The Book Was Better discussion

So I guess they released the first movie trailer today!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJNNu...

If you read the book (view spoiler)[ how does this trailer make you feel?

I'm a bit concerned...excited but concerned.

First off why is a 24 year old actor playing Jonas...a character that is supposed to be 12?!?!Hollywood...you are so annoying! No wonder teens have body image issues when media uses physically mature 20some year olds to portray them!

Also what do you guys think about the movie being in color vs black and white? One of the biggest surprises for me was when I realized halfway through the book that in their world they only see black and white when Jonas starts noticing the red apple for the first time. So how much or should any of the movie be in black and white?

Why is there a weird space ship hover craft thing sucking up Jonas and baby Gabe?! THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN IN THE BOOK.

Well I'm still excited though... (hide spoiler)]

At first I was glad you shared this....but now I am mad.... This movie does not look ANYTHING like I thought it would...at all!!

(view spoiler)[ I know it was a long time ago that I read it, but really...I mean really!?!?!? A space ship!?!? And I always see the world in the book as being more like a small little town, not the whole freaking world!! What the heck?! I know I need to re-read the book....but based on this trailer they tried to make it all hip and modern and cool...and I don't know it I will like it at all!! (hide spoiler)]

Yeah...I am...very nervous about how this is going to turn out.

(view spoiler)[ Also you are right...it is one town. Did you read the other three books in the quartet? There are other villages in this world but the other villages have different problems. Also the last book in the quartet called Son is about the girl that was the birthmother for baby Gabriel and you read the events of The Giver all over again but from her perspective, and then you follow her on a journey to find her son again. It was amazing!!! I love this quartet. the two books in between, Gathering Blue and Messenger, were good too. And short, easy reads :) (hide spoiler)]

I LOVED Gathering Blue! Read it about a month or so ago. Need to get the other two for sure! Oh, and re-read The Giver!! :D

Yeah Messenger was ok. It was still worth the read, but my least favorite of the four. But Son was possibly my favorite of all four. It tied in the events and characters of the three previous books so well. And it was well written and I just loved it!!

I wonder how they will go about the movie(s). Like if I were writing the scripts I would make movie 1: The Giver then movie 2: Gathering Blue + Messenger combined and then movie 3: Son

YES, ALEXANDER SKARSGARD! XD

Marika wrote: "Yeah Messenger was ok. It was still worth the read, but my least favorite of the four. But Son was possibly my favorite of all four. It tied in the events and characters of the three previous books..."

I have not read them all, but I have a feeling you might do a better job than the trailer I just saw... I mean, REALLY?! Space ship!?!? I just can't get over it!!!!!

Dana wrote: "Marika wrote: "Yeah Messenger was ok. It was still worth the read, but my least favorite of the four. But Son was possibly my favorite of all four. It tied in the events and characters of the three..."

Yeah I hear you. The spaceship is really upsetting.What other crazy things will they add/change?! oh dear...

I just started reading Messenger, and got to the part where the sled is mentioned! My mouth literally fell open!! So excited to keep going and see where the story goes, and then also to re-read The Giver. Maybe should have done that first, but I remember it well enough! :)

I hope you have Son ready. I mean its a total shift in focus but the end of Messenger is...well you might want to move on to something quickly. I accidentaly read The Giver, then Son, then Gathering Blue and Messenger last so I already knew what was going to happen at the end of Messenger so it was less of a...shock.

Yes, a shock, but no as much as I was expecting since I came up with that idea in my head for Matty when they were first leaving from Kara's. I thought "maybe that could work..." but then dismissed it. So, when it said laid down on the ground and all that, I had a feeling that was going to happen! (view spoiler)[ I am sad he did not make it, but glad the puppy was alright. My cat was asleep on my lap when I read that, so I was mega sad when I thought Frolic was dead! (hide spoiler)]

I don't have Son yet, but hopefully soon! They only have it on audio book on the library app I found, so it might be a little bit before I get around to reading it, unless the friend I borrowed Gathering Blue has it in paper form as well... I might need to text her tomorrow! :D

It has been a while since I read the books. I intend to reread them this summer then read Son. I have not read it yet AND I SOOO NEED TO!!

I am on hold for The Giver from the library(on my Kindle), and once I re-read it them I am going to read Son. I feel like I want to refresher of it before I finish the series, since it was 10+ years since I read it last. Sadly, I am more excited to re-read the book and read Son than I am to see the movie.....

