how good is book
can anyone tell me who has read the book how good it is and is it like the film. does it go into a lot more depth or basically the same
Unfortunately it must be about 30 years since I read the book - I watched the film today to see whether it would jog my memory.
I would say that there was more in the book, as you'd expect. I particularly remember a bit at the beginning where the woman he lodges with has never seen a black man before, and asks if he's black all over. He explains he is not completely black; the palms of his hands are white... I'm sure there must have been other examples as well.
I would say the film is pretty faithful to the book, in essence at least, but trimmed for length. Whether you think it's worth reading the book having seen the film is something only you can decide, I'm afraid.
thank you for that. one of my fav films and just wondered if book it similar. thanks again
shareThere is a lot more regarding his position in British society and his feelings about being black in the society... a couple of chapters covering his job search and how he was treated, a lot more characterization and back-story. The movie tended to gloss over some of the accusatory tone of the book and made the Braithwaite character a lot more stoic about racial injustice in society. It also tended to highlight the parts of the story when white people were good and eliminated a lot of the scenes in which overt racism was described and dissected as a social illness...
In the book his relationship with Gillian is explicit, he even goes to meet her parents and there is a nasty scene involving a racist waiter in a restaurant.. in the movie the relationship was not even handled - I was amused to think that in some ways this movie just dropped some of the banter that was handled in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" maybe because they didn't want to overlap themes (the movies both came out the same year) - but that's just a far-fetched theory. Anyway I'm being kind enough not to assume that they dropped the inter-racial relationship because it would've been too controversial..
Read the book. Braithwaite was a real social philosopher.
the book is definatly better but the film is pretty good for an adaptation. if you want a lasting memory of it, read the book
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