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A review by dernichtraucherin
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
mysterious
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
since the movie was always a childhood favorite of mine and remains my favorite cheesy christmas movie until today, i thought id pick up the book when i found it for free and was surprised that the screenwriters changed a lot!
the beverly penn & peter lake love story stays mostly the same and until her death i enjoyed the book immensly because of all the extra information about peter lake's earlier life, like growing up with pearly e.g. . but the rest of the book was rather hard to read cause i wasnt as invested in the new characters as in the ones i knew and held so dearly as the ones from the movie and it felt really dreary to get emotionally attached to any of them (except for virginia probably).
which leads me to my next point; other changes made for the movie:
the whole penn family was incredibly well portrayed on screen but i was happy about the choice they made by making willa and not harry the one that survives all of it because her relationship with peter lake was much more relevant for him and to just not mention her at all in the second part of the book annoyed me. i also enjoyed book-virginia and loved her coheeries backstory as well as her time at "the sun" and thought she lacked that manic pixie dream girl spirit in the movie (no hate to jennifer connelly tho, shes a fabulous cast).
other changes to the movie that i didnt hate because it made the film more cohesive and neat (wheras the almost 700 pages book felt very all over the place at most times) were:
the whole angels&demons arc! i was so surprised to learn that theres no ineffable plan and heaven and hell fighting for dominance over humans and their miracles in the book!! that was an amazing addition to the movie although i always felt that lucifer was a little silly and unnecessary.
i liked how beverly and her unique view of the universe was so well portrayed in the movie and that most of the characters conversations were taken into the screenplay word for word. i will annoy people with fun background infos while rewatching the movie (for the 100th time) now but i wouldnt reread the book.
addition: i always headcanon peter lake as a butch and in my humble opinion, peter lake & beverly are lesbians with a magical white horse and noone can tell me otherwise.
the beverly penn & peter lake love story stays mostly the same and until her death i enjoyed the book immensly because of all the extra information about peter lake's earlier life, like growing up with pearly e.g. . but the rest of the book was rather hard to read cause i wasnt as invested in the new characters as in the ones i knew and held so dearly as the ones from the movie and it felt really dreary to get emotionally attached to any of them (except for virginia probably).
which leads me to my next point; other changes made for the movie:
the whole penn family was incredibly well portrayed on screen but i was happy about the choice they made by making willa and not harry the one that survives all of it because her relationship with peter lake was much more relevant for him and to just not mention her at all in the second part of the book annoyed me. i also enjoyed book-virginia and loved her coheeries backstory as well as her time at "the sun" and thought she lacked that manic pixie dream girl spirit in the movie (no hate to jennifer connelly tho, shes a fabulous cast).
other changes to the movie that i didnt hate because it made the film more cohesive and neat (wheras the almost 700 pages book felt very all over the place at most times) were:
the whole angels&demons arc! i was so surprised to learn that theres no ineffable plan and heaven and hell fighting for dominance over humans and their miracles in the book!! that was an amazing addition to the movie although i always felt that lucifer was a little silly and unnecessary.
i liked how beverly and her unique view of the universe was so well portrayed in the movie and that most of the characters conversations were taken into the screenplay word for word. i will annoy people with fun background infos while rewatching the movie (for the 100th time) now but i wouldnt reread the book.
addition: i always headcanon peter lake as a butch and in my humble opinion, peter lake & beverly are lesbians with a magical white horse and noone can tell me otherwise.