published: 2008 // 445 pages
isbn: 978-1-5011-4064-8
read from: 2/15-19/2016
i didn't even know this was a book.
i knew it was a movie because i saw the previews and i was like hell yes! so when i went to B&N on valentines day to kill time and i saw this was a book, i HAD to get it.
who doesn't love to compare?
uhm....this book 1000% proves my theory: that in order to love a movie based on a book, you have got to see the movie first.
case in point: i LOVED the movie and the book. well the book I'm all over the place.
i didn't even log it on my goodreads until today so i had not seen the reviews and a lot of them are 2-3 stars and i gotta say, i agree.
i have NO IDEA how they even made a movie off this book because, while yes i know they always switch things up, this is a COMPLETELY different thing. the book and the movie do not go along. two complete polar opposites.
like how did they make a movie of this book when NOTHING is the same.
so this is based on Julie, Alice, Serena, Georgia and Ruby.
they're are all 38 year old women living in New York and handling the struggles of being single.
G is the only married one but she is going through a divorce so its starts with her wanting to go out to meet men. then its just one hot mess after another until they realize that they have to love each other cause that's just how it is.
ill break it down by person cause how else?
THE BOOK
JULIE
this book is told from her point of view. shes 38. tired of her everyday same day life so she comes up with the idea to write a book about single women in different areas of the world. she goes to her publisher, they strike up a deal and off she goes. i wont get in to the details of it all but i will say that she meets Thomas in Paris.
he is a married man in an open marriage so after some "soul searching" she decides to sleep with him but of course feelings always get involved and its not til shes in China that she really sees how shitty her actions have been. in the end she realizes "well shit. maybe i do need to love myself."
ALICE
she's a kick ass 38 year old who knows what she wants and goes for it.
eventually she meets a man and she decides that even though shes not in love, shes going to marry him because she knows she wont get another chance.
eventually she realizes she's being stupid and calls it off.
RUBY
this chick is just always fucking depressed.
she cries over every single guy she dates and she hates the thought of even trying to get out there.
she tries to get inseminated only to back out at the very last second. so now she's without child and a crap load of money. and what sucks is that she keeps replaying it over and over based on her mom and her growing up.
she finally gets on anti-depressants and lives a sorta happy life.
SERENA
she is the hippie of the group i guess you can call it. she's completely given up on anything remotely close to a love life (or a life for that matter.) she decides to become a yogi, gives up all her shit, shaves her hair off, falls in love with some other yogi (or whatever) dude only to find out hes a man whore. she gives that life up goes back to her old job and only until her boss passes away does she learn what love is.
she is the hippie of the group i guess you can call it. she's completely given up on anything remotely close to a love life (or a life for that matter.) she decides to become a yogi, gives up all her shit, shaves her hair off, falls in love with some other yogi (or whatever) dude only to find out hes a man whore. she gives that life up goes back to her old job and only until her boss passes away does she learn what love is.
GEORGIA
i think this one is probably the craziest one of the bunch.
her husband left her for a younger Brazilian woman. she goes ape shit, decides she wants to start dating and finding the next love of her life RIGHT AWAY. she then learns that its not as easy as she thinks it is.
even Julie admits that she kind of treated her husband like crap so i thought when there was a window to maybe make it work that she would take it but nope. that's over.
and the shit she does! ugh! this woman is crazy.
so basically Julie gets to travel and eventually all the girls travel one part with her until the end when they all meet up.
uhm.....as far as relationships go, all these women are crazy and i pray to God that I'm not like this at the age of 38. because if i am, I'm screwed.
it was very interesting to read about the dating facts all over the world (if they are real) and given what they are, I'm glad to be in America where we have instilled marriage in our culture BUT the acceptance that i am not a failure for not birthing children if i don't want to because my career is more important.
i don't know. as far as the book goes, I'm not crazy about it but i didn't hate it.
i preferred the crap out of the movie. 100%
the book is all about being depressed at an older age.
the only thing i truly loved about the book was the fact that these 5 women who weren't that close to each other in the beginning (besides Julie knowing all of them) ended up building a solid friendship. a girl gang if you will. and i think i loved that because honestly, that's what i want.
THE MOVIE
in the movie its Alice (which i think is a rip off of Georgia and Julie...minus the marriage and kids. and the book deal crap. she actually never leaves NYC til the end) who leaves her bf to discover herself after they graduate college. she moves to NY and ends up living with her sister Meg (a rip off of Ruby but nowhere near depressed. just always working.) Robin does not exist in the book (but its clear shes a rip off of Alice minus the crazy need to be in a relationship crap.)
then there's also Lucy (who i think is also Alice but Serena in a way cause she's all about being on her own but needing to have a man.)
Alice goes through dates and figures herself out, keeps for some odd reason going back to her ex even though hes moved on. (she was way TOO calm there. i think i would have gone crazy.) and kinda just realizes what she needs to learn.
blah blah blah. drama drama drama.
at the end of it all, the movie was actually a great message on how to enjoy being single. and seeing as how i was single for 4 years it really hit close to home for me because i LOVED those single years. i did so much its ridiculous. and i appreciated it so much. you have no idea how much i LOVE to do things on my own. so i am forever grateful for those years. i think i came in to my own person during that time and while I'm still learning how to do certain things, i am forever grateful for that time and if it wasn't for that i don't think id be who i am today.
blah blah blah.
who would have thought the movie would have taught me more than the book.
anyways.....
WATCH THE MOVIE INSTEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
thanks for reading!
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