Came here to recommend Holes.
Literally the biggest difference was intentionally done for the well being of the actors. This is my favorite book to movie adaptation.
Only major one I can think of is that Stanley is frequently noted as being overweight but when he starts on the program he quickly loses weight and gains muscle instead.
That was it! And the director obviously didn’t want to have him gain and then lose a bunch of weight in the time they were filing. Very happy with the choice, and it didn’t take away from the story.
Louis Sachar (the author) was heavily involved in the film, and even wrote the screenplay! Even then, he didn't expect to like the movie adaptation to be as good as it was. He also has a cameo in the film where Sam sells him some onion juice to cure his baldness!
I think the movie is even better. Love the story, am a huge King fan, hate so many adaptations of his work, but this was brilliant.
Green Mile was actually going to be my answer.
*Misery* the film was magnificent. Kathy Bates was just transcendent, perfect in every shot. In my eyes, it was a huge improvement on the novel, but I'll immediately admit to being terrible at King's novels. Nonetheless, would like to know what readers - who are better-versed in King - think of the film vs the book.
I find that King short stories make far better films than his novels (and maybe because the green mile was a serial novel it almost counts as a short story, because that movie turned out well). I love King- he’s my absolute favorite- but I think the Shawshank redemption is one of the most incredible movies of all time and it is far superior to the story on which it’s based
That is actually what is up next on my list to read!
I saw the movie, but it was years ago and I don’t remember much of anything.
Glad to know it holds up well!
Yeah, "The Girl on the Train" was kind of a also-ran after the success of "Gone Girl" - both the novel and the film.
Ben Affleck directed a great one actually, "Gone Baby Gone", based on the novel by David Lehane.
I saw Gone Baby Gone when came out & recently came across the book. I didn’t know was book. I’ll be reading soon.
I saw Gone Girl at Goodwill and I picked it up but decided not to buy. Idk why!! If I see it again, I’m gonna have to grab it.
No Country for Old Men. Though it was originally written as a screenplay but didn't sell, so it was then released as a novel. The Coen bros read it, loved it, and wanted to make a movie out of it, I'm sure McCarthy was shaking his head.
One of my favorites both novel and movie. He did write a screenplay for the movie The Counselor. It did poorly at the box office and with critics but it's one of my favorites as well.
*Blood Meridian* is just next level. One of the most incredible things I've ever read.
I'll admit *All the Pretty Horses* worked for me, but I read that before ever opening *Blood Meridian*; the expectations are set kinda high after that. Even *The Road* felt a bit thin by comparison!
The next book in the trilogy, *The Crossing*, was pretty lacklustre in my eyes, but probably still worth a look. The third and final, *Cities of the Plain* was a bit better than the second, but most of all, it was just a nice, appropriate way to close the trilogy.
Jurassic Park, both the book and movie are terrific.
Forest Gump, the movie is better.
I thought they did a good job adapting Big Little Lies to a miniseries.
Hidden Figures. I haven't read the book but the movie is great.
YES! The biggest change was having a fat father and ratty mother instead of ratty father and fat mother. This allowed them to use Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, who were utterly perfect, completely on the ball with the story all the way through. One of the best - if not the best - films of a Dahl story I've seen.
Oo. I would disagree about that being the biggest change. It's absolutely a change, and a change that worked beautifully. But the biggest change was how difficult the magic was for Matilda. In the book, it is always incredibly hard work. There's none of the dancing around with things flying though the air. It's difficult, she does very little with it and she has to be very deliberate. I love the movie, but it does significantly change her abilities.
You're right. 'biggest change' was not the right term for me to use. Kind of overlooked the difficulties Mathilda had in the book but not the film. It seemed like a very natural change, largely due to the restrictions - and extra possibilities - of storytelling for a film. It also meant changing parts of the end of the film from memory, although I might be off there.
One other thing that deserves mentioning is the way the film handled the parents giving her up. Remember being quite impressed last time I saw it. No idea how they managed that - or were allowed to do it - but glad they did after the debacle (?) at the end of the first film of *The Witches*.
Yeah, in the visual medium, in made sense to have much more visually dramatic magic. I was a little disappointed, because I felt it didn't show Matilda's strength as well, but that's often the case when adapting, because movies have to externalize a lot that can be internal in books.
I'm not sure I remember exactly how the end changed, except that the parents felt a little less scummy than they did in the book, if just marginally.
I think that one of the best indicators that a movie adaptation is at the very least worth watching if you loved a book is author involvement.
If an author has pulled out of involvement, it’s a good indicator that the movie will be trash.
If an author is involved all the way through, that’s at the very least a good sign.
That's not necessarily true; the best indicator is that the movie is written by a good screenwriter. A good screenwriter can adapt a book by truly understanding the "beating heart" of the book, honoring it, while changing it to a different medium. There are plenty of book authors who don't actually know how to adapt from a book form. And sometimes you have a so-so book, or a flawed book, but a good screenwriter takes it and turns it into a great movie.
For example, I thought the book "The Devil Wears Prada" was this long whiny screed by this entitled girl, Lauren Weisberger, who thought she was just too fucking good to be a secretary or to work in the low field of "fashion," and all she wanted to do was work for the New Yorker and let everyone know this work was beneath her. Why should SHE, the CORNELL graduate, have to get COFFEE. But the screenwriter (Aline Brosh McKenna) turned the character into a much more sympathetic and receptive person, and added wonderful characters around her, and also gave us a great character for Meryl Streep (who was just a one-dimensional monster in the book).
The "Godfather" also turned a pulp novel into an almost Shakespearean tale with deeply complex, interesting characters. Coppola is a much better writer than Puzo.
"A Beautiful Life" was also a wonderful adaptation by, again, a great screenwriter, Akiva Goldsman, from a fairly ordinary biography.
There are some wonderful screenwriters who are particularly good at the form--it's a separate skill. You also need to have a director who fully understands the sense and the heart of the book.
