MovieChat Forums > Sophie's Choice (1983) Discussion > Did anyone else not enjoy the book?

Did anyone else not enjoy the book?

posted 12 years ago by bonniehudson
16 replies | jump to latest

This is, hands down, my fave film of all time. I know it's flawed, overlong, and that without Meryl it'd be worthless, but I just adore it. It's probably also nostalgia as it was one of the first films my Dad ever showed me as a child and we always watched it together.

So when I got the book I was very excited, but.... Hmm... I don't know what it is exactly, but I hated the book! Really, really hated it. If the film is overlong and pretentious the book is extremely overlong and pretentious. It's just my opinion, but I think I felt there was so much exposition going on all the time that the characters just got swallowed up in it and I couldn't connect with them. Whereas the film made me REALLY care about the characters and the ending always devastates me.

But I know the correct opinion to have is always that the book is better than the film (for any book and film) so would anyone like to tell me why I'm wrong? :)

[–] dgross-3 12 years ago

>>
but I think I felt there was so much exposition going on all the time
<<

Well, I don't really disagree, but y'aint got much choice about all that exposition. The author has chosen the "first-person, autobiographical, non-omniscient" Point Of View, and the narrator is an intellectual but not-terribly-imaginative young man, processing the trauma of his adult-life initiation-passage.

(edit-p.s.) The author's intention also seems very much to be to paint a Portrait Of The Times*, so that certainly does not reduce the exposition.

*And I suppose he has to, since his characters are very much suffering from then-recent historical events, so Styron has to make sure that even those readers who Don' Know Much About Historee will at least get enough information about what Sophie (for example) went through.

More exactly than calling it autobiographical, perhaps a better phrase would be that it is an Incident Memoir. Memoirs tend to be inflated.

[–] bonniehudson 12 years ago

You're completely right, but I remember there were some sub plots I felt could have been cut down or lost altogether. The subplot with Lesley I remember went on for a ridiculous amount of time. And I also seem to remember a scene where a Jewish man goes to Wanda and Sophie and they're helping him and I think it was quite near the end of the book and I thought "OH FOR GODS SAKE another storyline??" Just so much unnecessary padding going on.

[–] dgross-3 12 years ago

Ah. My edit crossed your answer. More in a moment.

[–] bonniehudson 12 years ago

Please :)

[–] dgross-3 12 years ago

>>
sub plots I felt could have been cut down or lost altogether
<<

Actually, I was casting my mind over that, as I was writing. The subplots that are not grim European history ... and my own memory of the book is not the most recent ... tend to be centered around Stingo's various forays at dating, don't they?

I mean, sure, we have Stingo's little section about his work-life (how he turned down Thor Heyerdahl, for example -- huh! I just thought: _another_ little theme of "courting and rejection.") So, about the subplots - you know ... Stingo dates, he meets the girls' families, he yacks about how they got their money, Styron _is_ filling in a partial portrait of the American Jewish presence ... they go to the beach, they sadly compare notes about abusive psychotherapists ("Nobody laughed.") I would have to say that a lot of it may also be, inevitably, Styron need to add titillating aspects to the text. Helps sales, y'know ... (sigh)

(By the way -- viz my other question on this board -- _do_ see if you can find and read "Glamour", by Stephen Vincent Benét ... it takes only 20 minutes, and I think you'll be pleasantly appalled at how much Styron swiped from Benét, who died in 1943.)

[–] bonniehudson 12 years ago

I'll check that out, thank you!

[–] dgross-3 12 years ago

Delighted! :)

[–] dgross-3 12 years ago

( msg on this board now has a link to a Project Gutenberg on-line text source )

[–] Waigon 12 years ago

Saw the movie for the first time this year (about 12 hours before Meryl won her third Oscar, actually). And LOVED it. One of my favourite movies now. But yeah the book... is different. I am only about 70 pages in but it is hard to read. I don't like Stingo in this, he is too... male, I guess. I dunno, he talks about effing this and soddoming that, it's not a pleasing narrative. I think my main problem is that I know it's semi-autobiographical in a way, and I don't particularly like the author.

[–] dgross-3 11 years ago

>>
I don't like Stingo in this, he is too... male
<<

Well, exactly. Stingo is educated, but he is hardly the brightest bulb in the shed, and he is an utterly callow youth. And he is suffering from the sexual starvation which, while bad enough in our era, was a million times worse in that era. He is 'waaaaay over his head in terms of comprehending Sophie, Nathan, or his world.

[–] shaguniitb 11 years ago

I loved the book!

[–] bonniehudson 9 years ago

You know what, it's been years since I posted my original comment and I actually re read Sophie's Choice last year, and I really enjoyed it a second time round. I'm not sure what changed, the first time I read it I just couldn't keep focused, but this time I couldn't put it down. I don't know if it's because I'm a bit older or if it does just improve on second reading.

It will never be one of my favourite books but I really, really enjoyed it!

[–] zooymtoo 9 years ago

I read the book when I was very young and fell in love with it. It may have needed a little editing here and there but I still found it quite powerful.
I thought the film was an excellent adaption too ...It may have been a lesser effort with someone other than Meryl Streep but I don't think there was anything mediocre about the movie.. The entire cast were excellent. Flawless.

[–] tearsnhoney 8 years ago

I loved it too. I thought it was beautifully written.

[–] TrentinaNE 9 years ago

SPOILERS AHEAD!

I don't hate the book, but thought the movie improved upon it by pruning most of the unnecessary sidelines. In particular, I thought the movie's tightening up at the end was critical: On-screen, Stingo does not talk to Sophie again after she leaves him at the little hotel en route to the south so that she can return to Nathan. He simply sees Sophie and Nathan's entwined bodies post-suicide. IIRC, in the book, he does speak to Sophie (at least on the phone, if not in person, as she again recounts her fear of Nathan and what he'll do), which I thought diluted the impact of their tryst and parting, as well as of S&N's final decision.

[–] KBiker (769) 4 years ago

Your post is old, and this one might never reach you, but I have to say, I agree on your opinion of the book. Entirely too much Stingo and his escapades. He was the main character, and in way too many scenes. In the movie he was also the main character, but more as a witness to the madness and unraveling of Sophie and Nathan.