances worked into the filmic version seem to her to actually enhance and improve the original story.

There’s even a chapter on where it was the other way round (in her opinion, and she makes clear it is just personal opinions here), where she talks about films which she considers better than the book, such as Jaws. It was a huge bestseller, of course, hence why the studio bought the rights, but to many it was also a pot-boiler, what many in the publishing trade refer to as “an airport bestseller” (the sort of thing you pick up in an airport newsagents when desperate for anything to read on a long flight). Having read Jaws (at a far too tender age when I probably shouldn’t have), I tend to agree with her on that one, and find the film far more satisfying, although I’m not sure I agree with her on the Godfather, but that’s the nature of this kind of thing, some parts you will totally agree with, other parts you think no, I love that film version! But it is presented in a friendly, non-adversarial manner, it’s something to enjoy, discuss, think about, not get into a frothing rage over.

Willder also includes something we all have – guilty pleasures. We all know there are film versions that strictly speaking aren’t very good, and yet, for some reason, they click with us and we love them. Sometime it is a sentimental thing, something we remember watching with friends when younger and that makes it special in a way that it isn’t to others (a recent conversation with younger colleagues about me revisiting Goonies went in this direction, with them thinking it was an “okay” film but didn’t get why I and others my age loved it, but also realising if they had been around when it first came out, it too might be more special to them than it is). And yes, Willder will put up her hand here and say okay, Colin Firth emerging from his swim in that dripping wet shirt, sticking to his body, and how that’s imprinted on a generation of Austen fans forever (which I can quite understand!).

Overall the theme here is not to create raging arguments (and goodness knows we have enough of those on some fan sites at times!), but to appeal to people who, like Willder, love books and love cinema, seeing neither as superior or inferior to the other, just different artforms that have to work in their own ways, and some will, some sort of will, some will crash and burn, some will be, as she puts it “did they even read the book?” types, others are a fabulous triumph that enhance the book (and bring new readers to the source material too, a win-win).

It’s a fun, informal and personal take – you will agree and disagree, sometimes you may not know the book or film, but you will still get the vibe. I only wish it had been a little longer and dived a little deeper, but then it may have become more ponderous and lost the chatty, friendly “talking in the pub” kind of feel it has. With the festive season bearing down on us soon, this one will make an ideal gift for anyone in your life who is a reader and a film lover – and given you are reading Live For Films, I strongly suspect that’s a fair amount of you! And I also suspect many of you are already thinking on some of your own, personal favourite book to film works, and some of the ones you loathe, but that’s part of the fun here.

You can order it here.