Paul Carafotes

Paul Carafotes asked:

Those of us who have seen the movie and want to read the book.... Is the book better than the film? Does it live up,to the movie which I thoght was excellent.

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11 years ago
24 answers

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Erika I must be the only person who did not like the book. At all. Yes, Pat's psychosis are easier to understand in the book as it is all basically his inner monologue, but I found the other characters to have less depth than paper ... Tissue thin, colorless and boring. I expected there to be more similarities to the movie, but there really aren't any other than Pat and his obsession with Nikki. And sure, the running and character names ... But that's about it. As an avid reader I have only once or twice found a film adaptation to be better than than the original written form ... And this is one of those times. IMO.

Blain Dillard Out of all the movies I've seen based on books, this was one of the most non-true-to-form. Key parts of the whole book's premise were completely ignored in the movie. Other significant plot-lines were added to the movie. And some key relationships were portrayed completely the opposite of the book. I guess the author sold out, and made some good cash out of the deal, but the screen writers re-wrote the book in my opinion. With that said, I liked both the book and the movie. I listened to the book on audio, which was great as the speaker's voice inflections perfectly captured what I thought were the expected voice inflections of the characters. Overall, I liked the book better, though I can understand why some embellishments were needed in the movie in order to prop of some of the secondary characters.

Patricia I loved the movie and decided to read the book. It is vastly different, and I honestly didnt like the book until the end. The ending was beautiful, but that's about the only thing I liked about the book.

Brian Not really. The adaptation to a screenplay added a lot of the juice in Tiffany's character. None of those big Oscar scenes are in the book.

Catherine I liked them both for different reasons. There were things I liked about the book better, but other things I liked about the movie better. I thought the movie was well cast, but I liked the ending of the book and his relationships with his brother and Danny better in the book.

Crystal The movie is terrible compared to the book. The story is told completely differently in the movie compared to the book.

Ahmed Sadiq i, like yourself, saw the movie before I started to search for it's book. now having read it, i can tell you that despite the story being, more or less, the same, the movie version and the book version are from different universes. the tone, the energy, even the characteristics of the characters aren't the same, as if David O'Russell having liked the story was too much of a artist to fully copy and transform it's idea into a not-so-good movie and rather made some changes here and there turned it into a more-susceptible-to-a-movie plot.
i liked the movie better, but the book was a different yet nice experience on it's own.

Angus MacCaull I felt that the book was too full of devices to achieve the depth of the movie. Strange to say, I know. But if anything, the first person narrative, cluttered as it was with so many literary "hooks", seemed to disrespect the territory. It did not ring true for me.

Sarah I loved the movie and then read the book. Definitely felt more for Pat after getting to see more of his inner self, and appreciated the relationship he had with his mom, brother, and therapist. So, I enjoyed the book too. The climax is different, but I didn't mind because it made reading more enjoyable since I didn't know 100 percent what would happen.

Ashley Penny I find the book much better; you get a far better insight into how psychotic he is around Nikki as you see his thought process constantly and its hard to convey that in the film. I preferred the storyline of the book too but don't want to spoil it, suffice to say they made significant changes for the movie, but both are great.

Paddy Gillespie Other than the character names, they're basically two different pieces of art. I read the book first. I prefer the book. The movie is fine, but to say it's an adaptation of the book is just a blatant lie.

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Lauren Hudson They are pretty different but both great in different ways. I read the book first so I was a bit confused at first why the movie was so well received, as I of course liked the book better. Now that time has gone by I like them for their own strengths.
The book does have a much better ending.
My biggest pet peeve of the movie is that it doesn't include the song "Total Eclipse of the Heart" like in the book! That would have made it so much better in my opinion.

Sheila Pession I didn't like this book. Firstly i read the book, then i went to watch the movie... buuut, i think it's worse than the book.

Cassondra I really didn't like the book as much as the movie.

Flying Teapot In the movie Pet meets Nikki and it's very naive and counterfeited. The whole reason of Pet's disorder is clear in the beginning of the movie while in the book reader even doesn't know what happened to Pet several years ago and why he hates Kenny G. and so many differences...
It's beautiful film, but, IMHO, not about true problems. Movie's Pet is a boy who needs some relax while book's Pet has so much psychological problems that even his therapist couldn't understand because of Pet's disorder which is caused by his past that Pet disclaim and don't want to remember.

Jasim I liked the book better although the movie also has a nice ending but I find the movie like an "as expected". The book is more realistic and worth the time and for keep.

Ayacalypso The book was better in my opinion. I thought the movie ended too abruptly, with too many uncertainties. Also, the book explained things much better, such as why Pat wears a trash bag. In the movie, I thought his response was, "It's a sweater," which is not what he actually says.

Also, I had no idea that the story takes place in Collingswood, NJ, which is near my old stomping grounds!

Jessie Lc For me both are good, and i can understand why the movie is different, in the book are almost no dialogues, its all about how he feels, and his thoughts. I'm in love with the history and I completely love the book <3 EXCELSIOR.

Nada Adel They are both great. I believe you'll get a very good idea of what bipolar disorder is after reading the book.

Alexandra The book is so very different. Both the book and the film are good, but you will be shocked how they can tell a really different story in a screen version.

Gregory It's really incredible how much better the movie is than the book. I have a newfound respect for David O. Russell, whose original scripts I don't really like. But he's great at adaptations

Amelia Hawthorn I started reading this book and I found it very slow and hard to get into...nothing was pulling me into this book. I decided to watch the movie, which I thought was OK - nothing special or excellent, but not bad either. I then decided to carry on reading the book now knowing that the book should pick up in terms of excitement/events, and it still proved a tough read, to be honest. I actually thought the best part was the ending and the last 2 chapters of the book, maybe. Please bear in mind that this is all just my opinion.

Terena Bell No. The movie is SOOOO much better.

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The Silver Linings Playbook

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