Persistent, Niggling Questions

[Nate the Great]

So I just watched The Giver movie for the first time. Like everyone else I had to read the book in school. I've even read the sequels (FYI: don't bother, the connections to the first book are weak at best and introduce even more plot holes). However, I'm not as passionate as some about "they changed X, Y, and Z from the book, this is a disaster!" with this book. (If the remake of The Phantom Tollbooth is ever made, expect me to be passionate about THAT!)



PNQ: Was it even worth trying? Are there some books that just can't be translated to the screen without serious damage to the message that was intended?


A key problem that I found was the amount of exposition that was blatantly left out because we didn't have a Jonas inner monologue. I know that this dates me even more, but upon reflection I think that the book falls into the Flowers for Algernon trap (yikes, I haven't thought about Flowers for Algernon in like twenty years). Some books are supposed to be about the inner workings of a person, and those kind of stories just can't be told well in movie format.



PNQ2: What books can you think of that are also focused on the inner workings of the main character?


One that comes to mind immediately is Dear Mr. Henshaw. (PNQ: Are kids still made to read Dear Mr. Henshaw these days?)



Think about it, the reason why a lot of books work is because there's the audience POV character that responds to the main character. That can be translated to the screen a lot easier. But in The Giver a key plot point is that nobody can relate to Jonas except the Giver himself.