What Book Should Never Be Made Into a Film?

As is always the case when something from one medium gets translated into another, boring people with recycled opinions are losing their shit over Baz Luhrmann's new The Great Gatsby movie. "Luhrmann's personal take on the story isn't exactly like the novel!" they cry. "Artistic interpretations shouldn't be allowed in this particular Hollywood production! An industry where people remake and reinterpret stories the whole time!" they imply, with their reviews lamenting the fact that the director didn't follow the book to an absolute tee.

Of course, sometimes adaptations are a resolute failure – mostly when misguided Malicks try to make movies out of video games – but isn't taste all subjective anyway? Criticising an adaptation because you don't think it's true to something else you once enjoyed just seems dumb and kind of reductive. That said, I thought I'd go and ask some people about books they never want to be adapted to film anyway. London, what book should never be made into a film?

Remy, 24, music producer: Because I'm from France, I think I'd say Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Oh, and The Count of Monte Cristo – I never want to see that made into a film. It would absolutely ruin it.

I'm pretty sure that one's already been adapted, I'm afraid. It's got Luis Guzmán in it.
Oh really? Well, I’m never going to watch it.

So why is Le Petit Prince so precious to you?
The story is really nice. And, I mean, I've read it since I was a kid, and I'm 24 right now and I still continue to read it. It absolutely has to stay as a book.

Fair enough.

Emma, 32, pattern cutter: Oh, that’s really hard. My brain is going blank. I think it would have to be The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. It’s my childhood favourite. I just think it’s too much of a beautiful, sweet, innocent thing. We can’t ruin it and make it into a three-hour movie.

Do you think it could ever be made into a three-hour movie?
Probably not, no.

Nivetha, 20, student: I reckon a book called Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher – it's about a girl who gets kidnapped. I love that book. And there's no way it could be made into a movie because you just wouldn't be able to do justice to the characters.

Why not?
Well, because it’s just two people in the book.

There are loads of films with just two characters, though.
Yeah, but there are also so many emotions that the main girl goes through; you can’t capture all of that in a movie.

Naoki, 36, stockbroker: It's a book called 1Q48 by Haruki Murakami. It's a Japanese book.

What is it about that book that makes you think it wouldn't work as a film? 
Because it’s so complex. Maybe it would be too difficult to make it into a film.

What – the structure of the story?
Yes, the structure, because it’s not so simple. And it’s too long a story to be a film.

Ever heard of Lord of the Rings, mate?

Lyndon, 29, writer: I would say The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho would be the book that I’d never want to see made into a film. It’s so profound and so powerfully written that I just don’t think it would translate as well.

How so?
The themes that Coelho writes about are emotions, the soul and connecting to your spiritual self. I don’t think a film could do justice to those themes. Some books just don’t work as films.

Previously - What Would People Say at Your Funeral?