Books Made into Movies: The Republic of Love

I read and reviewed The Republic of Love just a few months back. Even so, my memory is such that I only remember the overarching story and am a bit hazy on the details. Thus, I cannot speak to anything but general points on how well this book was adapted.

I just love this banner.

The biggest problem, one that there really was no escaping, was that I just don't care for the guy they cast as Tom. He lacks some of the verve I expected from Tom and I also pictured Tom as being a bit more youthful. He's in his forties, but does he have to look every day of it? Fay, on the other hand, is completely lovely. She is adorable and could totally do way better than both Tom and her prior boyfriend. Then again, she is obsessed with mermaids.

His face is ugly, but at least he's in shape...

Speaking of the mermaids, there isn't much speaking of mermaids in the film version. The reason for cutting all of the information on her scholarly endeavors is an obvious one, but does make the film more of an out and out romance, rather than a women's fiction kind of deal similar to the work of Barbara Kingsolver and the like.

Here's why they cut the mermaid stuff: it's really creepy.

From a plot point of view, this film was pretty true to the book, from what I recall. Some of the elements seemed a bit disjointed, and I doubt I would have understood them, had I not vaguely remembered what was happening from having read the book. An example of this is Fay's relationship with Onion. The story made a decent film, but not one I see being popular with most viewers.