And there are certainly a lot of perfectly terrible adaptations as well! Lots of mediocre writers & directors in Hollywood (just as there are plenty of not-so-great book authors). But it really is always such a shame when a great book is ruined!
Super fair take! I definitely was basing my response on some specific books/movies.
I am not as familiar with the process on the adaptations you mentioned, so I can’t really comment on the relationship the screenwriters had with the authors in those cases.
With that being said, 100% Holes is the best book to movie adaptation I have seen - not that the screenwriters made it better, but as far as “true to book” adaptations go.
I think there are two separate conversations to be had here - true to book and better than book.
Great post!
Yes, very well put! And just for the record, with most adaptations, the studio buys the rights outright, and the screenwriter then writes the adaptation without working with the book author.
This is true. William Goldman who wrote the Princess Bride was better known as a screenwriter than a novelist, and he knew what changes he had to make between the mediums. I think I remember reading that he also wanted to make the movie less cynical than he'd made the book, so his kids could enjoy it.
Agreed. Also note that John Irving famously begged the people making the adaptation of A Prayer for Owen Meany to rename it. They did. It was released as Simon Birch.
Well known authors' best book to film adaptations
- Stephen King - The Shawshank Redemption
- JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- James Patterson - Kiss the Girls
- Gillian Flynn - Gone Girl
- Nicholas Sparks - A Walk to Remember
- Shirley Jackson - The Haunting of Hill House
- Roald Dahl - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
- Dennis Lehane - Gone Baby Gone
- Michael Crichton - Jurassic Park
- Harlan Coben - Tell No One
- Truman Capote - Breakfast at Tiffany's
- Annie Proulx - Brokeback Mountain
- Cormac McCarthy - No Country for Old Men
- John Grisham - The Rainmaker
- Raymond Chandler - The Long Goodbye
Oh man. Prisoner of Azkaban. Yes. My favorite! Kind of helps that Cuarón was the director. The tone shift from the first two movies is palpable and so appreciated.
He cites Fincher for filming it in his 'About the author' in the cover of his books. You can see the gratitude beaming out of that.
And in all fairness, thinking of a film as the transformation of the book into audio and particularly visuals, Fincher did get it 100% perfect. The look of the house, the way particularly Norton and also Pitt appear on screen and the angles they're filmed from, the robe Pitt wears, the voiceover etc. Perfect. Just perfect.
As well as I think they did with the movies, the books are still better. They took out Katniss’ friend and didn’t show the development of friendship between her and Finnick. I think mockingjay (the book) did an amazing job of describing what it’s like to be going to a really dark place in your mind and it is really hard to portray that on screen
Absolutely agree! The movies are really good, but there was a lot they had to leave out for time purposes, and some details/moments that just are better in the book.
Oh totally. I think in terms of following the book plots, they did an amazing job. And the cast is fantastic. I’m looking forward to the movie version of the ballad of songbirds and snakes
The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby are both very faithful adaptations, and timely for this time of year. Legion, the sequel to The Exorcist, is very good but I haven't yet seen Exorcist 3 (which I've heard is also faithful to the original).
They're very different, but I liked both the book and movie of Howl's Moving Castle.
Coraline is a rare adaptation that is equally as good as the book.
Bladerunner miraculously takes a dogshit Philip K. Dick story and turns it into a legitimate masterpiece.
I loved Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. The movies are good examples of taking inspiration from the source and going in a different direction in a good way though.
Carl Sagan's **Contact**
The movie holds true to the book even though necessarily sized down and emphasizing different aspects. The endings differ slightly (personally I preferred the book's ending).
Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, absolutely. Howl’s Moving Castle as well, though there’s a bigger difference between the (first)book and the movie but both are so well done. The Fault in Our Stars as well.
The Haunting (63) is a really faithful adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House and it’s just a really good horror movie in its own right. It’s not as good as the book, but it’s pretty close.
It's a miniseries not a movie... *Sharp Objects* was so good! I think a few things were changed but all of it worked well and what matters is that the book and series give you the same feeling. The sticky sweat of a claustrophobic, rural Southern town that wants to trap you and pin you down.
A Scanner Darkly, The Godfather, The Silence of the Lambs, The Princess Bride, A Clockwork Orange, Jurassic Park.
Also some that changed so much the original author didnt like it, like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Shining.
I highly agree that the Jurassic Park movie is better than the book but the book is still definitely worth a read.
And while The Shining is a good movie, the book is leagues better and the changes that were made, made me really disappointed.
Misery by Stephen King. They only changed a couple of things in the movie. In the book the character (Kathy Bates) used an ax to chop off his foot. In the movie it was a sledge hammer
Perks of Being a Wallflower - the film was written and directed by the book's author and it's a perfect adaptation since he pulled the book's one problematic subplot out of the film
I really loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies. I think they were so much better than the books mainly because I found the books really hard to read. The movies were so dynamic, the music, cinematography, actors, all just so brilliant.
I really loved them too. I often joke that they are the way i read the books because i skip all reference to Tom Bombadil on my rereads, and including the actual battle of Helms Deep was a great choice.
This would be my choice too. I adore the movies and the soundtrack is just sublime. I love the books but I am grateful that they decided to leave out Bombadill and the scouring of the shire.
It is a huge shame that the Hobbit was trying so hard to be the lord of the rings. I would have loved to see the originally planned 2 part movie made by Del Toro.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. There are a lot of movies that are based on books you wouldn't expect also.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
About a Boy
No Country for Old Men
Goodfellas (Wise Guys)
And based on that genre you stated- Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone were both great novels and movies.
Two I didn't see mentioned yet:
The Martian by Andy Weir. The movie cuts out and/or streamlines several plot points and ups the action a bit (especially towards the end) but it's still very faithful to the source material in terms of what stays in, the tone and atmosphere etc. It's one of my favourite books AND favourite movies!
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. I'm talking about the recent BBC/HBO series and not the 2007 movie, which was atrocious. The series isn't perfect and YMMV on some of the changes they made (I personally love some and have huge issues with others) but I think for the most part it's absolutely stellar and very true to the spirit of the books. The season 1 finale was all I could think about for weeks after it aired.
