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Just finished The Presige by Christopher Priest. This is the book last year's movie was based on.
I really liked the movie (I would put it in my personal top five for the year depending on mood and permanently in the top ten). At the time I know a lot of people who love the book complained about the changes.
And they are significant changes. That said, I think this is a story better suited for film than paper. First of all, when the central activity of all the principals is magic and the sense of mystery around it, that is just very nearly impossible to capture with the written word and this is when I found the book most lacking.
Also, the way the "surprises" are masked in the book would be impossible on film and (mostly) vice versa so some serious changes are required. I liked the nature of the feud in the book better than in the movie while I liked the final "presige" better in the movie than in the book.
The biggest change is that the movie lost the modern bookends, which I found uncompelling but necessary because of how the historical parts are presented. Since that format is missing in the movie, the modern parts are no longer needed and the movie wisely, in my opinion, loses them.
Overall an easy quick read (started Tuesday evening, finished Friday morning) and certainly above average. For you sabreticians out there, put in terms of ERA+, however, the movie has a better ERA+ than the book.
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