User blog:Livingwithinthepagesofbooks/Books to Movies

There are so many books that are being transformed into movies, but are they all worth it? Movies are good, but they’re only 2 to 3 hours long and don’t always contain ALL the information from the book. Because of this, I personally do not enjoy the book to movie conversion.

Some examples of books becoming movies, primarily the YA books (that I'll be discussing today) are:

There are amazing books that captivate the minds of teenagers and young adults, but when they become movies, they lose all the essence. I do admit that some, not all, include most information from the books, but it’s just not enough.
 * The Fault in our Stars by John Green
 * Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
 * The Hunger Game Series by Suzanne Collins
 * Divergent by Veronica Roth

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. What can I say? John Green is an amazing author and I read that book in a day because I fell in love with the characters when he first introduced them. I cried so much throughout the novel, but it was worth it. When I found out there was a movie, I was hesitant to watch it because I didn’t want my perspective on the movie to change my opinion on the book. But the movie… I just want to shake my head at it. If you haven’t seen it, you’re not missing much. It’s better if you read the book. In here the movie didn’t show or even mention Hazel’s friend Kaitlyn. In the movie, Hazel is always alone reading the same book until she meets Gus. But in the book, she has a great friend that no one (who sees the movie) knows about.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was a great read for all ages. Even though I didn’t read it until I was older, I still fell in love with the book, its ideas, and the characters. But let’s discuss the differences between the book and the movie. Before Harry meets Hagrid and the wizarding world, Rowling describes Harry’s summer in detail as he lives with the Dursleys. The movie skips that lengthy summer and jumps into the wizard world rather too abruptly. Also, the book mentions that the Sorting Hat sings a song before it decides which house a student belongs in. The movie doesn’t even mention the song; it simply comments on a student and then declares the House.

The Hunger Games Series was the best book I read in 2012, and I was excited to watch the movie because I heard a lot of praise from it. And it was good because it did match up to the book, but it failed to portray Snow’s important role in the series. They mainly show him in the end. I went with people who didn’t read the book, and the ending was confusing and unclear.



The Divergent Series were such a good read. I was actually debating on reading it when it first came out, but when I did, I didn’t want to put it down. The connection between Tris and her family, and with Four later in the book was amazing and intense. However, there was a character who was introduced in the first book, but he appeared briefly in the second movie. (I’m talking about Uriah, for those people who haven’t read the books.)



<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;">

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;font-family:'TimesNewRoman';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">There may be some books that match the movies perfectly through the plot and has an amazing cast that fits the storyline perfectly, but I haven’t found one yet.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;font-family:'TimesNewRoman';color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Another thing, books just are a great way to escape from reality, and that doesn’t happen when you’re watching a movie. When you’re watching a movie, you see actors play the characters, but when you’re reading it you are the characters.

<span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:'TimesNewRoman';color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be the character than watch them.