Def more excited to read the books again than see the movie!! I am even considering not seeing the movie....

I read the books when I was in middle school, so it has certainly been a while. I reread Gathering Blue my freshman year of high school because it was my favorite of the series. But like you, I still want to refresh them all before finishing the series.

I got The Giver from a friend while on a trip with my high school youth group. I literally started it while on a plane from CA to Ohio. Well, I did not know that there were more books at the time. Then, about 3 months ago my friend randomly mentioned the other books, and I about died! I borrowed Gathering Blue and read it as soon as I could, then tried to find the rest. I had a few months between GB and Messenger and was excited to get to see Matty again!

In a way I wish I would have known about the other books back then, but it was kind of nice to find them now and get to read them and revisit the story now that I have a lot of people to chat with about it. I don't think I even talked about the book to my friend who let me borrow it back then...and there was of course no internet back then in the stone age! haha

Dana wrote: "Yes, a shock, but no as much as I was expecting since I came up with that idea in my head for Matty when they were first leaving from Kara's. I thought "maybe that could work..." but then dismissed..."

(view spoiler)[Yeah since I read Son first I knew he was going to die so I have no way of knowing how I would have taken it. But its so meaningful despite the sadness. (hide spoiler)]

Gahhh I can't wait for you to read Son. It is fantastic for so many reasons!Re-reading The Giver is a good idea because the first section of Son goes back through the events of The Giver but through a different perspective. its so neat.

So I am on the list at the library for The Giver and it is still another like 7 people until I get it. And then comes the hard part of finding Son, since it is not at the library. In a way, after watching the preview again, I don't know that I even want to see the movie much.... It looks like they made it a much bigger thing than the small town, which then makes me wonder if they are planning on making the rest of the series at all.....

Okay...so one of my friends just posted a photo from the movie on her page, and she was freaking out over the caption! I am now also freaking out... Here is what the caption says:


On August 15th, Fiona and Jonas will defy the Council with their love


Anyone else out there super annoyed with that?!?!?
Also, I am starting to read Son as soon as I am done with Prophet of Yonwood! :D

Say what?!? "defy the Council with their love" paaaaleeezzzz

Yeah, I don't think I will be seeing this movie when it comes out.
And I just got the Giver out from the library for a re-read! I will start it soon, but I do have a few other library books to get through first.

I plan on re-read The Giver as soon as it's my turn on the digital library list, but I am really doubting this movie more and more right now!! Did you see the trailer yet? It looks NOTHING like what the book sounds like. I mean...sure...sometimes I read a book and get one image in my head that someone might not agree with...but the trailer is not like anything I remember OR anyone else I have talked to about it... I am super annoyed!!

Yes I saw the trailer. That is most of the reason I don't plan to go watch this. Plus it has a star studded cast - just the movie makers begging people to see it 'cause so-and-so is in it IMO. *sigh*

Exactly!! This story is a classic in so many ways, and is amazing! They should not need to pull these "tricks" to make people want to go see it!!! I read the book in high school and still remember details of it like I read it yesterday! It is THAT GOOD of a book. Sadly, they are trying to go all Hollywood on it, and will make it terrible! I will more than likely see it, but have the lowest of low expectation EVER!

If I see it, I will likely wait for the library to get the DVD ;)

WHATTTTTTT. Who is Fiona?! And Jonas HAS a love story with someone with a different name and comes from a different "town" that occurs later in the book series!!! I will most deffinitely NOT be seeing this in theaters if this is true. I will also get it for free from the library...maybe...idk that is REALLy upsetting information

Yeah...I don't know what they are thinking!!!!! I am glad there are a lot of other people upset about it besides myself!

LOL I'm watching this for Alexander Skarsgard only. XD But no, if they mess it up so darn much, he might be the only thing I enjoy.

I have a feeling that will be one of very few things people like.... Although there have been some other books murdered on screen and since it's known actors or a popular title, people still like it somehow... Drives me a little insane sometimes when people like something just cuz, and it's really not good at all! :(

So I started to read Son but then finally got my copy The Giver from the library. It's kind of fun to read them both at the same time.... I read in one, then get to that same point in the other book, then switch back! Oh, and I was shocked to read that they mention a plane flying over the town, but it was not supposed to and only happened one time.... So it makes me again mad that they have a hovercraft type of thing in the preview of the movie!!! UGH!

