Reader's Rage!

Ever read The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin?

I read it about four months ago in preparation for the movie that came out in October starring Kate Winslet and Ibris Elba. My motivation? Kate Winslet's a great actress and Ibris Elba's a great actor on top of being drooling good looking!

The book blew me away! Man and woman are stranded in the High Uintas Moutnains of Utah in the dead of winter, with the night stars being closer then any sign of civilization. The cold of their surroundings and their isolation creeps from the pages and up your arms as you read, giving you goosebumps even in the swelter of late July.

The book takes a deeper meaning then the snow they're in, when 'the' unspoken topic inevitably comes up. Man and woman are attracted to each other; do they follow their feelings, even while man is married and woman is engaged?

Charles Martin takes a few chapters to build this point up, but the tension has been in the reader's mind for a lot longer then that. And when he finally does, it's a refreshing POV. Without spoiling the ending, the main characters DO NOT compromise their relationship.

THIS is the whole point of the title, the novel, the author's message. I loved every chapter and was satisfied with what I read... proven farther by my purchase of a copy! My anticipation of the movie grew...

...for about a week. Not that I doubted Winslet and Elba's ability to act, but I doubted the integrity of Hollywood (gee, I wonder why). So, after the movie was released, I went on to PluggedIn, a movie review site. And what I'd feared was true.

The main characters have sex in the movie!!!

Now, imagine the mushroom cloud of a nuclear blast erupting out of the top of my head as I read this. Are you kidding me, Hollywood!?!?! That was the whole point of the book, of the characters, OF THE TITLE!!! IT'S IN THE TITLE!!!! Too many reporter flashbulbs make you blind!!

When I hear Hollywood's doing a book to movie adaptation, I know that a big reason is that they're looking for their next cash cow. But I also like to think that the screenwriters, directors, actors, SOMEBODY is making the adaptation because they appreciated the effort of the author to put their story out there. Well, taking away the entire message of it doesn't seem like the best way to show one's appreciation!

It took a few hours for the mushroom cloud to dissipate. But it's still going to gall me whenever I think about Charles Martin's really good book getting a poor movie rewrite like that.

Bottom line, those bookmarks in Barnes & Noble are right; Don't Judge a Book By Its Movie.