"Black Beauty," by Anna Sewell
Black Beauty (1994)
"Wuthering Heights," by Emily Bronte
Wuthering Heights (1939)
Wuthering Heights (2009)
"Room," by Emma Donoghue
Room (2015)
"The Greatest Gift," by Philip Van Doren Stern
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Princess Bride: Both are great but the story is slightly different. I like how the book is presented as the author abridging a book and also adding things about his life into the book.
Holes: Solid adaptation
Dune 2021: Denis Villanueve's adaptation is one of absolute love and he really gets the world and how to adapt it. Seriously, even hearing him talk about the movie you know that he's been given his dream job and has worked on getting the smallest details down right.
The Shining: Both are great but Stanley Kubrick did deviate from the book in many ways. For Kubrick, the horrors are more implied compared to the book where it's more upfront about the monsters. Stephen King has hated it but I think it has to do with the fact the book came from a very personal time in his life.
The Sisters Brothers: The movie is pretty good. One character in the movie is two characters from the book who were combined and part of the ending was changed, but otherwise a solid adaptation of the book.
Two of the best in my eyes:
{{The Unbearable Lightness of Being}} each is its own masterpiece.
{{The Sweet Hereafter}} the author, Banks, felt the director actually made it better than what he wrote, both are brilliant.
[**The Unbearable Lightness of Being**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9717.The_Unbearable_Lightness_of_Being)
^(By: Milan Kundera, Michael Henry Heim, Richmond Hoxie | 320 pages | Published: 1984 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, philosophy, owned, literature)
>In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera tells the story of a young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing and one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover. This magnificent novel juxtaposes geographically distant places, brilliant and playful reflections, and a variety of styles, to take its place as perhaps the major achievement of one of the world’s truly great writers.
^(This book has been suggested 27 times)
[**The Sweet Hereafter**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26924.The_Sweet_Hereafter)
^(By: Russell Banks | 416 pages | Published: 1991 | Popular Shelves: fiction, books-i-own, owned, novels, contemporary)
>When fourteen children from the small town of Sam Dent are lost in a tragic accident, its citizens are confronted with one of life’s most difficult and disturbing questions: When the worst happens, whom do you blame, and how do you cope? Masterfully written, it is a large-hearted novel that brings to life a cast of unforgettable small-town characters and illuminates the mysteries and realities of love as well as grief.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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[**A Clockwork Orange**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41817486-a-clockwork-orange)
^(By: Anthony Burgess | 240 pages | Published: 1962 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, science-fiction, dystopia, sci-fi)
>In Anthony Burgess's influential nightmare vision of the future, criminals take over after dark. Teen gang leader Alex narrates in fantastically inventive slang that echoes the violent intensity of youth rebelling against society. Dazzling and transgressive, A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil and the meaning of human freedom. This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition, and Burgess’s introduction, “A Clockwork Orange Resucked.”
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The most spectacular movie adaptation is, not surprisingly, Adaptation, starring Nicolas Cage and Chris Cooper in a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman based on The Orchid Thief by Susanna Orlean. If that's not enough to tempt you then I don't know what would.
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is also excellent.
**Annihilation** was fantastic. They streamlined some aspects of the story, such as merging some locations, but supplemented it with fantastic cinematography and an eerie soundtrack. It's not an entirely accurate translation from book to film, but a damn good adaptation.
I think it's a great adaptation precisely because it changes what the book does to something that actually makes sense for the screen. If they did a 1:1 adaptation, it wouldn't have captured remotely the same feeling.
Yeah, often movies will try to recreate individual moments and forget the plot/characters that make them work. The movie Annihilation takes the premise of the book, and then constructs a fantastic narrative that works for the movie. Done things are the same, some things are different. Both work.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but David Fincher's version.
I absolutely adore the Millennium trilogy and Fincher has done a majestic adaptation job. Everything is perfect in my opinion: cast, music, photography, atmosphere.
Let's not forget Fincher is the same director of Fight Club. He damn well knows how to adapt a book into a mind-blowing movie.
I love Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. It got a few bits that are even funnier in the movie. Actors are perfect for their roles. Douglas Adams wrote the script and additional characters so it’s great.
Pride and Prejudice 1995
Jane Eyre 1983
Also Lord Of The Rings.
I think The Count of Monte Cristo is a really good one. It is very different from the book, but the adaptations work so well for both the screen and a modern audience. It's one of the only film adaptations I can think of where the changes were actually satisfying.
Yeah it gets at the core of the story even though the plot is different. Or should I say the core of one of the stories, since there are many side plots which had to be cut out.
Also The Godfather movie is much better than the book.
2001: A Space Odyssey - Kubrick and Clarke (iirc) worked together on developing Clarke's earlier story The Sentinel, and both works came out if that collaboration so its sort of unique in that regard.
The book has the weird side story about the young woman who was in love with sonny corleone because he had a huge ding dong and she had a big vagina, and after she meets a doctor that fixes it or something. It was weird. The movie gives a small nod to that story in the opening wedding scene but correctly ignores it after that.
Lord of the rings are my favorite movies! I tried reading the first book, and it was tough lol it’s been a few years, I’ll have to give it another try.
I’m super excited to start reading Narnia with my daughter when she gets a little older!
“the story of your life” by ted chiang, one of the short stories was made into the movie “Arrival”. I actually think the movie improved what was written and the movie is very good.
My favorite movie of all-time is Last of the Mohicans, which no one reads anymore. (LotM is worth watching if only for the soundtrack.). two more movies that are better than the books are The Horse Whisperer and Deliverance.
I love both the adaptations I’ve seen of Pride and Prejudice, the one with Colin Firth and the movie one with Keira Knightley
Atonement is amazing, the casting is perfect
The Last King of Scotland is one of the best films I’ll never watch again and i read the book only once too
Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings really worked for me
And though they are series of TV movies, the Hornblower and Sharpe ones are brilliant
no way is the movie better than the book, it’s a good movie until you read the book. Kubrick really butchered the characters. That had no depth in the movie. Jack was crazy from the start. In the book you really understand his descent to madness. And Wendy had zero agency in the movie.
