Friday, April 13, 2012

Follow Friday - Nerve-wracking book to movie adaptions


Follow Friday is a feature created by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.  It's a fun blog hop where you meet other book bloggers and find people to follow.
Question: What is one book that you would be nervous to see a movie adaption of because you think the movie could never live up to the book?
Actually 2 books immediately popped into mind.  The first is The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.  This dystopian is set on another planet far away in the future.  It's a brilliant story.  But it's a science fiction story, which is always risky when translating to screen.  There's lots of gore, violence and aliens but that's not what the book is about.  It's deep-- tackling topics like what makes a person evil, gender roles, racism and growing up.  The more you look at the book the more you see.

However my biggest concern and I have no idea how they could translate to screen: noise.  In this book everything becomes infected with a disease where you can hear EVERYONE's thoughts (including the animals).  The book had noise written in different fonts and sizes.  It's fascinating and terrifying. But how do you capture something like that on film?  How do you tell a story in a world where there's no such thing as silence?  Lionsgate has acquired the rights to the whole Chaos Walking trilogy. So there's a chance we might find out.


I'm also nervous about the Ender's Game movie.  And it's not because this story is so unusual or can't be told, but because the story has become so iconic.  It's a science fiction classic and it's hard to imagine anything living up to the book.  With a story his beloved there are a lot of potential pitfalls.

However I am not unhappy that both of these books may become movies.  I know a lot of readers are fussier than I am about adaptions.  At the end of the day movies = money for author ands publicity for the books.  When books I love get made into movies, even horrible movies, I'm generally happy because I know the authors will get paid and hopefully the money will allow them more time to write more books.

Note: I had trouble describing Noise without spoilers.

26 comments:

Abria said...

I read one of Patrick Ness's books last month (A Monster Calls). I might have to give that one a try.

Unknown said...

Looks like an interesting book, though I see your concern. I'll have to add it to my tbr list. Thanks for stopping by. Following back!

Reading Kelly said...

The Knife of Never Letting Go sounds like a very interesting read. I'm going to have to look into it. Thanks for stopping by! Following you now :) Happy reading!

Unknown said...

Hi, I haven't read The Knife of Never Letting Go, but it sounds good. I'm a new follower. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

veela-valoom said...

It really is a MUST read if you like dystopian. So glad to see others adding it! YAY! One of my favorite series.

Angela (The Little Blue Pig) said...

I agree that Sci-Fi is a little trickey, especially since The Knife of never letting go takes place on a different planet.

Thanks for checking out my FF :)

Annette Mills said...

I'm not sure I could handle Ender's Game. I'd probably go see it for curiosity's sake, but I would have low expectations. Great one -- didn't really think about older books for this one. Thanks for visiting!

The Brunette Librarian said...

Ender's Game is going to be so weird as a movie! We'll see how it goes ...

Happy Follow Friday!

Christina @ Biblio Thoughts said...

Thanks for stopping by and commenting!

They are actually in the works for making the first book in the Fever series, Darkfever, into a movie. That's why it's one of the ones I'm worried about. It would definitely be R rated.

Jaye said...

I haven't read The Knife of Never Letting Go and I really didn't know what it was about besides a dystopian. :o I should really get on that now.
Thanks for stopping by my FF. :)

Anonymous said...

Found you through a couple of blogs I'm following and decided to check you out. I'm following you through e-mail and I can't wait to delve into your bookworld.

Great answers to FF btw. This week has been a cacophony of answers and I loves it.

Here's my FF:
BecAlora of Vicariously!

Anonymous said...

Yay! I'm so excited to see that someone chose the Chaos Walking for their answer. When I read the question, that's what my mind immediately went to. I absolutely adored the books and I would love to see a fantastic adaption of them but I don't see that happening for quite a while. You're right the noise would be really hard to recreate.

Alison at The Cheap Reader

Unknown said...

I haven't read The Knife of Never Letting Go but I've heard amazing things about it! And I totally agree that sci-fi might not translate well to the big screen. Great answer :) Happy reading!

Crystal @ Elegantly Bound Books

Unknown said...

Oh, Gods! I'm soe xcited and so worried about these movies to be!! Will they be good? Will they be terrible? Gah!!!

Kristina said...

I haven't read The Knife of Never Letting Go, but it sounds interesting! Hope you have a great weekend!

Kristina
Ladybug Storytime

New follower :)

Shelley Romano said...

Hi there! New follower hopping on through!

http://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/2012/04/feature-follow-friday_12.html

Unknown said...

I still have to read The Knife of Never Letting Go. I hope they do a good job on the movies though. New follower stopping by

Shanon (Escaping With Fiction) said...

I haven't read either of these, but from your description of The Knife of Never Letting Go, I'm thinking it'd be extremely difficult and tricky to successfully make that book into a movie. I hope Ender's Game turns out well! Happy Friday!

New follower. =)

-Shanon @ Escaping With Fiction

Unknown said...

I haven't read The Knife of Letting Go yet, but I'm planning to! I've heard how awesome it is. Great choice! :)

Thanks for following me! I'm returning the favor! :)

★Leila | The Fiction Pixie said...

Ender's Game came up while I was discussing this question at work this afternoon. It should be interesting to see in the end, I myself have not read the books.

ALSO! And OMG I don't know why I got so stalkerishly excited but I'm from Kentucky and happen to be in Lexington where I read you celebtrated the UK win at Orange Leaf. I might also have moved here from EKY. You and I...we're just that awesome :)

Needless to say following back :) Thanks for stopping by
Leila | The Fiction Pixie

DeniseF said...

I never thought about how movies are great publicity for books and authors. That's definitely a positive way of thinking about it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Jennifer said...

I still haven't read either of these, but they are on my list! I am particularly intrigued by The Knife of Never Letting Go. Great explanations of why you would be nervous.

Thanks for visiting! Old follower.

Jennifer @ Feminist Fairy Tale Reviews
http://feministfairytalereviews.blogspot.com/2012/04/follow-friday-23-and-tgif-12.html

Kathryn White said...

I haven't read any of the books you mention, but from your comments, I can definitely see why you would be nervous.

Thanks for stopping by my blog : ) I'm now following via linky.

GzNKz4evr said...

I haven't had the chance to read either of the books you mentioned, but I have heard about Chaos Walking. I didn't realize that it had already had the rights acquired. Should be interesting. Hopefully the director and actors will have a firm grasp on the author's voice and be able to make a successful adaptation. *fingers crossed*

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Returned the favor and followed via Linky: Reader's Edyn.

Kendra

Unknown said...

Best. Answer. I mean, I love every single reader who loves Chaos Walking trilogy just as me. Why don't people write about these books more often? ;-;

Thanks for stopping by!

Old follower

Agnieszka @ Nook of Books

Reve @ YA Books said...

I haven't read The Knife of Lhetting Go yet, but it definitely sounds quite interesting. I'm going to have to check it out, and have a read!

Thanks for stopping by, btw! Following you :).