April 1st, 2023
Better Than the Book?!
Better Than the Book?!Check out these reads that have an “even better” movie version.City of Bones: The Mortal Instrumentsby Cassandra Clare
Clary Fray is your average, everyday, artsy teen girl next door. However, when she witnesses three teenagers commit a murder at a club in New York City, things quickly devolve into hell in a handbasket. Upon returning home, Clary discovers her mother is missing, presumably kidnapped, and she gets attacked by a demonic monster, only to be saved in the nick of time by the three teenagers she encountered. Over the next 24 hours, she is quickly pulled into the world of her saviors, also known as Shadowhunters—or warriors who can see and fight demons—and must try to survive. Will Clary find her mother? Why can she see the demons, even if she isn’t a Shadowhunter? How will she survive in this new world?This fast-paced young-adult novel is for anyone out there looking to get out of a reading slump, and has definitely earned its title as one of the most well-known and talked about young-adult series out there. Thankfully, this book is also paired with an even juicier movie. If you’re anything like me and take delight in a movie that completely deviates from the book, you should watch it in a heartbeat. As an audience, you’re in for a load of confusing plot holes and bad special effects. Even better is the over-the-top crazy costuming choices that scream 2013. Full of deliciously cliched lines and questionable acting, this movie definitely does every justice for the book it is based off of *wink wink*
Clary Fray is your average, everyday, artsy teen girl next door. However, when she witnesses three teenagers commit a murder at a club in New York City, things quickly devolve into hell in a handbasket. Upon returning home, Clary discovers her mother is missing, presumably kidnapped, and she gets attacked by a demonic monster, only to be saved in the nick of time by the three teenagers she encountered. Over the next 24 hours, she is quickly pulled into the world of her saviors, also known as Shadowhunters—or warriors who can see and fight demons—and must try to survive. Will Clary find her mother? Why can she see the demons, even if she isn’t a Shadowhunter? How will she survive in this new world?This fast-paced young-adult novel is for anyone out there looking to get out of a reading slump, and has definitely earned its title as one of the most well-known and talked about young-adult series out there. Thankfully, this book is also paired with an even juicier movie. If you’re anything like me and take delight in a movie that completely deviates from the book, you should watch it in a heartbeat. As an audience, you’re in for a load of confusing plot holes and bad special effects. Even better is the over-the-top crazy costuming choices that scream 2013. Full of deliciously cliched lines and questionable acting, this movie definitely does every justice for the book it is based off of *wink wink*—Syd Morgan, Books Editor
Pride, Prejudice, and Zombiesby Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
It is a truth universally acknowledged that there are way too many Pride and Prejudice adaptations in the world. Modern-day authors have set Jane Austen’s best-known work in the dog show world, converted Elizabeth and Darcy into high-school debate-team rivals, and turned Mr. Darcy into a vampire. It’s enough to make a purist’s head explode. But if you’re not an Austen purist, you’re in luck. In 2009, Seth Graham-Smith had the rather unique idea to insert a zombie horde into this beloved classic. He kept much of Austen’s original text (the copyright has expired, so tragically, he could legally do so), shoehorning in a sentence here and a paragraph there about zombies to bend the book to his will, making it clear that Mr. Bennet was secretly training the Bennet sisters to fight off zombie attacks while simultaneously throwing themselves in the way of eligible men. The result is sometimes clever but mosty painful. But ever hopeful, I did see the film version when it came out in theaters, dragging my kids with me for an illustration of what not to do when confronted with a literary classic. Begrudgingly, I have to admit that the film actually is better than the book. The well-choreographed fight scenes, beautiful costumes, and sparklings performances by Lily James as a sword-swinging Elizabeth Bennet and Lena Headley as a bad@$$ Lady Catherine de Bourgh adequately killed a couple of hours on a chilly afternoon. Sadly, Sam Riley has the dubious distinction of being the dullest Mr. Darcy in the history of Austen adaptations, displaying all the charisma and charm of a toadstool (and not the fun kind that shoot spores when you step on them). At first, I thought director Burr Steers (apparently his real name) had simply put a cravat and tailcoat on a wooden plank, but then I realized Riley was an actual human attempting to actually act as one of the most famous romantic heroes of all time—possibly with an upset stomach.Normally, I’d recommend the book hands down in place of the movie because, in the words of Elizabeth Bennet’s erstwhile rival Caroline Bingley, “I declare, after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book!” In this case, however, the book edges out the movie by a nose for Worst Way to Spend an Afternoon Without Punching Yourself in the Face. My advice? Watch the film if you don’t mind a tepid romance with your zombies; sprinkle the book with garlic and holy water; and run, don’t walk, to your nearest bookstore to pick up the original P&P. You’re welcome.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that there are way too many Pride and Prejudice adaptations in the world. Modern-day authors have set Jane Austen’s best-known work in the dog show world, converted Elizabeth and Darcy into high-school debate-team rivals, and turned Mr. Darcy into a vampire. It’s enough to make a purist’s head explode. But if you’re not an Austen purist, you’re in luck. In 2009, Seth Graham-Smith had the rather unique idea to insert a zombie horde into this beloved classic. He kept much of Austen’s original text (the copyright has expired, so tragically, he could legally do so), shoehorning in a sentence here and a paragraph there about zombies to bend the book to his will, making it clear that Mr. Bennet was secretly training the Bennet sisters to fight off zombie attacks while simultaneously throwing themselves in the way of eligible men. The result is sometimes clever but mosty painful. But ever hopeful, I did see the film version when it came out in theaters, dragging my kids with me for an illustration of what not to do when confronted with a literary classic. Begrudgingly, I have to admit that the film actually is better than the book. The well-choreographed fight scenes, beautiful costumes, and sparklings performances by Lily James as a sword-swinging Elizabeth Bennet and Lena Headley as a bad@$$ Lady Catherine de Bourgh adequately killed a couple of hours on a chilly afternoon. Sadly, Sam Riley has the dubious distinction of being the dullest Mr. Darcy in the history of Austen adaptations, displaying all the charisma and charm of a toadstool (and not the fun kind that shoot spores when you step on them). At first, I thought director Burr Steers (apparently his real name) had simply put a cravat and tailcoat on a wooden plank, but then I realized Riley was an actual human attempting to actually act as one of the most famous romantic heroes of all time—possibly with an upset stomach.Normally, I’d recommend the book hands down in place of the movie because, in the words of Elizabeth Bennet’s erstwhile rival Caroline Bingley, “I declare, after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book!” In this case, however, the book edges out the movie by a nose for Worst Way to Spend an Afternoon Without Punching Yourself in the Face. My advice? Watch the film if you don’t mind a tepid romance with your zombies; sprinkle the book with garlic and holy water; and run, don’t walk, to your nearest bookstore to pick up the original P&P. You’re welcome. —Tracy Fernandez Rysavy, Driftwood Advisor