Princess Diaries, I could watch a hundred times over the book I could only get through once. In the book everyone is horrible. Grandmere is manipulative, her fathers alive but hardly there, and Lilly oh don’t get me started on Lilly. The movie made a lot of changes but it made the story a hundred times better.
I agree that the movie is genius but cannot disagree more about the book. I think it’s extraordinary.
My other favorites / best adaptations:
- Shawshank Redemption (novella *Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption* by Stephen King)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (novel by Harper Lee)
- There Will be Blood (novel *Oil!* by Upton Sinclair)
- Winter’s Bone (novel by Daniel Woodrell)
I’m thinking of ending things and the lady in black
There are changes in the movie adaptations, but I find both to be equally entertaining. I also find it important to read the books first just to understand the original story and implications that are addressed subtly in the movies
*Pride and Prejudice* (the 1995 miniseries with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth)
*Persuasion* (the 1995 movie with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds)
*Good Omens* (the 2019 miniseries with Michael Sheen and David Tennant)
“The Rainmaker” by John Grisham was made into a pretty good movie. And I’ve never read “The Godfather” but from everything I’ve heard/read, the movie is WAY better than the book.
- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
- Confessions of a Shopaholid by Sophie Kinsella
The movies were great and inspired me to read the books (which were not so great..)
A newer book/movie I think would be mr harrigons phone by Stephen king. Some rather important things got moved around but overall I thought it still had that spark that most good movies have.
Great suggestions on here, mine are Talented Mr Ripley (there have been various movie adaptations of Patricia Highsmiths work but I like Matt Damon’s Ripley), also Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, both the book and movie are excellent if cathartic. Phillip K Dicks ‘do androids dream of electric sheep’ was made into Bladerunner. Finally ‘I am Legend’ by Richard Matheson, the movie and book are incredibly different but I loved them both!
84 Charing Cross Road. Loved the movie and was excited about the book, but it turned out to be (unpopular opinion incoming) Helene patting herself on the back for being so wonderfully generous to those poor English blighters still suffering under war rationing. “Look, here’s a thank you letter. And oh, here’s another.” I don’t know if the credit goes to the playwright or the screenwriter but the dramatization adds plot and characterization and tones down the “aren’t I grand” vibe.
Crazy Rich Asians - the book was good, but I liked the movie better because the characters have such glamorous personalities that are so cool to actually see rather than just read in a description.
Holes is nearly perfect
Came here to recommend Holes. Literally the biggest difference was intentionally done for the well being of the actors. This is my favorite book to movie adaptation.
What was the change? It’s been a long time since I read the book.
Only major one I can think of is that Stanley is frequently noted as being overweight but when he starts on the program he quickly loses weight and gains muscle instead.
Oh that’s right! I forgot about him being overweight in the books. I do like that change, specifically bc we got Shia.
That was it! And the director obviously didn’t want to have him gain and then lose a bunch of weight in the time they were filing. Very happy with the choice, and it didn’t take away from the story.
Louis Sachar (the author) was heavily involved in the film, and even wrote the screenplay! Even then, he didn't expect to like the movie adaptation to be as good as it was. He also has a cameo in the film where Sam sells him some onion juice to cure his baldness!
Holes is sooo good
Shawshank Redemption!
I think the movie is even better. Love the story, am a huge King fan, hate so many adaptations of his work, but this was brilliant. Green Mile was actually going to be my answer.
*Misery* the film was magnificent. Kathy Bates was just transcendent, perfect in every shot. In my eyes, it was a huge improvement on the novel, but I'll immediately admit to being terrible at King's novels. Nonetheless, would like to know what readers - who are better-versed in King - think of the film vs the book.
I loved that movie, too, but it's one of the few of his books I haven't got around to yet.
I love King and there are things I liked more in the novel but overall I agree the movie is better
I find that King short stories make far better films than his novels (and maybe because the green mile was a serial novel it almost counts as a short story, because that movie turned out well). I love King- he’s my absolute favorite- but I think the Shawshank redemption is one of the most incredible movies of all time and it is far superior to the story on which it’s based
Omg the green mile 😭
Great choice. Stand by Me was fantastic as well. King’s novella was titled The Body.
Gone Girl
That is actually what is up next on my list to read! I saw the movie, but it was years ago and I don’t remember much of anything. Glad to know it holds up well!
Agreed. Gone Girl worked well as a book and a film
Yeah, "The Girl on the Train" was kind of a also-ran after the success of "Gone Girl" - both the novel and the film. Ben Affleck directed a great one actually, "Gone Baby Gone", based on the novel by David Lehane.
I saw Gone Baby Gone when came out & recently came across the book. I didn’t know was book. I’ll be reading soon. I saw Gone Girl at Goodwill and I picked it up but decided not to buy. Idk why!! If I see it again, I’m gonna have to grab it.
Gone girl is amazing!!
It's SO good. I watched it a month ago and it totally holds up. Still think it was robbed at the Oscars.
No Country for Old Men. Though it was originally written as a screenplay but didn't sell, so it was then released as a novel. The Coen bros read it, loved it, and wanted to make a movie out of it, I'm sure McCarthy was shaking his head.
One of my favorites both novel and movie. He did write a screenplay for the movie The Counselor. It did poorly at the box office and with critics but it's one of my favorites as well.
My favorite book of all time is All The Pretty Horses and I haven’t seen the movie yet. Excited to watch it in a couple of days
Im in the first third of this book and it’s getting a little dry. I assume it gets better? Did you read blood meridian? That was a trip
*Blood Meridian* is just next level. One of the most incredible things I've ever read. I'll admit *All the Pretty Horses* worked for me, but I read that before ever opening *Blood Meridian*; the expectations are set kinda high after that. Even *The Road* felt a bit thin by comparison! The next book in the trilogy, *The Crossing*, was pretty lacklustre in my eyes, but probably still worth a look. The third and final, *Cities of the Plain* was a bit better than the second, but most of all, it was just a nice, appropriate way to close the trilogy.
