This week’s Booking Through Thursday question asks “And–the reverse of last week’s question. Name one book that you hope never, ever, ever gets made into a movie (no matter how good that movie might be).”
[amazon_image id=”0061577073″ link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” class=”alignright”]The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel (P.S.)[/amazon_image]Isn’t that the cutest little boy? The photographer says he is a Congo refugee. Which brings me to the answer to this question. I do not see how Barbara Kingsolver’s novel [amazon_link id=”0061577073″ target=”_blank” ]The Poisonwood Bible[/amazon_link] could be done justice by any film, no matter how good the film might be (or how long). I’m convinced the many layers in this novel couldn’t be reproduced on film.
The multiple narrators would be a challenge, especially the trick of reproducing the voice of each of narrator. The natural disasters might be doable with modern special effects, but there is a magic to that book that would be lost if we did not take the time to pore over the words. No film could capture the life and color in the book. I can’t think of a modern novel that approaches the artistry of this book. I remember reading it and thinking I had read a classic along the lines of [amazon_link id=”0142437174″ target=”_blank” ]The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn[/amazon_link] or [amazon_link id=”0743273567″ target=”_blank” ]The Great Gatsby[/amazon_link]. The book also attempts to examine America’s own culpability in some of the tragedies in Africa in a symbolic way that would be impossible to capture on film. You can read my review.
What book do you think could never be a movie?
Uh-huh, uh-huh, I hear what you're saying, but what if it were a miniseries? An HBO miniseries? HBO can do good miniseries when not obsessed with, you know, boobs. I feel like most books could be adapted into awesome miniseries if the creators were clever enough, including The Poisonwood Bible.
Maybe… but I just don't think they'd go any deeper than the plot surface. I'm not sure they'd capture all the allegorical magnificence that is The Poisonwood Bible.
"Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell which I have reviewed here.
After reading your review, I can see why that novel would be terribly hard to make into a movie. I like that birthmark motif. That's an interesting idea.