I HATED this movie is the book worth reading?

[Kelsey]

I think this book is amazing, and I think the movie did as thorough a job as was realistic in distilling it into film. As always happens in a screen adaptation, much is lost--so much of what I loved about the novel is what's happening in Briony's head, which would never have translated to film effectively. Give it a read, see what you think.

[Joan]

For me, anything by this author is always worth reading. He is a wonderful writer. A real master.

There is always going to be some slippage when a book becomes a film.

[Santiago]

I started reading the book and when i reached half of part two I watched the film. It was terrible! I wasn't really enjoying the book, and I found the movie even worse. However, despite my impression of the movie, I finished reading the book. It was equally bad. Nevertheless, I found more satisfaction in reading the book than in watching the film. Briony is seriously a boring character and the prose is really dense, but after reading it, I found myself thinking of the story and analyzing it in a way that made me realize the book is not so bad after all. There's a lot of food for thought there. So, to sum up, If you have nothing better to read, read it. Otherwise, you're not missing a great deal if you've already watched the movie, which is indeed TERRIBLE!

[Shan]

I loved the book which I read before watching the film and I find it usually works better that way as films are not always able to capture the depth that writing can achieve.

[Sheila]

Just saw this in passing. And from my perspective, no, there are too many better fiction books to read!

[Pam]

The movie was boring, and the book was even more boring.

[Sheila]

i read it quite a bit ago. I am a relatively patient reader(as I am a fiction writer myself). But I do remember feeling it was below my expectations. The book did not make it into my personal library of good fiction.
Sorry, a rather flimsy answer. But there you are.

[Pat]

No.

[Tom]

Books can't always be compared to films made out of them. Often they change the story and/or structure to fit a specific time, e.g. most films are 1.25mins. However, I enjoyed both book and film largely because each is their own version of the same story.

This piece about authors and the film/TV drama version of their books might interest you: Hollywood ate my novel: Novelists reveal what it’s like to have their book turned into a movie...

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-en...

[Sheila]

Seabreeze wrote: "Just saw this in passing. And from my perspective, no, there are too many better fiction books to read!"

Still stick with above opinion.

[Pat]

Normally, I find the book is always better than the movie. With this book, that may not be the case.

[Sheila]

Pat wrote: "Normally, I find the book is always better than the movie. With this book, that may not be the case."

As said...this book did not ;move' or delight me...more like boring. I know not fair to author but don't have time to say more.
THink you can skip it!.

[Vanda]

I read the book first and was not very impressed. Nice writing for a very contrived story. Don't know why I bothered with the film, which was even worse.

[David]

I loved the movie. If you were an English major, this is a gripping movie. After seeing the film, I bought the novel, but I haven’t read it yet. The plot shows how the lie of a jealous girl in puberty destroyed two lives. She did, however, become a writer which was her atonement for her wrongdoing. Personally, I love period piece movies if they are well done. And this one is excellent. It’s not for “The Fast and Furious “ crowd.

[Sheila]

Read this book quite a long time ago, but i still would say, there are a lot of wonderful novels out there, don't bother with this one.

[Carol]

If you didn't like the movie, then I doubt that will enjoy the book.

[Pat]

Carol, the book is not worth reading.

[Stephen]

Julie wrote: "As is normally the case, the book is better than the film. I think that this is always a problem - translating a book into a film means you always have to decide what to leave out.
I love filmm but..."

Julie,

I would agree that films rarely do justice to the original books and always seem rushed or the world they create doesn't match the one I created in my head when reading the book.
I found Atonement to be the same. I liked the book, the language, the mood and the characters but was a little disappointed in the ending. The film diluted many of the good parts in my opinion.

The only film that I think improves on the book is 'The Life of Pi' as it is a truly wonderful cinematic experience, though again it has to give an explanation at the end that I don't recall in the book. I remember the ending as being ambiguous to make the reader think. Presumably cinema audiences needed more than that.

[Richard]

I did read the book. I remember little about it. Then the film came out and I watched that (I bought the DVD). The ending left me stunned. My father (a man I never knew) was at Dunkirk. To me, the film captured the horrors he would have gone through while waiting to be lifted off the beaches. I had trouble keeping a dry eye (well, I didn't succeed, of course.) The Dunkirk scenes were, in my opinion, the only realistic film representations of the hell those troops went through. I probably won't be watching the film again. Not sure I can handle it. But the book? Maybe I'll read that again.

[David]

I loved the movie. It showed the power of a lie to destroy lives.

[Tom]

David wrote: "I loved the movie. It showed the power of a lie to destroy lives."

Absolutely. Apt in today's world.