The Host review: Movie vs. Book?

The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Series: The Host, #1
Published by Little Brown and Company on May 6, 2008
Genres: New Adult, Science Fiction
Goodreads

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, didn't expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human.

 

   Rose’s Review   Book       Movie 

This book as been somewhat of an enigma for me.  I first purchased this book in audiobook format to occupy my time on a long drive home from South Caroline.  I nearly fell asleep and wrecked my car!  Now, whether that was because I was simply exhausted by my tenth hour in, or if it was because the book literally bored me to sleep, I really cannot say.  However, I put the book away and eventually sold it to Half Priced Books…or so I thought.  Upon hearing of the movie being released, my book club decided they wanted to go see it, so of course, me being their fearless leader and all, I had to read this book!  Well, I purchased this book AGAIN on audible.com (you are welcome, Stephenie Meyer) and began listening. I was just about finished with all 23 hours that is this book when I noticed, sitting on my bookshelf, in plain sight, looking all innocent and oh so nonchalant, was (you guessed it) my original copy of The Host on cd’s.  So apparently I only THOUGHT of selling it back to Half Priced and just wanted to purchase the book again from audible. Hmph!  At any rate, I was able to complete my listen this time and I am glad I did.  The book, while slow, was definitely better written than her Twilight books.  However, I do think this book was exceptionally slow.  It wasn’t until like hour 12 that I really started getting into the book.  Quite possibly because that is when there finally appears to be some sort of love/relationship going on with Ian and Wanda and we all know how I like that!  Overall, I would say the book was okay.  Perhaps had I not discovered the original copy I purchased, this book would have gotten a slightly more upbeat review.  I could be harboring some ill-will toward this book due to it not living up to a double purchase standard.(Few books can).  As it is, I will most likely NOT be keeping this book.  I mean, I should at least sell back ONE copy right?

As for the movie, I enjoyed watching it, but much like the book, it was rather slow.  I LOVED watching the scenes between Jared and Melanie before Melanie became host to Wanderer.  I know others will disagree, but Jared was hott! Sensual…I loved his husky voice when he was talking on the couch with Melanie telling her that even if they were the last two people on Earth, he could wait. The movie left some parts and characters out of course, as all movies do.  The voice over for Melanie’s voice inside Wanderer was at times, awkward and at others, comic relief.  I did think the movie a bit cheesy, where as the book did not come off that way.  I give props for shiny, mirror-plated sport bikes (they just looked fun!) and one awesome theme song, Radioactive by Imagine Dragons. 

   Julie’s Review     Book      Movie     

I read the book when it first came out in 2009. I remember it being a bit slow at first while the characters and world were being introduced, but after that I remember being sucked in and loving it.  I rated it 5 stars then. [On a side note, I have become a lot more picky over time so I don’t know if I would give this book 5 stars if I just read it now.] I did not re-read it prior to seeing the movie so I was a bit fuzzy on some of the details, but I remembered the story and the connections between all the interesting characters. I loved the way Melanie spoke to Wanderer and the relationship they built while sharing Melanie’s body/mind. I loved the Ian/Wanderer story, probably more than the Melanie/Jared story.  Though, I’m definitely not discounting that Melanie’s love for Jared and her brother is what drove Wanderer to understand that the “soul” occupation was not right and convinced Wanderer to look for Melanie’s family and help reunite them. I just really overall enjoyed it.

The movie on the other hand, was so-so. I did like it, but I wanted to like it more. I had high expectations since I enjoyed the story so much, and while it did a good job portraying the relationships between the great characters, it was just so slow. The pacing of the movie was slow, even the character seemed to speak slowly. There was some action, but overall it was a conversational movie.  The book moved faster for me, I found it suspenseful and exciting, but there wasn’t much suspense in the movie. I did really like the actress that played Melanie/Wanda, Saoirse Ronan. She was definitely giving each character a personality and even though the voice overs of Melanie’s thoughts seemed kinda awkward with the echoes, I really liked that you could tell easily which thoughts were Melanie’s and which were Wanderer’s. I wasn’t sure how the movie was going to pull that off, since it was done so well in the book. They left out a few really cool parts of the book, but then again the movie was already over 2 hours long so I guess that is alright. 

 

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