book to movie comparison

Comparisons: Novel to Movie

After reading A Walk to Remember and then watching the movie you realize how completely different they are. Some of the times that I teared up or cried in the book are different that the movie. I think that after you watch the movie it gives you a better appreciation of the book because it is more touching than the movie. The main point where I felt that the book was more touching was when Jamie gives Landon her mother's bible. She carried it where ever she went and it was all she had from her mother. It meant so much to her and she gave it to Landon. I think that when she gave Landon her bible because she wanted to give away what she had to someone who needed it before she died and she knew that she loved Landon and she wanted him to remember her. I found the movie less touching because it was only a quote book and not a bible. Instead Jamie is in the hospital when she gives him the quote book. I didn't feel that it was as touching that she gave the quote book instead. Another reason that it wasn't as meaningful to me was because in the book when she gives Landon her bible it's the moment that he realizes that he loves her. At the beginning of the book Landon tells that this story is him remembering when he was seventeen. Then at the end of the book it says that he is fifty-seven and he has still worn his wedding ring all these years even though she's gone. In times like today I doubt that anything like that would ever happen but if it were to happen back then it is more believable. It's surprising that he never got remarried and stays faithful even though she died. I didn't like that the movie is only four years later and Landon gives the quote book to Jamie's father. I didn't feel that it was as emotional or touching than showing that he never remarried even though she died and they got married at such a young age. The movie makes Landon appear to be a real bad person but in the book he seems like a typical teenager. In the movie the reason he has to participate in the play is because he pushed a guy into some shallow water and almost killed him. His principal makes him participate as community service. However in the book Jamie asks him to play Tom Thorton as a favor. He agrees because it would look good on his college application and he didn't seem to have any other choice. In the book Jamie is an angel dressed in white and Landon tells her that she is beautiful. While in the movie the play takes place in a bar and Jamie is wearing a blue dress, sings and Landon and her kiss on stage. They spend lots of time together in the book practicing for the play, going to the orphanage or reading the bible together. In the movie they spend their time looking at the stars through Jamie's telescope and Landon even makes her a new telescope. Also at one point in the movie Landon practices for the play with Eddie because Jamie shut the door in his face. In the book Jamie would never do that because she's too nice and he only practiced the play with Jamie. At one point in the book Landon is going through the yearbook looking for a date for the dance. The movie shows Landon looking at Jamie's picture in the yearbook to remember her. In the book the yearbook scene happens before the dance but in the movie it starts out the night of the dance so they didn't have the scene until later in the movie. I like the book better than the movie because I like love stories and I felt that they had to change the movie from the book a lot because it wasn't a believable in this century. I loved reading a love story that wouldn't happen in this day and age. The movie is more realistic to today’s time than in the fifties. I think that they changed it from the book a lot because they wanted to reach a wider audience. Although the movie gave me a better appreciation towards the book I think both were very good and I would love to read and watch them again.