Description

Is the book always better than the film?’Outrageous fun’ Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time

Yes, book lovers cry! Hollywood never gets it right – they gloss over crucial moments, the dialogue sounds bizarre and the characters never look like they’re supposed to.

But what about Jaws or The Godfather? These films are so much better than the potboiler novels they came from. And then there are some perfect adaptations. Doesn’t every reader’s heart sing when they watch Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility?

In this rollicking adventure through the towering heights and unplumbed depths of book to screen adaptations, Louise Willder, the critically acclaimed author of Blurb Your Enthusiasm, uncovers what makes a good adaption, how some can be so bad, and why we insist on telling the same stories over and over and over.*

*See: Pride and Prejudice 1940, 1980, 1995, 2005, 2027, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Austenland, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Fire Island, Lost in Austen, Bride and Prejudice…

‘Hugely entertaining’ John Yorke, author of Into the Woods

Publisher Review

‘What a joy – a voyage from great movies of great books to terrible versions of the even worse, and every combination in between. Louise Willder couldn’t write a dull page if she tried.’ -Philip Hensher, author of A History of the Novel in Britain ‘Outrageous fun. Louise Willder’s hilarious, unashamedly partial and gloriously smart book is a perfect companion to the good, bad and Cats of book-to-film adaptations.’ -Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time ‘A hugely entertaining romp through triumphs and tragedies that have emerged over many years from the art of film adaptation. That it’s great fun shouldn’t blind you from the fact that it’s very smart and deeply insightful about one of the most difficult writing tasks of all.’ -John Yorke, screenwriter and author of Into the Woods ‘She’s done it again! It’s so cleverly judged in tone – funny and insightful and packed with “I didn’t know that” nuggets! Bravo! When’s the movie coming?’ -Rob Williams, screenwriter, Killing Eve and The Man From the High Castle ‘The Book Was Better is one of those books you don’t want to put down. I raced through it. It’s written in a breezy, chatty tone which is immediately engaging, and its author seems to have read and seen everything about film, and pretty well about literature too… Some people have read a lot of books; others are well read. Louise Willder belongs decidedly to that second group.’ -Richard Cohen, author of How to Write Like Tolstoy ‘A merry hopscotching through movie history – cheeky, observant and very smart… so entertaining.’ -David Thomson, film critic and author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film