Novel to Film Comparison - Blood and Chocolate

Okay, random first post. I've been wanting to rant about this publicly for years.

As you can see the title of this post is Blood and Chocolate. For those of you that don't know, it's a young adult novel written by Annette Curtis Klause release in 1997 and a decade later released on film. When it comes to novels made into movies 95% of the time I watch the movie first and then read the book. This, this is one of the 5%.

I came across Blood and Chocolate when I was in the eighth grade. Picking it up immediately after I read Klause's novel The Silver Kiss, both of which I love. To this day I'm not sure how this happened but somehow my middle school actually got Klause to come and visit. Unlike, the majority of my fellow classmates, who used her visit as an excuse to skip class, I truly, honestly wanted to meet her. She was amazing and by amazing I mean strikingly different. I remember when whomever was reading their introduction of Klause to us they mentioned that for Blood and Chocolate Klause would howl to get into the character. Upon this statement she immediately howled--in the middle of our library. It was priceless. Then when it got to her turn to talk she insisted that we joined her in a group howl. Not many people get to say they got away with howling in their school library. At the time of her visit she had released three books, The Silver Kiss a vampire tale, Alien Secrets a mystery on a space station, and Blood and Chocolate a werewolf tale. She mentioned that she was working on a fourth book called Freaks: Alive on the Inside, a story about a boy who runs away from the circus and the events that ensue. I was psyched to hear she had another novel coming up. But nothing made me more ecstatic then when she mentioned that her novel Blood and Chocolate was in the makings of becoming a movie. Can you imagine the excitement my little thirteen year old self had? It took all my will power not to squeal. Her visit came to an end and I got her autograph. In fact, I believe I still have it on an index card tucked away in a box of memorable items.

Alright, flash forward, I'm now in college dating my future husband, de12, and somehow I brought up the novel, meeting the author, and the movie release, that I hadn't seen yet. Being the computer savvy guys that he is, de12 used imdb.com and informed me of it's release date. I swear I didn't breath when I saw the trailer the first time. But in all my excitement I didn't notice the differences it showed compared to the novel I loved. That or I can't remember noticing the differences. I didn't really mention to my friends that I was going to see it. Apparently, there was this common distaste with the title and how unrelated it seemed to werewolves. From their views yes I get why, but I read the book so I knew the relevance the title had to the story.

Opening weekend came, and there I was sitting in the theater on the edge of my seat eager for the result of an eight year long wait. I sat quietly watching as the scenes played out before me. Observing the characters interact and fulfill their roles. When the credits rolled de12 and I left our seats and walked out. He then asked, "So, what'd ya think?" And my response was, "As a book lover, I hated it. As a movie lover, I loved it."

Eight years. I waited eight years for that film. I didn't get the story I wanted, but I still saw a good movie. Since the two are completely different stories I'll briefly discuss them individually.

Novel:

Plot: Teenage female werewolf trying to find her place in life and becomes involved with a human.

It involves typical scenarios that revolve around high school and the inner workings and traditions of a werewolf pack. To me, the ending was a surprise but a well deserved one. Truth was I was originally infuriated with the ending but with time, thought, and much consideration I realized it was a great ending.

Film:

Plot: Teenage female werewolf rebelling against what everyone is telling her she must do and becomes involved with a human.

The film has an amazing interpretation of the werewolf lore. I loved the way they changed. I liked how it was different compared to other films, with the fur growth and bones reshaping.  Downside, ending was predictable.

Differences aside, I still love both novel and film.