Its always hard to say which is the best way to tackle the old "which comes first, the film or the book?"
Having already read the book in my teens (blimey I'll be talking in shillings and pence next) I decided to pick it up again when I heard that the film was being released and it was only now with a "few" extra years living that Roberts dire situation really struck home, I have to say that I found my self thinking that I would have boarded myself up in the nearest shoe shop and living out my last few days smothered in pleather and trying to ignore the howls of long dead mates waiting to make a necklace out of my entrails. I have always thought that your imagination when reading will always picture far more graphic images than anything a hollywood blockbuster will ever throw at you (even with a rather scrummy Will smith) and I def found that to be the case with this book, ok maybe I would have liked a slightly more cheerfull ending (stop reading now if you dont want me to spoil… more »

Its always hard to say which is the best way to tackle the old "which comes first, the film or the book?"
Having already read the book in my teens (blimey I'll be talking in shillings and pence next) I decided to pick it up again when I heard that the film was being released and it was only now with a "few" extra years living that Roberts dire situation really struck home, I have to say that I found my self thinking that I would have boarded myself up in the nearest shoe shop and living out my last few days smothered in pleather and trying to ignore the howls of long dead mates waiting to make a necklace out of my entrails. I have always thought that your imagination when reading will always picture far more graphic images than anything a hollywood blockbuster will ever throw at you (even with a rather scrummy Will smith) and I def found that to be the case with this book, ok maybe I would have liked a slightly more cheerfull ending (stop reading now if you dont want me to spoil it to much) but i guess that we can't always have the hero walk off into the sunset, although if the americans had thier way kate and leo would have sailed into the sunset rather than the rather freezing there nipples off in icey waters. When you consider that this book was written before even i was born and the fact that Richard inspired many of the greats such as stephen king and james herbert then you cant help but read it with a fresh set of eyes... one word of warning, if you do read it before watching the film, try not to shout out "His daughter didnt have a bloody dog" and "She wasnt human, were did the bloody kid come from?" as like me you will prob end up with half a bucket of popcorn on your head...