The Giver by Lois Lowry: Book vs. Movie

[Purely_Poetic]

I know that we are all big readers here and most of us usually say the book is better than the movie but, I was especially disappointed in the "The Giver" film adaptation.

I just read the book last week and the day I finished I went to see the film and was so disappointed not just by the number of mistakes/changes they made but, the fact that some of the changes were big points in the book. For example, the main character, Jonas, had blue eyes as well as the baby, Gabriel. This was pointed out several times in the book and was of some importance but, the movie completely disregarded this point and Jonas even had dark brown eyes. This may seem like a small detail but, it irked me.

I was wondering if anyone else experienced disappointment with the film as well?

[LivreAmour217]

I am so used to Hollywood changing/ruining books that the differences in the movie didn't upset me, but I definitely noticed them. Like always, I enjoyed the book far better than the movie version. However, the film did make my husband interested in reading the book, so I suppose that's a good thing.

[annasheridan]

I have read the whole Giver series and absolutely loved them. I've only seen the previews for the movie and just from that can tell how different they are. I understand that they have to change some things in movies to make them understandable, but there are a lot of unnecessary changes that they made to the story line in the movie. Though it disappointed me, I would still like to see the movie because the book interested me so much.

[MarieMc]

I read the book and watched the movie also. I too found myself disappointed in some key events being changed. I have read the complete series and found them to be wonderful. I think things like the comfort toy, in the book it was a hippo they called it an elephant and in the movie I believe they switched that. The Hippo being called an elephant seemed more significant in the book because in Jonas' training he learned what a real elephant looked like and knew the hippo was not an elephant. I suppose some details are small potatoes, yet to a reader who enjoys something so completely, it can be disgruntling. The Blue eyes are a significant issue too, especially as one reads the reaming series. So even though it may seem insignificant, later it actually isn't insignificant.

[Sav Sparkman]

I was also quite disappointed with the movie. The book has so many nuances and details and overall is just a well developed plot. I give movie adaptations some benefit of the doubt, and I’m not as interested in seeing the movie version be true to the story as much as seeing if they make good use of it. I felt the Giver movie really fell flat and any of the changes they made seemed either arbitrary or just less interesting.