books to movies but not vice versa
today, while roaming through netflix, disgrace with john malkovich caught my eye. i’ve seen the movie and later learned it was a book by j.m. coetzee. Even though the book descriptions describe the interlude the main character, a white south african (boer?) professor had with a female student as “seduction”; in the film, she is unambiguously raped. I saw unambiguously because she clearly does not participate and/or enjoy the encounters. such a dynamic would make disgrace a very interesting book to read and review.
whenever i think of books to movies topping the list is always the godfather it’s long been a tendency of mine to read the books of movies i’ve seen. so of course, i’ve read the godfather by mario puzo. i think that was one of the first book-movie combos where the movie was better then the book. one of the most profound differences is that, in the book, Kay didn’t leave Michael. For his soul’s sake or some such reasoning, she decided to stay.
i thought the switch between the book having her stay and the movie having her divorce michael was due to awareness of the feminist movement on the filmmakers part.
an interesting note re: the godfather. initially, coppola didn’t want to direct the movie. once he decided to take the job, the studio fought him on casting (they didn’t want al pacino), directing decisions, etc.
I would discuss beloved – the movie but well, that was just a disaster.
Diary of a mad reader 
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