The Eyes Have It

This week’s challenge was to read a book that was adapted into a movie and then watch the movie. I went about this challenge backwards since the movies showed up on the reserve shelf at the library before the books were available. This may have skewed the results, but in both cases the visual images from the movies stuck with me long after I had finished reading the printed page.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

The HBO adaptation wins out partly due to the Maine scenery and the kitsch of the seventies (and later) set pieces, but mostly due to the strong performances by actors Frances McDormand and Richard Jenkins as Olive and Henry.  Zoe Kazan is also mesmerizing as shop girl Denise Thibodeau who works in Henry’s pharmacy. Reading the book, it’s interesting to note which characters made it into the script and which were left as background players. Most regretfully is Angela who has a sizable backstory in the novel, but merely shows up as a lounge singer in the miniseries.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

In the movie version of this book, the um, movies, make it all worthwhile. High school students Greg and Earl spend their free time making parodies of classic movies. When Greg’s mom asks him to befriend a classmate who has just been diagnosed with cancer, Greg reluctantly agrees. Where other story lines would turn this scenario into a romantic comedy, Greg wryly notes, Greg and Rachel simply become friends. When Greg is asked to make a movie for Rachel, he balks, stalls, and even gnashes his teeth, but ends up making a beautiful piece he shows Rachel in her final moments. Apart from the movies within a movie, one of my favorite scenes is Greg’s discovery after Rachel’s death of her whimsical creations.