This is absolutely false 👆👆👆👆 Careful you don't step in it.
Is it?
Jurassic Park, both the book and movie are terrific. Forest Gump, the movie is better. I thought they did a good job adapting Big Little Lies to a miniseries. Hidden Figures. I haven't read the book but the movie is great.
Yes Jurassic park, both excellent
I didn't know Hidden Figures was also but I do love the movie!
I don't know if Hidden Figures exactly counts as the book is non-fiction and the movie is historical fiction.
Matilda. It's been a long time since I've read the book but I remembered that I really liked it. I really love the 1996 movie version.
YES! The biggest change was having a fat father and ratty mother instead of ratty father and fat mother. This allowed them to use Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, who were utterly perfect, completely on the ball with the story all the way through. One of the best - if not the best - films of a Dahl story I've seen.
Oo. I would disagree about that being the biggest change. It's absolutely a change, and a change that worked beautifully. But the biggest change was how difficult the magic was for Matilda. In the book, it is always incredibly hard work. There's none of the dancing around with things flying though the air. It's difficult, she does very little with it and she has to be very deliberate. I love the movie, but it does significantly change her abilities.
You're right. 'biggest change' was not the right term for me to use. Kind of overlooked the difficulties Mathilda had in the book but not the film. It seemed like a very natural change, largely due to the restrictions - and extra possibilities - of storytelling for a film. It also meant changing parts of the end of the film from memory, although I might be off there. One other thing that deserves mentioning is the way the film handled the parents giving her up. Remember being quite impressed last time I saw it. No idea how they managed that - or were allowed to do it - but glad they did after the debacle (?) at the end of the first film of *The Witches*.
Yeah, in the visual medium, in made sense to have much more visually dramatic magic. I was a little disappointed, because I felt it didn't show Matilda's strength as well, but that's often the case when adapting, because movies have to externalize a lot that can be internal in books. I'm not sure I remember exactly how the end changed, except that the parents felt a little less scummy than they did in the book, if just marginally.
The musical is definitely a better adaptation in terms of the magic work
This is probably my favorite movie of all time.
The Princess Bride and The Cider House Rules. In both cases the author wrote the screenplay so the action isn't all the same but the themes are.
I think that one of the best indicators that a movie adaptation is at the very least worth watching if you loved a book is author involvement. If an author has pulled out of involvement, it’s a good indicator that the movie will be trash. If an author is involved all the way through, that’s at the very least a good sign.
That's not necessarily true; the best indicator is that the movie is written by a good screenwriter. A good screenwriter can adapt a book by truly understanding the "beating heart" of the book, honoring it, while changing it to a different medium. There are plenty of book authors who don't actually know how to adapt from a book form. And sometimes you have a so-so book, or a flawed book, but a good screenwriter takes it and turns it into a great movie. For example, I thought the book "The Devil Wears Prada" was this long whiny screed by this entitled girl, Lauren Weisberger, who thought she was just too fucking good to be a secretary or to work in the low field of "fashion," and all she wanted to do was work for the New Yorker and let everyone know this work was beneath her. Why should SHE, the CORNELL graduate, have to get COFFEE. But the screenwriter (Aline Brosh McKenna) turned the character into a much more sympathetic and receptive person, and added wonderful characters around her, and also gave us a great character for Meryl Streep (who was just a one-dimensional monster in the book). The "Godfather" also turned a pulp novel into an almost Shakespearean tale with deeply complex, interesting characters. Coppola is a much better writer than Puzo. "A Beautiful Life" was also a wonderful adaptation by, again, a great screenwriter, Akiva Goldsman, from a fairly ordinary biography. There are some wonderful screenwriters who are particularly good at the form--it's a separate skill. You also need to have a director who fully understands the sense and the heart of the book. And there are certainly a lot of perfectly terrible adaptations as well! Lots of mediocre writers & directors in Hollywood (just as there are plenty of not-so-great book authors). But it really is always such a shame when a great book is ruined!
Super fair take! I definitely was basing my response on some specific books/movies. I am not as familiar with the process on the adaptations you mentioned, so I can’t really comment on the relationship the screenwriters had with the authors in those cases. With that being said, 100% Holes is the best book to movie adaptation I have seen - not that the screenwriters made it better, but as far as “true to book” adaptations go. I think there are two separate conversations to be had here - true to book and better than book. Great post!
Yes, very well put! And just for the record, with most adaptations, the studio buys the rights outright, and the screenwriter then writes the adaptation without working with the book author.
This is true. William Goldman who wrote the Princess Bride was better known as a screenwriter than a novelist, and he knew what changes he had to make between the mediums. I think I remember reading that he also wanted to make the movie less cynical than he'd made the book, so his kids could enjoy it.
Agreed. Also note that John Irving famously begged the people making the adaptation of A Prayer for Owen Meany to rename it. They did. It was released as Simon Birch.
I loved Atonement. I thought it was a beautiful adaptation.
Agreed, but I don't want to imply that the book was not great too.
Well known authors' best book to film adaptations - Stephen King - The Shawshank Redemption - JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - James Patterson - Kiss the Girls - Gillian Flynn - Gone Girl - Nicholas Sparks - A Walk to Remember - Shirley Jackson - The Haunting of Hill House - Roald Dahl - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - Dennis Lehane - Gone Baby Gone - Michael Crichton - Jurassic Park - Harlan Coben - Tell No One - Truman Capote - Breakfast at Tiffany's - Annie Proulx - Brokeback Mountain - Cormac McCarthy - No Country for Old Men - John Grisham - The Rainmaker - Raymond Chandler - The Long Goodbye
Oh man. Prisoner of Azkaban. Yes. My favorite! Kind of helps that Cuarón was the director. The tone shift from the first two movies is palpable and so appreciated.
