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rachelmanija Apr. 22nd, 2010 10:42 am)
rachelmanija Apr. 22nd, 2010 10:42 am)Though this book is definitely aimed at twelve-year-old boys and has a number of flaws that have nothing to do with me not really being in its audience, I now realize that the movie I thought was so awful faithfully reproduced the flaws of the book, but failed to reproduce any of its virtues.
Ten Ways in Which the Book is Better than the Movie.
1. Percy Jackson is twelve. His emotions and actions and relationships make sense given that he’s twelve. I am still boggling that the movie changed his age to eighteen, but didn’t change a whole lot of other things that only made sense when the character is twelve. (I still didn’t buy how quickly he got over his mother’s supposed death, but in the film, he didn’t grieve at all.)
2. Percy is likable. He’s not smug or arrogant or cocky, and if anything has trouble with self-esteem.
3. Percy isn’t handed everything on a platter, but struggles believably for his victories. He sometimes gets his ass kicked, makes mistakes, and gets hurt.
4. Annabeth (Athena’s daughter) has a motivation for tagging along on Percy’s quest – and it even makes sense. Also, she strategizes cleverly at least once that I recall.
5. The worldbuilding makes way more sense. I’m not saying that it makes total sense, or that none of it is stupid. But it’s definitely much better than the film. For one thing, the level of knowledge the characters have about Greek myths is consistent.
6. Percy’s powers are internally consistent, and he slowly discovers and develops them in ways that make sense.
7. The book made me laugh. In particular, the chapter titles are priceless. My favorite was the understated “Chapter Thirteen: I Plunge To My Death.”
8. The dialogue didn’t make me wince. Much.
9. The plot, while still mostly rambling from action sequence to action sequence, felt less schematic than it did in the movie.
10. Percy’s dyslexia and ADHD were depicted rather than just referenced.
The novel isn’t a great work of art, but it’s an amusing work of entertainment, enough so that I finished it and may read more to get to the cooler stuff that I’m told occurs in later volumes. (Like the daughter of Ares turning out to be totally awesome.) Now that I know the original, I can see that the movie was not only bad on its own terms, but a complete travesty as an adaptation.
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)
Ten Ways in Which the Book is Better than the Movie.
1. Percy Jackson is twelve. His emotions and actions and relationships make sense given that he’s twelve. I am still boggling that the movie changed his age to eighteen, but didn’t change a whole lot of other things that only made sense when the character is twelve. (I still didn’t buy how quickly he got over his mother’s supposed death, but in the film, he didn’t grieve at all.)
2. Percy is likable. He’s not smug or arrogant or cocky, and if anything has trouble with self-esteem.
3. Percy isn’t handed everything on a platter, but struggles believably for his victories. He sometimes gets his ass kicked, makes mistakes, and gets hurt.
4. Annabeth (Athena’s daughter) has a motivation for tagging along on Percy’s quest – and it even makes sense. Also, she strategizes cleverly at least once that I recall.
5. The worldbuilding makes way more sense. I’m not saying that it makes total sense, or that none of it is stupid. But it’s definitely much better than the film. For one thing, the level of knowledge the characters have about Greek myths is consistent.
6. Percy’s powers are internally consistent, and he slowly discovers and develops them in ways that make sense.
7. The book made me laugh. In particular, the chapter titles are priceless. My favorite was the understated “Chapter Thirteen: I Plunge To My Death.”
8. The dialogue didn’t make me wince. Much.
9. The plot, while still mostly rambling from action sequence to action sequence, felt less schematic than it did in the movie.
10. Percy’s dyslexia and ADHD were depicted rather than just referenced.
The novel isn’t a great work of art, but it’s an amusing work of entertainment, enough so that I finished it and may read more to get to the cooler stuff that I’m told occurs in later volumes. (Like the daughter of Ares turning out to be totally awesome.) Now that I know the original, I can see that the movie was not only bad on its own terms, but a complete travesty as an adaptation.
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1)
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Couldn't tell you whether the mystery portion of it was any good, because I kept getting distracted by OMG HE NAILED SAN ANTONIO! I gave a copy to my friend Clint, who lived in SA at the same time I did, and he had the exact same reaction to it.
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I have a great fondness for cute chapter titles.
I'm glad to hear your opinion of the book, given your opinion of the movie. I've been recommended the series by a few people, and most people said the movie was pretty bad, so that's sad for the movie. But I do love Greek mythology, so the book series sounds fun.
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---L.
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Jesus, they are very popular at the library. Looks like it will be a while before I get around to reading them, then.
Kick-Ass appears to be heading my way already, though...
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They're quick reads at least, so maybe they'll turn over fast?
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---L.
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---L.
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My older daughter (who was probably eight or nine when she picked them up) ADORED them and read the whole series (and has stuck with the Son of Neptune spinoff series). She really wanted to see the movie, so I took her. I totally agree with you that the movie was atrocious.
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