Book vs. Film. (Spoilers ahead)

Which did you prefer?

The film is fantastic, but I honestly preferred the book. I kind of loved how unsentimental the book always was. Everything about the last act was pretty anti-climactic in the novel, just like life. The scene where she falls into a coma and he goes to see his mother at the hospital, and they have a screaming match and he breaks down was one of the best moments in the novel. I love that he never wanted to admit that he cared for Rachel. He was even more of a coward assbag in the novel than the film, and I loved that about him. He was very, very real.

Everything about the film felt very climactic. It worked brilliantly for the film, though. And all of the actors did brilliantly. (Also, sidenote, I found out I actually went to high school at Plano East with Thomas Mann. I didn't know him since our school had about 5,000 students, and he was a year above me, but great for him to have such a career. He clearly deserves it with chops like he showed here.)

Like I said, everything in the film felt a lot more climactic, a lot more sweet and moving, which worked for a movie. I think I just loved how the novel moved me without being sentimental. In fact, the novel is actually pretty mean-spirited in a way the film never was.

Both are wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. The novel perfectly shows how neurotic, flawed, and honestly annoying Greg is, and the film translates this well. He's nicer in the film, but not much nicer to the point that it feels like they're trying to make him a better lead character. I couldn't have asked for a better actor to play Greg, either, and the actors playing Rachel and Earl played their characters just as well. Even if Greg wasn't overweight like in the book and Earl wasn't tiny like in the book, they played the essences of the characters exactly as I'd hoped they would. I haven't seen characterizations in a film adaptation of a novel so perfect since Brady Corbet as Brian Lackey in Araki's adaptation of Mysterious Skin.

But yeah. Back to my question. Which do you prefer? I prefer the book, but only by a slight win.

I don't feel enough for you to cry.

Oh well.