Still Alice: Film vs Book

Still Alice, the film, has finally come out in the UK and, after reading the book, I finally got to go and see it. Since I have not written a review for the book yet, I thought I would combine the two and do a comparison, incorporating the review as I did so.

The book, written by Lisa Genova, follows a linguistics professor, Alice, as she learns that she has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease and must cope as it slowly progresses and changes her life forever. The book reads well. It is not complicated, instead telling the story in language that one can slip into, allowing for a focus on the characters and emotion of the book. It is written from Alice’s perspective, so you get a first-hand account of the deterioration of her mind, as well as seeing how her family reacts to the disease. I really enjoyed reading the book. I thought it effective and emotional. There were, however, parts that could have been expanded upon more, with more consequences or depth, as there were a couple of loose ends.

The film follows the same plot as the book and follows it quite closely. As it an adaption of the book, limited to only a couple of hours, it did have to cut out a number of scenes and subplots. However, I think it cut out too much. The film focuses on Alice – we got to know her very well and see the deterioration in clear, emotional detail. By focusing on Alice, we do lose a lot of the other characters. It would have been interesting to see how Alice’s situation affected those around her. This was touched upon, but only slightly with very little depth. You don’t really get a sense of who Alice is before the disease hits which is disappointing as, not only does the film start off quite slowly, it limits how much you can see of the character behind her memory deficits. That being said, I did think the film was emotional and there were some really powerful scenes.

Overall, I thought that the book was a lot better than the film – it captured more of Alice and those around her, while the film seemed to focus more on Alzheimer’s disease than anything else. I can see why Julianne Moore won an Oscar – her performance was incredible, but the rest of the film was a little bit lacking. It needed a bit more depth for me to fully enjoy.

Book Rating: 4/5

Film Rating: 3/5

Reviewing World War Z – Book and Film

Over the course of the last few months (with a slight break in between), I have been battling a zombie plague. The book, World War Z, fell into my possession quite by chance, as part of a deal in the book shop. It is not something I would normally read: Zombies are probably my least favourite of the supernatural, most likely because it is so hard to get them right. But Max Brooks manages just that.

Telling the story of the Zombie plague from beginning to end through a series of interviews, World War Z is very much a plot-driven story, despite revolving around the people involved. Very few of the characters interviewed appear again, and only the invisible interviewer is present throughout, although you never hear their own experiences throughout the war. It is a gripping book nonetheless. The zombies are menacing, and the wide-spread nature of the disease is plausible. The interviews vary a lot, in both fascination and emotional intrigue. There are characters which you can relate to and feel for more than others, with some truly heart-breaking and shocking stories. The style it is written in is nothing like I have encountered before, and that made it so much more unique and interesting for me.

Last week, I watched the movie. Starring Brad Pitt, World War Z the film, is hardly anything like the book. Some events are similar, as is the idea of a zombie plague engulfing the world. Other than that, the film is different. For starters, rather than telling the story through a number of different characters, the film only follows one in his quest to find a cure. If you ignore its supposed relation to the book, World War Z is good. Intense with plenty of moments to make you jump and scenes which allow a pause for breath, it is an action thriller that entertains. The ending is not great however; an anti-climax to what is otherwise a great film.

Overall I would recommend seeing the film without reading the book first, or at least leaving a long space of time between the two. The book is something you have to read, if anything to feel the realism that seeps from its pages despite it being about a Zombie invasion.

Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Film Rating: 3 out of 5 stars