Beaches: A Novel

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 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 show more 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

The first and last chapters mirror the film almost precisely, but everything in between is incredibly divergent. I'm having a hard time reviewing the book as an entity of it's own without comparing it to the film. I kept hearing Bette Midler's voice in my head while reading it. I have to go watch it again, I think. I did enjoy reading it. I can't really even say which is better. I sort of wish I'd read the book first. Ah, well. Even if you've seen the film a thousand times, this is worth your time.

I loved the movie and I love the book! And....I think the movie was better.

Two women share a friendship that spans over 30 years, survives past marriages and careers, and all of life's ups and downs.

As I got near the end of the book, I was saying in my head "don't cry, don't cry, don't cry". Then, too late! I was crying.

Having seen the movie Beaches more times than I can count, I was looking forward to the book. I am therefore sorry to say that I didn’t like it that much.
The basic story stays the same: Cee Cee Bloom and Bertie White (Hillary in the movie) form an unlikely friendship when they are 10 and & 7 years old (respectively). Through many years and personal hardships they remain friends, until a tragic illness brings them together.

What didn’t I like about this book? Cee Cee Bloom is not a very nice person in this book, and I found it hard to really care for her. In the movie Bette Midler gives her a clear vulnerability that wasn’t apparent in the book. It also seemed to me that the author had Bette specifically in mind while writing the show more story, as if it were already a screenplay in her head. The character of Bertie was whiny and sad. I wanted more than once to say: Come on woman get on with your life!!, but it never seemed to happen. The clichéd fate of one of the male characters was kind of ‘been there done that’ and I expected more from the author.
Nevertheless, because of fond movie memories the book scored extra points, that’s why it gets a high 3***. show less

A heartfelt story of what it means to be best friends. This book captures the essence of true friendship between two extremely different women. It's filled with humor and pathos and had me laughing and crying before I was finished.

I liked that this wasn't the same as the movie, or else I would have felt compelled to pick which was better, which would be extremely hard as I adored the movie. But yeah, this book was good. Different to the movie, but I wasn't disappointed.

I really enjoyed the story, but it did not move me as much as I thought it should. Liked the characters, liked the story, a good read.