The Hunger Games vs 11/22/63

Yes, I'm still thinking about The Hunger Games. Some of you commented that the movie plot is identical to the book, so I shouldn't blame the movie makers for the things I was complaining about.

Interesting.

Well it just so happens I recently got done reading a book called 11/22/63 by Stephen King. I'm not a Stephen King fan. The only other book I've read of his is the one he wrote about his writing process. And I fucking loved 11/22/63.

It's about a guy who travels back in time to try and prevent President Kennedy from getting assassinated.

I'm a JFK buff (what does it take to be a buff?), and a time travel buff, so it was right up my alley. But the weird thing is my favorite parts of the book weren't about any of that. What I most enjoyed were the things not involving JFK or Lee Harvey Oswald - the main character gets a teaching gig, he falls in love with a librarian - those were the things that were the most fun.

In fact, being the buff that I am, I didn't agree with some of the decisions that were made in the book. I didn't like his plan for stopping the assassination. I didn't like the ending. Some of the action just plain didn't make sense.

And yet...I loved the book.

So this got me thinking about The Hunger Games, the book vs the movie, and how reading is an entirely different experience than watching a screen.

I forgive the faults in 11/22/63 because I enjoy the words. I enjoyed reading the words. If it was on the screen, and I was watching it, I'd probably get caught up in the stuff I didn't like. The bad choices. But in a book, the bad choices are covered up by the joy of reading.

Everyone who I've ever talked to about the Hunger Games says something along the lines of "I read it in a weekend!" or "I couldn't put it down and had to read all three!". It's the words! The bad stuff in it is overlooked because it's addicting and fun to read. But in a movie, the words are gone. The plot is exposed. The bad choices are revealed. And that's why The Hunger Games movie sucked even though the books are great.

That's my new theory, anyway.