January Book vs. Movie: A Walk to Remember

In 2015, I'm starting something new on Mondays for the blog. Once a month, we'll be tackling the age old question, is the book better than the movie? I will get into the similarities and the differences and then decide which is better according to my own preferences.

This month, we launch the segment with Nicholas Sparks' A Walk To Remember

So the overall plot of both the book and the movie is this:

1. Set in North Carolina, "A Walk To Remember" follows the rite of passage of a jaded, aimless high school senior (Shane West) who falls in love with a guileless young woman (Mandy Moore) he and his friends once scorned. The two develop a powerful and inspirational relationship in which they discover truths that take most people a lifetime to learn.

Of course, that is the "Reader's Digest Version" of the plot. The plot of the movie and the book and the movie are one and the same but the stories are not only told in completely different styles but in completely different eras as well.

Let's dissect the eras first. The book is set in the mid-50's. Taking us back to a completely different time than what we're used to. The argument can be made that with it being set "back then" that it alienates a whole age group of people that may feel like they have no ties to that time.  The movie was made in "current times", though the use of muscle cars were a shout out to the book. The producer of the movie said that he wanted to bring the movie out of the 1950s to make it more relevant not only for the movie goers of when it was made (late 1990s) but also the future audiences.

The book was told in first person, more specifically, from Landon Carter's point of view. I am a huge Nicholas Sparks fan. And it was because of this book. First person is hard to write and keep control and interest in the story and Sparks does that. However, the problem with it is that it limits the plot and what we get to know of the other characters in the book. The movie does a good job of filling us in on Jamie's character and what the book leaves out.

I love both the book and the movie. I originally watched the movie first and then read book years later. I love the diversity between the two and how they're so vastly different yet the same. However, because of the first person point of view, I'd have to say that the movie is better than the book. 

Let me know your opinion, readers. Am I wrong?