Winter's Tale question

They are making a film version? Dear Soap on a Rope, please no. What makes this my favorite book is the combination of the quality of the writing and the absolute need to use imagination and suspend disbelief when reading it.

Moving this into the realm of film will spoil, for me, both of those.

On the other hand, if the film is well done and successful it will result in the republication of this much missing work (in the UK) and more new readers.

I began reading this book because of the upcoming movie. I had not heard of it before.

I am just a little more than half way through this book and so far it has been one of my favorite reads! I agree that it seems like the movie does not cover a huge majority of the story and I think that this may not be a bad thing. Yes, I tend to believe that movies never do a book justice, but that has never stopped me from enjoying seeing the characters brought to life. Furthermore, I think the casting choices were great even if some physical features have been changed. So I am definitely looking forward to the movie and I can't wait to finish this book and see how it ends!

Side note: I typically do not write book commentary or participate in book discussions. Not because I don't have the time, but because I have not found anything worth discussing... (at least not with random strangers on a social networking site.)... But this just shows how much this book has captivated me. I have become borderline obsessed! :)

Oh no. Not a movie. I will not watch it. Look what happened with Cloud Atlas.

Just looked at the cast on IMDb. Not sure why I bothered, it makes no real difference to me. It was inevitable someone should try and film this though, as a lot of the content lends itself to hyper-visuality. The over-riding themes though, and the seamlessness of the story? Almost certain to turn a banquet into the last remnants of a buffet.

However, since this is one of my favourite books of all time, I'm bound to give it a look, in the same way you check to see what the cats have done to your bins, praying that there's not too much damage.

I am not encouraged by the fact that the movie is being released in February,which is the place bad movies go to be ignored. Films that are recognized by studios to be award worthy are generally released in autumn.
The book is gorgeous, you should read it.

I loved the writing in this book. I can tolerate some magic realism and this book was full of this. I would not put it down and continued to read it simply because of his writing style and relentlessness of the action-filled plot. Now must do it again. There is simply much more to this book than one quick read can accomplish for me at least.
Movie was ok but they put in Satan, not in book. Will Smith was Satan but it was grossly artificial in an otherwise very elegant story.

This is a magical and special book that I've read and re-read since I discovered it in the early 1990's. It was MY book that no one else knew, or so I thought. I assumed it was safe from the "Hollywood" treatment because it is so old, by their standards. Sigh, this is not to be. On the one hand I am glad that more people may read the book after watching the movie. On the other hand, I think if they just skim the romance off the top, that's cool, just don't call it Winter's Tale.

I am going this evening to see the movie. This is my second favorite book and I am really nervous about how I am going to react to the film. I know they are going to merge some characters or eliminate their story lines. I understand, as this book is far too large to do anything but. I hope they handle it as well as I feel "Cloud Atlas" was handled.

I enjoyed the book very much. I did go see the movie and I thought that even though the characters were not what I had originally pictured I did like the movie. Of course you can't shove the entire greatness of a book into a 2 hour time slot, but compared to other destruction of book to movies this one wasn't a complete fail.

Big Mistake! I went to see the movie before reading the book. I thought the movie was so boring that my husband, who fell asleep, and I considered leaving before it was over. I am so glad that we stayed, however, the last moments allowed me to rate this movie two stars instead of one.

Even with very low expectations for the movie, I was really disappointed. I knew going in that they'd focused on the Peter-Beverly romance and jettisoned basically the last 3/4 of the book entirely.

Even knowing that, I didn't expect the mess they made of what was left. I don't understand most of the story choices they made, and I can't even guess why they left out very cinematic scenes from the book that would have fit in perfectly with what they seemed to be trying to do.

I kind of think that, if they didn't have the luxury of splitting it into two films, or at least making it a 3 or 3.5 hour movie, they shouldn't have even tried.

I usually don't go to movies of books I've read, always disappointed!!! My husband is a Mark Helprin fan from way back, we went to the movie together. I liked it, but knew nothing about the book, now I need to read the book to find out everything that wasn't in the movie!!!!

I first read Winters Tale about 30 years ago and it has always stayed in my mind as something really special. I just reread it and that thought is still true. I can understand that it's not for everyone, but Helprin's writing is just so beautiful it makes you want to stay along for the ride. I'm glad to see that others also think it's special because for a long time I couldn't find anyone else who had read it. I was excited about the movie at first, surprised to see one coming out after all this time, but after finishing the book I was afraid I wouldn't like the movie just knowing how much would have to be left out. I agree that if a good job was done with the love story alone it could be a great movie, but judging by opinions here, I have to believe that is not the case .... I still may watch it just because ....

I'm grateful for the film only that it pushed this book to the top of the pile at our local bookstore. My wife picked it up for me for Christmas, almost purely by chance. (Is anything by chance?) I had never heard of it before. It has become a "Where have you been all my life" book that, having completed it last night, I'm sure I will re-read. So thanks, Hollywood!