The movie of A Separate Peace was pretty good for the most part. They told the story fairly accurately and it would be enjoyable for anyone who read the book. But naturally, since it was a movie about a book, I did have a few problems with it.
The acting was third rate. This has nothing to do with how the movie differs from the book, and is completely understandable seeing as they used students from the school, but it got very distracting at some points. My friend and I couldn't help but giggle at the "high school play" like acting at many points during the movie.
Another problem that I had with it, which is different from the book, is that Gene's narration is no longer present. In the book, we would always hear Gene's older self narrate what is happening. This would allow us to understand his inner conflicts and what was actually going on in his head. Without that there, everything seems very absolute. For example, when Gene jounces the limb, in the book we understand Gene's inner conflict regarding if he did it consciously or sub-consciously. In the movie it appears as though Gene did it absolutely on purpose.
The third and final main problem that I had with the movie was that they told the story very fast. Instead of developing an important scene like the author did in the book, they jump from important scene to important scene very quickly without giving the audience time to catch their breathe.
For the most part it was a good movie, but the book and the movie have different purposes. If you want to hear the story, watch the movie. If you want to understand, study and/ or learn from it, then read the book.
The acting was third rate. This has nothing to do with how the movie differs from the book, and is completely understandable seeing as they used students from the school, but it got very distracting at some points. My friend and I couldn't help but giggle at the "high school play" like acting at many points during the movie.
Another problem that I had with it, which is different from the book, is that Gene's narration is no longer present. In the book, we would always hear Gene's older self narrate what is happening. This would allow us to understand his inner conflicts and what was actually going on in his head. Without that there, everything seems very absolute. For example, when Gene jounces the limb, in the book we understand Gene's inner conflict regarding if he did it consciously or sub-consciously. In the movie it appears as though Gene did it absolutely on purpose.
The third and final main problem that I had with the movie was that they told the story very fast. Instead of developing an important scene like the author did in the book, they jump from important scene to important scene very quickly without giving the audience time to catch their breathe.
For the most part it was a good movie, but the book and the movie have different purposes. If you want to hear the story, watch the movie. If you want to understand, study and/ or learn from it, then read the book.