Dear John - movie vs. the book
Characters:
I feel like Channing Tatum did a really good job and fit the character of John Tyree well. Amanda Seyfreid fit her part as Savannah pretty well also, but for some reason I pictured Savannah a little more passionate about life.
Beginning:
I liked the beginning of the book and how it was a glimpse at the end: the reader understands from the beginning that they don’t end up together. I feel like that would’ve translated well on screen, and been a good intro to the movie maybe just because I could picture it in my head. But the movie opens with John reading a letter he wrote about the last thing he thought of before he blacked out after he was shot. The letter wasn’t in the book, but it didn introduce the importance of the coins in a fresh way, I suppose.
Things added to the movie, not in the book:
They added a lot of scenes to the movie that weren’t in the book. Why? I’m not sure. For example: I really liked what was probably the best scene of the movie, when John goes to see his dad in the hospital and reads him the letter, however, it was not in the book. In the book, the last time he sees his dad, John tell him how much he loves and appreciates him and he’s sorry that he’s been gone so much and that he had given him such a hard time. To this speech, his dad responds with a single word- “Okay”, which John says he “can’t help but smile at.” That to me is pretty sweet, but the scene in the movie where Tatum reads the letter to his dad in the middle of a hospital hallway is so emotional, and sweet you can’t help but love it and feel John’s burdensome love for his dad.
In the book, there are a few people at John’s dad’s funeral, but I guess in the movie they decided to only show John at the funeral to exaggerate the situation.
The whole scene where John and Savannah try to bring his dad to her parents house and he has a panic attack in the car never happens in the book, but it was a dramatic depiction of how his father has Adult Autism and how that affects his life, as well as John’s.
This is super nit picky, but in the beginning when John and Savannah meet, John never stepped in the fire at the beach house, and rather than him just randomly asking her out the next day, she had asked him if he could teach her to surf. They never had the thing where they would say “ I’ll be seeing you” back to each other. That was just for the screen.
Things in the book not in the movie-
But there were a lot of things they left out of the movie as well- such as when John comes home after his dad passes away and finds the filth in his dad’s bed, and cans of soup piled high in the kitchen. In the movie, they sort of show John coming home to the dirty kitchen, but it isn’t explained, and you don’t see how infuriated he is. John is so upset by this he almost makes an impulse trip out of pure anger to the neighbor’s about why they didn’t look after his Dad, but rather he decides against it and sits down and cries. It’s the first time he cries in the book, and from what the narrator tells us, in a long time.
The fact that the other reason his dad loves that one special coin as much as he does, is because the only picture that existed of John and his dad was made after they discovered this coin.
The fact that his dad didn’t ever talk about coins after a certain point didn’t just devlop out of nowhere- at one point in the book, John yells at him and tells him how much he never wanted to talk about coins again.
I also feel like they could’ve given more of a background on John’s bad years where he went to the bar a lot and could’ve cared less about the life he was living.
Where did the knife fight come in the book? Don’t remember that OR the 2 bullets he took to the shoulder. There is a dramatic war scene in the book, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t get shot.
The part where Savannah is sitting by the beach in the movie and John comes up behind her is different in the book as well. Savannah’s reason for being upset is because she knows she has to tell John about his Dad, and she ends up giving John a book on adult Autism at the pier, which John refuses to take. Tim coms to John’s house to give him the book later, where John apologizes for punching him in the nose. John actually spends a whole day reading it and putting two and two together about his dad and seeing that he really might have adult autism. This was vital in the story because it changed the way John saw his dad. He appreciated him more that he had before and their relationship was better from this point on.
Another part that they left out was that the only friend who came to visit John after his dad dies is John’s ex girlfriend. They talk for along time and he ends up telling her all about Savannah, against his initial hesitancy. But I guess this part is not essential to the storyline, except that it sort of explains his timing in driving to Savannah’s house to see her.
ENDING:
The ending is probably the biggest difference in the two. In the book Tim lives, and John decided to leave forever, and leave Savanah alone, even though they both love each other. Savannah has to live with the decision she made to marry Tim, and it is a really bitter-sweet ending.
In the movie, they change it to where Tim dies after a couple of months and John and Savannah spot each other in the street and embrace, leaving the viewers to think that all is well and they end up together- a happy ending- or at least more favorable to the book’s. It sort of makes Tim’s character just seem very unimportant and that Savannah doesn’t have to deal with her decision. It’s more unrealistic, but I think it will definitely please audiences more than the books’ ending.
Which ending do I prefer? As sick as it sounds, I think I prefer the ending in the book. Ya, it’s sad, but I think it’s what has to happen. Life isn’t always easy, and people do have to deal with the decisions they make. As a romantic, this decision is not a norm for me, but I’m at a point in life where I’m beginning to be able to appreciate Realism. So yes, I like the book’s ending better. J
The End.
