Seldom does it happen that I find screen adaptation of a book better than the original; and this must be one of those rare occasions.
It all started with when during one of my travels, I was surfing TV channels in a hotel in Prague because I just couldn't sleep. I was passing through one of the German language channels when I spotted Tom Hiddleston and Elizabeth Debicki on the screen. I stopped just to make out what movie that is and I got so hooked to it that I watched 4 episodes 4 days in a row, skipping sight seeing to watch a series in a language I was not very comfortable in. Also, I had read the Wikipedia page too on the first night itself. I watched the series twice again in English and had already fallen in love with Tom Hiddleston even before he spoke his first word on the screen.
Now, having read rave reviews of the book and having heard a Tom Hiddleston interview where he was all praises about the book, I picked it up. How severely disappointed I was with the same. Not only I found the narratives overtly stretched, I did not find my interest building up in the story either. It is one of the reasons that it took me so long to finish the book as I felt bored and distracted. The only reason I carried on and finished the book was to see how different it was from the BBC series.
The screen adaptation is excessively modified and I think makes for a more realistic and interesting plot. But I must make allowances for the time period in which the novel is set in and remember that there were no gadgets or cellphones or GPS trackers or satellites to track people; and there were no wire and online transfers of funds either. But for me the biggest sore point in the book was the climax. Apologies for the spoiler but I cannot forgive le Carré for not giving a proper closure to Richard Roper and his illegal transactions. Just rescuing Jonathan Pine, and Jed along with him, is simply not enough for me.
Although the review pertains to the book (I hardly comment on technicalities anyway), I would like to write a few words about the casting. Maybe because I had seen the screen adaptation first, but every time I read anything about Jonathan Pine, I could easily visualise Tom Hiddleston as Pine; same with Hugh Laurie as Richard Roper; or Tom Hollander as Corky; in fact, pretty much every character except Burr (for obvious reasons) and Jed. Elizabeth Debicki is not even remotely close to the Jed in the book both in terms of physical description or in terms of characterisation.
Now, I need to catch up on the series once again to get over my disappointment.
Now, I need to catch up on the series once again to get over my disappointment.
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