Iris Rainer Dart

I recently saw the movie,"Beaches" for the 3rd or 4th time. As usual, I got to the end and shed some tears and felt fully satisfied with the movie. It occurred to me that I had never read the book.

I just finished the book and I have to say kudos to the screenwriters of the movie for fixing major flaws in the book. The main flaws had to do with the two main characters.

I'll start with Bertie (Hillary in the film). The name was a poor choice. You can get a lot of mileage from a name. The show more screenwriter for the movie realized this. The connotations for the name "Hillary" include - refined, educated and privileged. The name "Bertie" has none of that. But my main problem with this character was her character. I found her weak, powerless, needy and wholly uninteresting.

Cee Cee was just too much. In the film, Bette Midler brought a genuineness and likeability to Cee Cee which I did not find in the character in the book. She was too coarse. I couldn't see how these two women could be friends. I was especially annoyed with a part in the book where Cee Cee takes off to be with a man who is willing to take a break from "#$@%ing 12-year-old boys" to be with her. Another word for a man like that is a pedophile.

In the end I had a hard time caring about these characters and, in fact, skimmed the last 50 pages in an effort to get to the end and be done with it. The sad part is I've bought the sequel and will probably end up reading it as well and I don't expect I will like it any better.

Perhaps people who have not seen the movie will enjoy it more than I did but I will caution anybody who is a fan of the movie that the book is a weak story in comparison. show less

An excellent film, now over thirty years old but with many issues still relevant today. About a lasting friendship between two very different girls. Bette Midler is believably selfish in her ambitions as a singer, yet she's quite attached to the wealthy (and very attractive) Hillary (Barbara Hershey), who is a lawyer. There are arguments and differences in their friendship, in particular over a man, but also over their different values.

Very well made, mostly in flashback scenes (with some show more superb casting for the eleven-year-old versions of the main actresses). If the ending is a tad predictable, it's still done well, and quite poignant.

Recommended to adults or teens.

Full review here: https://suesdvdreviews.blogspot.com/2021/03/beaches-bette-midler.html show less

Because no film has been made out of the sequel to Beaches I found it more enjoyable. Not having been spoiled on any plot points, but still with mental pictures of the characters, I could easily imagine the action as a movie unfolding. However, I was frustrated with the focus on Cee Cee’s parenting of Nina, and how the book ran through seven
years showing us only snippets of their lives. More attention could have been paid to Nina’s thoughts and struggles than their search for a school or show more Cee Cee’s continued attempts to force Michael to acknowledge his daughter.
The writing style is dramatic and soap-opera-ish, and if you thought Beaches was written with screenplay in mind, I’ll Be There definitely is. Unfortunately, (or fortunately depending on your perspective and your personal feelings about Bette Midler) this is one movie that never got made. show less

A very good book, what would you do if your child was shot and became paralyzed? What if that bullet was meant for you? What if the man you thought you loved was not who you thought he was? This book answers all those questions. I highly recommend this book