Some of my favorite books have been successfully made into miniseries: Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"; Alex Haley's "Roots"; John Jakes' "North and South"; David McCullough's "John Adams." These miniseries brought these books to life. However, I've recently found that it doesn't always work out that way.
I am a big fan of Alexander McCall Smith's "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series. There are 10 books so far in the series, and I've read each of them. They are wonderful books and I'd recommend them to anyone. I was excited when I found out HBO was going to make them into a series. HBO did an excellent job with "John Adams" (even if I wasn't overly thrilled with the casting choice for John Adams himself), and was looking forward to something similar with Smith's books. Unfortunately, for me at least, it just didn't work. I think there are two reasons for this.
First, I love the way Smith writes his characters in the series. I was able to form a very clear image in my head of each of the characters and the locale in Botswana where the series takes place. I didn't think the HBO series lived up to my impressions. I don't know if it was the casting, the writing, or the acting, but it just didn't work for me. One example is the character of Mma Makutsi, who is an assistant detective/secretary. My impression of her from the book was that she was quite opinionated and often judgmental, but still a likeable character. In the HBO series she was still opinionated and judgmental, but came off bitchy rather than likeable. I was turned off by her, and that was unsettling for me.
Second, the books are very character-driven, not action-driven. You keep reading because you become attached to the characters and care what happens to them. It's not suspenseful really, and not particularly exciting; but it's not at all boring. However, when translated into a TV series, it became boring because nothing really happens amd there's not the character development to make up for it.
As a result of these observations, I watched only one episode and returned the DVD to Netflix. I was worried that if I watched any more, the images on the screen would replace the images in my head. That's not a risk I'm willing to take, and I can't wait for more books to come out in this series so I can continue reading about the wonderful characters.
Do you have a favorite book that was made into a movie or TV series? Maybe "Harry Potter" or the "Twighlight" series? How about "The DaVinci Code"? Please comment below and let me know!
Merchant Ivory have made wonderful films from several E.M. Forster novels: Where Angels Fear to Tread, Howard's End, Room With a View, Maurice. They will lift whole passages and use in the film (though sometimes they borrow from one book to use in a different film; not sure why). I love Forster and his social commentary. Merchant Ivory does fantastic work, too, but I suppose that's a topic for a different blog!
ReplyDeleteI once followed the "Pride and Prejudice" miniseries with my book in front of me, and was surprised at how much they took verbatim from the book. I thought it was pretty amazing!
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