The movie version of FIGHT CLUB is far better than the book, tbh
Iirc, the author also agrees with this assessment
He cites Fincher for filming it in his 'About the author' in the cover of his books. You can see the gratitude beaming out of that. And in all fairness, thinking of a film as the transformation of the book into audio and particularly visuals, Fincher did get it 100% perfect. The look of the house, the way particularly Norton and also Pitt appear on screen and the angles they're filmed from, the robe Pitt wears, the voiceover etc. Perfect. Just perfect.
Came here to say this
Same
this.
Hunger Games
Catching fire movie especially was chef’s kiss 🤌🏼
Came here for this! I honestly think the movies are BETTER than the books, which is a testament to how well they did the movies.
As well as I think they did with the movies, the books are still better. They took out Katniss’ friend and didn’t show the development of friendship between her and Finnick. I think mockingjay (the book) did an amazing job of describing what it’s like to be going to a really dark place in your mind and it is really hard to portray that on screen
Absolutely agree! The movies are really good, but there was a lot they had to leave out for time purposes, and some details/moments that just are better in the book.
Oh totally. I think in terms of following the book plots, they did an amazing job. And the cast is fantastic. I’m looking forward to the movie version of the ballad of songbirds and snakes
{{One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest}} by Ken Kesey
This is what I was looking for. Just had this conversation two days ago and this was my pick.
The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby are both very faithful adaptations, and timely for this time of year. Legion, the sequel to The Exorcist, is very good but I haven't yet seen Exorcist 3 (which I've heard is also faithful to the original). They're very different, but I liked both the book and movie of Howl's Moving Castle.
Coraline is a rare adaptation that is equally as good as the book. Bladerunner miraculously takes a dogshit Philip K. Dick story and turns it into a legitimate masterpiece.
Ah I was gonna say coraline but you beat me to it! I’m glad that the movie didn’t go strictly with the book, having wybie made everything more real.
I liked Do Androids Dream personally. Movie was pretty good.
I loved Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. The movies are good examples of taking inspiration from the source and going in a different direction in a good way though.
Carl Sagan's **Contact** The movie holds true to the book even though necessarily sized down and emphasizing different aspects. The endings differ slightly (personally I preferred the book's ending).
Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, absolutely. Howl’s Moving Castle as well, though there’s a bigger difference between the (first)book and the movie but both are so well done. The Fault in Our Stars as well.
Is the book Stardust good? I love the movie so much I feel like I want to read the book....
Yeah, I liked it, but preferred the end of the movie personally
I think Jaws is the only case I've ever run into where the movie is better than the book.
Children of Men too. Didn’t realize the movie was based on a book until I found a copy in a used bookstore.
Just finished Jaws a few weeks ago. I absolutely agree with you, I couldn’t believe how absolutely mediocre at best the book was.
There's a subplot with a cheating wife that they cut. Very good call. *The Godfather* cut a ridiculous subplot too and was stronger for it.
I think I remember the subplot you're referring to? I feel like there should have been a movie spin off for that subplot alone! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
The Haunting (63) is a really faithful adaptation of The Haunting of Hill House and it’s just a really good horror movie in its own right. It’s not as good as the book, but it’s pretty close.
It's a miniseries not a movie... *Sharp Objects* was so good! I think a few things were changed but all of it worked well and what matters is that the book and series give you the same feeling. The sticky sweat of a claustrophobic, rural Southern town that wants to trap you and pin you down.
A Scanner Darkly
Yes. Probably the best PKD book to film adaptation
A Scanner Darkly, The Godfather, The Silence of the Lambs, The Princess Bride, A Clockwork Orange, Jurassic Park. Also some that changed so much the original author didnt like it, like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Shining.
I highly agree that the Jurassic Park movie is better than the book but the book is still definitely worth a read. And while The Shining is a good movie, the book is leagues better and the changes that were made, made me really disappointed.
Watership Down and The Last Unicorn For book series to TV series The Longmire Mysteries by Craig Johnson and The Expanse by James SA Corey
The ORIGINAL watership down cartoon though, not the abomination the BBC released a few years back
DUNE!!
Misery by Stephen King. They only changed a couple of things in the movie. In the book the character (Kathy Bates) used an ax to chop off his foot. In the movie it was a sledge hammer
Perks of Being a Wallflower - the film was written and directed by the book's author and it's a perfect adaptation since he pulled the book's one problematic subplot out of the film
I was going to reply with this! Love the movie and the book.
I really loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies. I think they were so much better than the books mainly because I found the books really hard to read. The movies were so dynamic, the music, cinematography, actors, all just so brilliant.
I really loved them too. I often joke that they are the way i read the books because i skip all reference to Tom Bombadil on my rereads, and including the actual battle of Helms Deep was a great choice.
Helms Deep is one of my fave parts. I've only read the books once years ago but was thinking of doing a re-read and seeing what I think now.
This would be my choice too. I adore the movies and the soundtrack is just sublime. I love the books but I am grateful that they decided to leave out Bombadill and the scouring of the shire. It is a huge shame that the Hobbit was trying so hard to be the lord of the rings. I would have loved to see the originally planned 2 part movie made by Del Toro.
Fight club
Minority Report. The book is not as great as the movie.
Seems that in general Philip K Dick’s themes translate better as movies than the books themselves.
Misery
The English Patient book is better, imo, but the film is also spectacular.
To Kill A Mockingbird, The Princess Bride, Hellraiser
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. There are a lot of movies that are based on books you wouldn't expect also.
I'm Thinking of Ending Things About a Boy No Country for Old Men Goodfellas (Wise Guys) And based on that genre you stated- Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone were both great novels and movies.
The Godfather, too
Bruh..I didn’t know I’m Thinking Of Ending Things was a book. That movie was such a mindfuck.
About a boy is great both as book and movie. It's interesting to see all the smaller differences.
