Novelicious Natters: Book to Film Conversions - Are They Any Good?

This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.

Welcome to out brand new Friday feature, Novelicious Natters, in which we present a relevant book related topic and have a bit of a natter about it in the comments!

This week our Amanda Keats discusses one of her favourite topics – film vs books. What do you reckon?

In the last few months, we've had film adaptations released of I Don’t Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson, One Day by David Nicholls, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, The Help by Kathryn Stockett and We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Schriver. Before the year is up there will also be a new Wuthering Heights film adaptation. So are film-makers running out of ideas and ruining the books we know and love or simply re-imagining them for a wider audience? And more importantly – are they ever any good?

Well yes and no, sometimes they are and sometimes they’re not. I thoroughly enjoyed both the book and film of PS I Love You but when you compare the film to the original text, so many changes have been made it’s like they are different stories entirely. Some are brilliantly done and true to the originals like The Shawshank Redemption, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, A Single Manand Little Women (the Susan Sarandon version). Then there are the ones that DESTROY the original and infuriate those who loved the book. I am of course thinking of My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult (still angers me!) and Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger – two fantastic, practically perfect pieces of literature that were ruined in their film counterparts by turning them into soppy fluffy patronising rubbish.

So let us know what you think for this week’s Novelicious Natters – do you think book to film conversions are a good thing or should the books be left alone? What book would you like to see turned into a film and what book would you protect from ever being adapted onto the big screen? Let us know in the comments below.

And for film fans I will be hosting the Movie Talk on Sunday on this very topic on November 13th so join in the debate if you're around!