Now I was extremely pleased as well as surprised to see just how close the Japanese movie of the same title followed the novel (for movie see other post) Because I have already made a post about the movie I didn't want to just repeat myself so I am going to focus on the differences between the two because sometimes what is changed is just as interesting as what wasn't. Of course there were a few name changes. Mirai in the movie is William in the novel and Yuji is James, but the personalities are the same. I also want to give a lot of credit to the casting director for picking almost perfect actors for the roles. Other major changes:
1. Naomi is adopted and her mother is still alive. The fact that she was an orphan is pulled through the novel much as the picture motif is pulled through the movie. I don't whether it was because of time constraints or not wanting to have another subplot why they didn't keep Naomi's mother, but I can't say she was overly missed from the movie. It was an interesting part of the book, but it was more filler then anything else and just adds more stuff cluttering up Naomi's life.
2. Naomi doesn't use the project of throwing the camera's down the stairs as her final project. I thought it was really interesting that they used this project of thinking up another one after seeing that Naomi used a project about her adoption as her final project. I guess it fit with the pictures idea, but I also think it would have been really interesting to see what they could have come up with as an alternative project. Again I am thinking time constraints and the need to keep the plot linear for cinematic sake is probably why the stairs project stayed.
3. More in depth about William's family as well as his and Naomi's friendship. I really loved how this was more filled out in the book. In the movie we are told that they are best friends, but the novel really shows this through both dialogue as well as Naomi's internal monologue. A part that I really loved was the record player that she got him to play his father's albums on. The fact that we get to know more about Will lets us know more about Naomi. I just loved their friendship and really want something like this in my life.
4. Naomi's dad plays a much bigger part in the novel then in the movie. He is a semi-famous writer who wrote books which Naomi's mother took the photographs for. I liked that he was more involved in the book then just showing up once or twice. His and Naomi's relationship also adds a lot to the overall story line as well as his fiance Rosa Rivera and Naomi adjusting to her. I don't know why I found this more important then Naomi's mother story line, but I did. Maybe I was just partial to her dad.
Another awesome thing about the book is that the author included a list of songs that Will put on the mixes for Naomi. I always like to know what the author had in mind when they vaguely hint at a song or group or when the mention the song and I have never heard it before, which was 99% of the songs. I always listen to music while I write so I love to see what other authors get their inspiration from musically.
I also just really loved Zevin's style of writing. It was easy to read yet had a sort of poetry to it. She also has so many good, quotable lines. Her characters were believable and likable, but not perfect or annoying. You find yourself in love with James though also a little leery of him. You love Will, but don't completely understand him. You fight with and for Naomi though at times you can't understand how she could be so stupid. Her imagery was perfect, not too much and not too little and she always paid attention to detail when it mattered, like Will's odd clothes. I just loved everything about this book. It gets 5 out of 5 stars.
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