Film Adaptations of The River King

I've just finished reading The River King and someone told me there is a film version of it. Has anyone seen it, and if so, what did you think of it?

I've just begun reading The River King, so ;et's compare notes when I am finished. I'll try to rent the movie.-MB

The River King dvd arrived in my mailbox today. I'll let everyone know what I think of it as soon as I watched it. :) I enjoyed the book a lot; hopefully they stay true to it.

I am reading several books at a time so it seems to take forever. Anywho, I just finished The
River King and what I enjoy most are two things- 1)her style of prose is almost like poetry,if you look at each sentence individually almost every line says something in a lovely way. I don't like books that take you through every movement of every character as if you can't imagine the scene. Of course, the reader may need some description and hers is so unusual. She uses comparisons to nature alot.
2)I believe that she has deep insight into human nature. Her characters consider themselves in the grand scheme as well as in a personal way.

EW, did you watch the movie? I think I saw it but I can't really remember. Who was in it? I loved how Hoffman had Gus haunting Carlin with the dripping jacket and even better how she kept it AND wore it. OOHH YUCK! I have a couple of other books to read but I just snagged another Hoffman book Second Nature on the free rack at the local library, so I'll be on to that soon. Mary Beth

I agree with you that Hoffman's prose is almost like poetry, Mary Beth and I also like her comparisons to nature. I like to flag sentences or passages I like as I read, so I can go back and enjoy them. ( " Outside the September air was enticingly fragrant, yellow with pollen and rich, lemony sunlight." - The River King..........."She dreamed her grandmother looked up and saw falling peach snow, so quiet it was nothing like a storm, so fragrant it could make a grown man cry" - The Probable Future )I love lines like that. Turtle Moon and The Ice Queen are also full of imagery like that, as well as some wonderful characters.

As far as the movie version of The River King: well, it was just awful. So awful, I couldn't even force myself to finish watching it! It immediately turned me off that one of my favorite main characters was SO different from the book. Totally different physical type and personality. Also, I didn't like the way the movie had the biggest dramatic occurance happen at the beginning, and told the story backwards, unlike the book. I really like the book and I couldn't bear to see it ruined, so I gave up.

I haven't read Second Nature yet. I'll be interested to hear what you think of it , Mary Beth.

My thoughts were how could they show on film that eerie sense of change that Carlin goes through when she realizes that Gus has not "left" after his death, and the connection between not being able to deny love among the living (Abel and Betsy) and the dead (Gus and Frank and the people in their life)The novel was very much "in your head" and therefore hard to portray. MB

I have never seen the movie. I didn't even know they had made a movie of The River King. I need to read the book again and then rent the movie.