Ohh! Reading them both at the same time would be interesting indeed!

I didn't plan on it since I thought I was going to get The Giver sooner, but then I got Son and was too impatient to wait any longer. Then, of course, as soon as I started it The Giver was available. It's kind of fun though! Only a good idea if you have already read the two books in between them of course as well...

So my sister-in-law lives in NYC and she saw a pre-screening of The Giver last night. She said it was pretty bad for multiple reasons. One of them being “an awful love triangle thrown in between Jonas, Fiona, and Asher.” Other reasons summarized: Jonas and friends are 18 instead of 12, dialogue cheesy, bad acting, Taylor Swift sucked, and the movie deviated from the book: specifically an impossible and stupid ending and the memories Jonas receives are different than the book.

I’m mostly disappointed with the stupid love triangle. I will most likely get it from redbox...or wait for the library...not sure I want to pay money to see it it’s a disaster, especially because I really like the books.

WHAT?!?!! I just finished The Giver again a few days ago and hearing all that makes me want to scream and hit someone! The book is AMAZING!! Why would they chance all that about it? I can understand MAYBE making them older, or MAYBE changing some of the memories as long as the point was still the same... But changing both!?! And a love triangle!??! That makes me sooooo mad!! I don't even know if I want to see this one at all now......

My fandom heart is shedding tears as I read this. They should not even call this movie The Giver!!

For real!! I was soooo looking forward to this movie...but the more I hear about it the more disappointed I get!!!

I wish they would make this movie the right way!! It was an amazing book, and has the potential to be an amazing movie!! But....it sounds like they are not doing that....

@Marika: I'm curious as to how they ended the movie....impossible and stupid? How could they change the emotionally charged ending of the book!?

Yeah, feel free to ruin the ending for us!!! I don't plan on seeing it now anyways!! haha :)

Oh she didn't explain the ending to me. I can ask her today though. I sort of don't care because it already seems to be ruined, but I will still ask for your benefit.

I agree with you two...this is all very disturbing news.

Wow....I just finished reading Son and now I am even more annoyed that The Giver looks to be so butchered the movie! I feel like most people don't know that it's a series, but the movie could get people interested...it if were done correctly.... I really hope people read the whole series, it is AMAZING!!!!

I am nervous how the movie going to turn out because the trailer didn't look anything like the book. I love the Giver and i hope the movie doesn't screw it up.

I have no hope in this movie being good at all at this point.... Which is truly sad since the book is so beautiful and amazing!! :/

Ikr!

I love these books so much! And the trailer is awful. They miss some really important stuff just I the trailer and it's really strange and dramatic.

Finished the book, it must be all the hype about it because I found it disappointing. It seems very predictable, not sure if I will continue the series.

I remember finishing the book and liking it overall, but being really sad by the ending since I assumed they both died... It was great to me, but weird in some unfinished way. I honestly thing the rest of the series is better than the first, but only if you read the first.... Like, you need that back story and info and all that, but then as you keep reading everything is more exciting. The movie, however, is for sure going to suck! haha Just needed to say that...again!

Simply put, I'm exited.

I just finished reading The Giver yesterday, and I was blown away. So happy there are more books in the series. Just watched the trailer as well, and it looks amazing. I haven't seen the other trailers, but I'm happy for some of the casting choices: Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep.

Yeah, I wish I knew about the other books when I first read it back in high school. I did not like the ending, since I assumed it was Jonas imagination not real life... So, reading the rest later was amazing! haha

I have to say though....you are one of the first people that I have heard who read the book and then actually liked the trailer. I do not plan on seeing it in theaters AT ALL. I have heard NOTHING but bad things from people who have seen the preview and such....

I haven't read Gathering Blue yet but I've read the rest of the series. I didn't know about the other books either when we read it in middle school so I was extremely excited when I found out about them last year.

I'll probably see the movie but I'm already disappointed that it's not in black and white.

I think I saw 2 trailers for it and one was in black and white. When does the movie come out? That will give some info on how it will do at the theater.

I have not seen the black and white trailer, but the one I have seen is terrible... Here it is:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435651/?...

I just feel like with the hover craft and the fact that they added in a big love triangle, they have gotten so far away from what the book is really about... They are trying to make to too much like the over YA books that are being made into movies right now, rather than just making a movie based on the book!

Oh, and it comes out August 15th.