Published by deborah.woehr on 19 Dec 2007 at 05:53 pm
I Am Legend
I have a confession to make. This book has sat on my “To Read” pile for about a decade because I couldn’t get myself to read a vampire story. I felt the genre was too trendy when it began to boom in the 90’s, and I don’t like to follow trends. I bought the book because it was written by Richard Matheson, an author I enjoy reading.
When my husband and I saw the preview for the movie on TV two weeks ago, I remembered the book sitting on my shelf. I picked it up on Sunday and am over halfway through right now. My goal is to finish it by Saturday, when we go see the movie. So far, the book is great. I’m actually disappointed with myself for being so stubborn.
Moving on, I’ve been talking about seeing this movie at work. One of my colleagues said that the show sold out last weekend, which means that I’d better check Fandango to see if I can still order tickets. That same colleague and I had a discussion about whether it’s good to read the book before you see the movie. I like to compare the two to see how close the screenwriters were able to stick to the original plot. He feels that reading the book beforehand sets himself up for disappointment in the movie, which in many cases he is right. You can only do so much with a screenplay.
Have any of you seen this movie or read the book? What are your thoughts on either?
Update: I finished the book on Thursday and saw the movie yesterday. Both were excellent. If you’d like to read my detailed review, visit the Supernatural blog.
Deborah White on 20 Dec 2007 at 8:17 pm #
Usually, I don’t like reading the book when they’ve made a movie. When I’ve read a book I’ve really enjoyed, I’m disappointed when the movie has left out the parts I thought were great.
I haven’t read the book I Am Legend nor have I seen the movie. I usually like Will Smith but, for some reason this movie hasn’t gotten me excited.
Maybe I’ll change my mind.
deborah.woehr on 20 Dec 2007 at 8:27 pm #
My husband told me that he read a lot of comments about how depressing this movie is. Although I haven’t seen the movie yet, I can vouch for their opinions because I finished reading the book last night. The story revolves around Neville’s feelings and reactions before, during and after everyone died. It’s really a good story, if you can stomach the theme.
I agree with you about how Hollywood treats the original stories. They tend to slice and dice. Sometimes they’ll make up their own version, like they did with The Firm. That was such a disappointing ending.