Okay, I don’t normally go for these sappy predictable romance stories, but after seeing the movie version, I do what I normally don’t and went out and bought the book. Usually I read the book first and then make fun of how they’ve slaughtered the book at the movies. There are rare exceptions of course – Renee Zellweger was the perfect Bridget Jones, lets just not talk about the sequel.
Basic storyline goes as such: Holly and Gerry were perfect for each other but unfortunately Gerry gets a brain tumor and dies. This is not a spoiler, it all happens very quickly. The rest of the story is how Holly copes with the loss and Gerry sends her letters monthly (organised before he died) to help her ‘deal’ with his passing – Gerry’s rules for getting on with her life.
Now this is a rare occurrence where I actually preferred the movie to the book. I was really surprised when I liked the movie. I never cry in movies, usually only when an animal dies – don’t even get me onto when I saw I Am Legend. Heartless and cruel of me yes, but I just get more choked up over animals that croak it, rather than humans with all their annoying faults.
Basic storyline goes as such: Holly and Gerry were perfect for each other but unfortunately Gerry gets a brain tumor and dies. This is not a spoiler, it all happens very quickly. The rest of the story is how Holly copes with the loss and Gerry sends her letters monthly (organised before he died) to help her ‘deal’ with his passing – Gerry’s rules for getting on with her life.
Now this is a rare occurrence where I actually preferred the movie to the book. I was really surprised when I liked the movie. I never cry in movies, usually only when an animal dies – don’t even get me onto when I saw I Am Legend. Heartless and cruel of me yes, but I just get more choked up over animals that croak it, rather than humans with all their annoying faults.
Regardless, I liked this movie and even found myself tearing up a bit. Embarrassing. So I was all prepared to really like this book, and I was disappointed when I found it rather different for a start (not the authors fault) and a bit of a poor imitation of some much better Irish writers such as Marian Keys who excels in this stuff.
I realise the subject matter was a bit of a downer, but I just felt I had no compassion for Holly who came off as kind of annoying and very self centred, and I had no love for the supporting characters either. It was all a bit one dimensional. If you look at Keys book, 'Is There Anyone Out There', which also deals with loss, the characters were a lot more well rounded and for ‘chick lit’ it was more enjoyable to read in general.
