Monday, December 19, 2016

Five books totally unlike their adaptations

Jeff Somers is the author of the Avery Cates series, The Ustari Cycle, Lifers, and Chum (among many other books) and numerous short stories.

At the B&N Reads blog he tagged "five adaptations that appear to be based on alternate universe versions of their source material," including:
The Shining, by Stephen King

Stephen King was famously unhappy with Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of his novel about alcoholism, madness, and isolation. In the novel, both Jack Torrance’s drinking and the hotel’s corrosive supernatural elements are front and center, forming the core of a story about familial disintegration. The film sacrifices much of that for a horror thriller far more open to interpretation and far less naturalistic in style. Although the skeleton of the plot is the same, the performances transform the characters into completely different people, and even the “character” of the hotel is drastically changed. King was so displeased, he took a leading role in creating a 1997 television adaptation closer to his vision of the material.
Read about the other entries on the list.

The Shining is among Sam Riedel's six eeriest SFF stories inspired by true events, Joel Cunningham's top seven books featuring long winters, Ashley Brooke Roberts's seven best haunted house books, Jake Kerridge's top ten Stephen King books, Amanda Yesilbas and Charlie Jane Anders's top ten horror novels that are scarier than most movies, Charlie Higson's top ten horror books, and Monica Ali's best books.

--Marshal Zeringue