Do you ever wonder if the book is really always better than the movie? YPG members gathered on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at 7:00pm to find out at the first meeting of the YPG Book-to-Film Club.
After reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 sci-fi novel Never Let Me Go, a Booker Prize dystopian text about the emotional capacity of clones, 35 YPG members from several AAP member publishing houses and a handful of literary agencies gathered in the Simon & Schuster building at Rockefeller Center to watch the 2010 film adaptation starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield and directed by Mark Romanek.
Before viewing, the group chatted about their expectations, wondering whether the casting would match the book’s portrayal of certain characters and how certain fantastical elements of the text would be visualized cinematically. The room then hushed as YPGers enjoyed the film over soda and caramel popcorn and even shed a few tears at the dramatic conclusion. Afterwards, a lively discussion (and occasional debate) ensued about the whether the movie actually told Ishiguro’s story better, or perhaps more believably, than the novel was able to. While some members felt that the movie told a simpler but more poignant story, others said the amount of affect portrayed in the film didn’t accurately capture the tone of the narrative. As any good dialogue goes, the issue remained unresolved.
Next up: YPGers selected Winter’s Bone, a 2006 Daniel Woodrell novel that follows a 16-year-old through the Ozarks to find her drug-addicted father, from the lengthy list of movie tie-in recommendations. To join the YPG Book-to-Film Club, sign up here:
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