The Original - and best
Sep. 28th, 2025 07:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qatsiBook Review: The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman
First read in 2021, this was a re-read following the film adaptation.
I recall John Le Carré saying words to the effect that when your book is turned into a film or TV adaptation, you have to let go, and trust them to get on with it. It's sound advice. When this happens to a book, it's because it has been successful. But, inevitably, people who have read the book will compare the new rendition, and probably unfavourably.
The essence of the book is still there, but quite a few things are cut in and out (mostly out). The most significant, obviously, is Bogdan's actions and motivations - a whole slice of the novel is dropped there, replaced with something altogether more simplistic. C'est la vie, I suppose; but although it doesn't impact on any plot going forward into the next novels, it leaves the character in a bit of an awkward place, not least with respect to the police. Richard E Grant's Bobby Tanner comes over as a much darker character in the film than in the book, and I can't remember whether Turkish Johnny gets a mention in the film at all.
I had to go back to IMDB to check that Bernard features in the film; it's fair to say he isn't a major character in the book, but it's another slice that has vanished or been heavily reduced.
And who and why is Maud? This character doesn't appear in the book at all.
First read in 2021, this was a re-read following the film adaptation.
I recall John Le Carré saying words to the effect that when your book is turned into a film or TV adaptation, you have to let go, and trust them to get on with it. It's sound advice. When this happens to a book, it's because it has been successful. But, inevitably, people who have read the book will compare the new rendition, and probably unfavourably.
The essence of the book is still there, but quite a few things are cut in and out (mostly out). The most significant, obviously, is Bogdan's actions and motivations - a whole slice of the novel is dropped there, replaced with something altogether more simplistic. C'est la vie, I suppose; but although it doesn't impact on any plot going forward into the next novels, it leaves the character in a bit of an awkward place, not least with respect to the police. Richard E Grant's Bobby Tanner comes over as a much darker character in the film than in the book, and I can't remember whether Turkish Johnny gets a mention in the film at all.
I had to go back to IMDB to check that Bernard features in the film; it's fair to say he isn't a major character in the book, but it's another slice that has vanished or been heavily reduced.
And who and why is Maud? This character doesn't appear in the book at all.