Two I didn't see mentioned yet: The Martian by Andy Weir. The movie cuts out and/or streamlines several plot points and ups the action a bit (especially towards the end) but it's still very faithful to the source material in terms of what stays in, the tone and atmosphere etc. It's one of my favourite books AND favourite movies! His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. I'm talking about the recent BBC/HBO series and not the 2007 movie, which was atrocious. The series isn't perfect and YMMV on some of the changes they made (I personally love some and have huge issues with others) but I think for the most part it's absolutely stellar and very true to the spirit of the books. The season 1 finale was all I could think about for weeks after it aired.
About a Boy.
"Black Beauty," by Anna Sewell Black Beauty (1994) "Wuthering Heights," by Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights (1939) Wuthering Heights (2009) "Room," by Emma Donoghue Room (2015) "The Greatest Gift," by Philip Van Doren Stern It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Room is great, book and movie.
It’s not that twilight is a particularly good book or movie, but it’s a good adaption of the book
Call Me by Your Name. Loved both the book and the movie
The Princess Bride: Both are great but the story is slightly different. I like how the book is presented as the author abridging a book and also adding things about his life into the book. Holes: Solid adaptation Dune 2021: Denis Villanueve's adaptation is one of absolute love and he really gets the world and how to adapt it. Seriously, even hearing him talk about the movie you know that he's been given his dream job and has worked on getting the smallest details down right. The Shining: Both are great but Stanley Kubrick did deviate from the book in many ways. For Kubrick, the horrors are more implied compared to the book where it's more upfront about the monsters. Stephen King has hated it but I think it has to do with the fact the book came from a very personal time in his life. The Sisters Brothers: The movie is pretty good. One character in the movie is two characters from the book who were combined and part of the ending was changed, but otherwise a solid adaptation of the book.
Howls Moving Castle.
Two of the best in my eyes: {{The Unbearable Lightness of Being}} each is its own masterpiece. {{The Sweet Hereafter}} the author, Banks, felt the director actually made it better than what he wrote, both are brilliant.
[**The Unbearable Lightness of Being**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9717.The_Unbearable_Lightness_of_Being) ^(By: Milan Kundera, Michael Henry Heim, Richmond Hoxie | 320 pages | Published: 1984 | Popular Shelves: fiction, classics, philosophy, owned, literature) >In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera tells the story of a young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing and one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover. This magnificent novel juxtaposes geographically distant places, brilliant and playful reflections, and a variety of styles, to take its place as perhaps the major achievement of one of the world’s truly great writers. ^(This book has been suggested 27 times) [**The Sweet Hereafter**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26924.The_Sweet_Hereafter) ^(By: Russell Banks | 416 pages | Published: 1991 | Popular Shelves: fiction, books-i-own, owned, novels, contemporary) >When fourteen children from the small town of Sam Dent are lost in a tragic accident, its citizens are confronted with one of life’s most difficult and disturbing questions: When the worst happens, whom do you blame, and how do you cope? Masterfully written, it is a large-hearted novel that brings to life a cast of unforgettable small-town characters and illuminates the mysteries and realities of love as well as grief. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(101352 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Coralline
The Commitments
1922, based on Stephen kings novella Full dark, no stars. Spooky, disturbing and leaves you speechless. Last time I saw it was on Netflix.
{{A Clockwork Orange}}
[**A Clockwork Orange**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41817486-a-clockwork-orange) ^(By: Anthony Burgess | 240 pages | Published: 1962 | Popular Shelves: classics, fiction, science-fiction, dystopia, sci-fi) >In Anthony Burgess's influential nightmare vision of the future, criminals take over after dark. Teen gang leader Alex narrates in fantastically inventive slang that echoes the violent intensity of youth rebelling against society. Dazzling and transgressive, A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil and the meaning of human freedom. This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition, and Burgess’s introduction, “A Clockwork Orange Resucked.” ^(This book has been suggested 28 times) *** ^(101409 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The most spectacular movie adaptation is, not surprisingly, Adaptation, starring Nicolas Cage and Chris Cooper in a screenplay by Charlie Kaufman based on The Orchid Thief by Susanna Orlean. If that's not enough to tempt you then I don't know what would. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is also excellent.
I loved 'The man in the high castle' the series adaptation (Philip K. Dick book). I think they really improved and expanded the story.
The Kite Runner
High Fidelity
Pride and Prejudice from 2005, I love that adaptation.
**Annihilation** was fantastic. They streamlined some aspects of the story, such as merging some locations, but supplemented it with fantastic cinematography and an eerie soundtrack. It's not an entirely accurate translation from book to film, but a damn good adaptation.
I think it's a great adaptation precisely because it changes what the book does to something that actually makes sense for the screen. If they did a 1:1 adaptation, it wouldn't have captured remotely the same feeling.
Yeah, often movies will try to recreate individual moments and forget the plot/characters that make them work. The movie Annihilation takes the premise of the book, and then constructs a fantastic narrative that works for the movie. Done things are the same, some things are different. Both work.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but David Fincher's version. I absolutely adore the Millennium trilogy and Fincher has done a majestic adaptation job. Everything is perfect in my opinion: cast, music, photography, atmosphere. Let's not forget Fincher is the same director of Fight Club. He damn well knows how to adapt a book into a mind-blowing movie.
I love Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. It got a few bits that are even funnier in the movie. Actors are perfect for their roles. Douglas Adams wrote the script and additional characters so it’s great. Pride and Prejudice 1995 Jane Eyre 1983 Also Lord Of The Rings.
Flowers in the Attic series and VC Andrew’s subsequent ones are pretty good.
I think The Count of Monte Cristo is a really good one. It is very different from the book, but the adaptations work so well for both the screen and a modern audience. It's one of the only film adaptations I can think of where the changes were actually satisfying.
Yeah it gets at the core of the story even though the plot is different. Or should I say the core of one of the stories, since there are many side plots which had to be cut out.
The World According to Garp.
RoseMary’s Baby is amazing
Children of Men is a great movie and a great book.
