Tag: book vs movie

I had recently read listen to on audio and reviewed the book WILD by Cheryl Strayed.  I had mentioned at the time the draw that I have always had to do something like this – just escape and be with me… whoever I am at that particular time in my life and try to really get to know…

me.

I am fascinated with those who do it.

After finishing the audio book I rented the movie.  I usually appreciate a movie version to a book – I like to see the creative vision the directors come up with and how they bring an authors work to the screen.  Here, are my thoughts…

What I liked:

Reese Witherspoon rocked this role playing Cheryl Strayed.  I enjoyed her performance very much and I like that Cheryl is a Minnesota native.  I also, as I did in the book, liked that while much of the time Cheryl was alone hiking the trail – she met interesting people when she crossed into towns.  For the most part I found her very brave to rely on help from a stranger… and of course there is one part where I find her super cool but also crazy to hike the trail alone and have already decided if I ever did something like this I would have to have a friend along… or several friends who switch out throughout the process…. alone can be dangerous.

What I did not like:

I mentioned in the book that I was not too thrilled with her (Cheryl’s) problems with being faithful to her husband and the talk of her sex life with multiple men.  For some reason I thought someone had told me that was not the case in the movie but CLEARLY I got that part wrong as the sex was even more prominent in the movie.  Thank you to Stacy who warned me in a comment to skip the movie, by the time I read the comment I had finished watching the movie.  😉

My take away –

Yes, I think the book is worth reading.  It is inspiring to see how Cheryl hits rock bottom in her life and how she turns herself around through this almost cleansing process of the 3 months hike.  3 months is a pretty impressive endeavor!  The movie was good, but if the sex stuff bugs you like it does me… be satisfied with the book.  At least in the book it is not so graphic and you skip those parts if you choose.

Jonah lives in a society of contentment.  Emotions are a thing of the past and words like love, and emotions like tears do not exist.  Memories of the past do not exist.

When Jonah reaches the age of 16 he and his classmates now graduate and receive their positions in society – not like the sorting hat in Harry Potter (darn!) ( a little like what happens in Divergent except in The Giver they do not have a say as to where they will wind up).  Jonah is given the rare position of the Receiver, a highly regarded position only held by one person at a time and he becomes the holder of all the memories.

When Jonah experiences for the first time feelings and emotion and memories of what the past was like with happiness and love and dancing he is confused.  Why would this ever be blocked? As the Receiver, we is having the memories passed to him by (you guessed it…) The Giver.

The more Jonah sees what is missing from life the more dissatisfied he becomes with the ways things are.  He learns there is a boundary that surrounds the community that keeps everyone form their memories.  If Jonah can just get beyond the boundary with the memories he can release them back to everyone.  Of course, the powers that be do not want that to happen and will do everything they can to make sure it doesn’t.

I read the book, The Giver, for banned book week in 2012.  I enjoyed the book and I enjoyed the movie.  Its a scary scenario to think of a society that represses all memories and emotions for the sale of feeling well…

nothing.

Sorry but if pain is the price to pay to also feel happiness…

then I will take the pain.

Definitely worth seeing.