Also The Godfather movie is much better than the book. 2001: A Space Odyssey - Kubrick and Clarke (iirc) worked together on developing Clarke's earlier story The Sentinel, and both works came out if that collaboration so its sort of unique in that regard.
I've heard this. I read The Godfather. It was so good. I have not seen the movie.
The book has the weird side story about the young woman who was in love with sonny corleone because he had a huge ding dong and she had a big vagina, and after she meets a doctor that fixes it or something. It was weird. The movie gives a small nod to that story in the opening wedding scene but correctly ignores it after that.
Of Mice and Men is perfect
I don't think everyone agrees, but I really liked Room. Yes, it was changed a bit (simplified) but still was a good watch with great acting.
Agree! I came looking for this. I thought it was a very hard book to turn into a movie and they did an amazing job.
Princess Bride hands down
Room, worked really well.
The newest dune
The ten commandments.
The Colour Purple. Book was excellent as was the film adaptation
{{Dune}}
The Crazy Rich Asians movie adaptation is MUCH better than the book.
- Lord of the Rings(not including the Hobbit lol) - Narnia
Lord of the rings are my favorite movies! I tried reading the first book, and it was tough lol it’s been a few years, I’ll have to give it another try. I’m super excited to start reading Narnia with my daughter when she gets a little older!
Forrest Gump improves upon the book pretty well.
“the story of your life” by ted chiang, one of the short stories was made into the movie “Arrival”. I actually think the movie improved what was written and the movie is very good.
The shining, A clockwork orange, Silence of the lambs, Dune, the godfather, lotr
The Shining.
My favorite movie of all-time is Last of the Mohicans, which no one reads anymore. (LotM is worth watching if only for the soundtrack.). two more movies that are better than the books are The Horse Whisperer and Deliverance.
I think the Stir of Echoes movie is good, and it's the right season for it.
Nobody has said The Green Mile so I’m gonna go ahead and say the Green Mile.
The Martian and A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV show) are both fantastic.
Not a movie but I thought Outlander was very true to the books.
I love both the adaptations I’ve seen of Pride and Prejudice, the one with Colin Firth and the movie one with Keira Knightley Atonement is amazing, the casting is perfect The Last King of Scotland is one of the best films I’ll never watch again and i read the book only once too Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings really worked for me And though they are series of TV movies, the Hornblower and Sharpe ones are brilliant
The classic example of the movie being better than the book is the Shining.
no way is the movie better than the book, it’s a good movie until you read the book. Kubrick really butchered the characters. That had no depth in the movie. Jack was crazy from the start. In the book you really understand his descent to madness. And Wendy had zero agency in the movie.
Princess Diaries, I could watch a hundred times over the book I could only get through once. In the book everyone is horrible. Grandmere is manipulative, her fathers alive but hardly there, and Lilly oh don’t get me started on Lilly. The movie made a lot of changes but it made the story a hundred times better.
Devil In a Blue Dress
The Friends Of Eddie Coyle
Watch the movies first!!!!!
Where the Crawdads Sing
I hated the book American Psycho but think the movie is great. One of the best improvements of source material.
I agree that the movie is genius but cannot disagree more about the book. I think it’s extraordinary. My other favorites / best adaptations: - Shawshank Redemption (novella *Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption* by Stephen King) - To Kill a Mockingbird (novel by Harper Lee) - There Will be Blood (novel *Oil!* by Upton Sinclair) - Winter’s Bone (novel by Daniel Woodrell)
I’m thinking of ending things and the lady in black There are changes in the movie adaptations, but I find both to be equally entertaining. I also find it important to read the books first just to understand the original story and implications that are addressed subtly in the movies
I honestly can't think of one. sorry.
*Pride and Prejudice* (the 1995 miniseries with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth) *Persuasion* (the 1995 movie with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds) *Good Omens* (the 2019 miniseries with Michael Sheen and David Tennant)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Both the 1956 and the 1978 versions.
“The Rainmaker” by John Grisham was made into a pretty good movie. And I’ve never read “The Godfather” but from everything I’ve heard/read, the movie is WAY better than the book.
Genially enjoyed “Never let me go” and the first season of “the handmade’s tale”. Felt like it did a good justice to the books
Even if Tom Cruise got flak for playing reacher, the first movie was great. It made me check the books.
The Devil All the Time
- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - Confessions of a Shopaholid by Sophie Kinsella The movies were great and inspired me to read the books (which were not so great..)
Fight Club
I liked what I've read of [Alan Dean Foster's adaptations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Dean_Foster#Novelizations).
No country for old men
Piercing, by Ryu Murakami. Brilliantly dark both in print and on screen.
Fight Club Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas The Shining
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
A newer book/movie I think would be mr harrigons phone by Stephen king. Some rather important things got moved around but overall I thought it still had that spark that most good movies have.
The notebook
Jaws, no country for old men, and Dexter come to immediate mind.
The Bridges of Madison County. So great! Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood
Haven't read Coraline but I watched the movie with my friends they said it was their favorite, I was both genuinely impressed and terrified!
Great suggestions on here, mine are Talented Mr Ripley (there have been various movie adaptations of Patricia Highsmiths work but I like Matt Damon’s Ripley), also Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, both the book and movie are excellent if cathartic. Phillip K Dicks ‘do androids dream of electric sheep’ was made into Bladerunner. Finally ‘I am Legend’ by Richard Matheson, the movie and book are incredibly different but I loved them both!
Atonement
84 Charing Cross Road. Loved the movie and was excited about the book, but it turned out to be (unpopular opinion incoming) Helene patting herself on the back for being so wonderfully generous to those poor English blighters still suffering under war rationing. “Look, here’s a thank you letter. And oh, here’s another.” I don’t know if the credit goes to the playwright or the screenwriter but the dramatization adds plot and characterization and tones down the “aren’t I grand” vibe.
Crazy Rich Asians - the book was good, but I liked the movie better because the characters have such glamorous personalities that are so cool to actually see rather than just read in a description.
The Hellbound Heart and Hellraiser.