[j_bum]

Incredible work, OP. What a proud feeling you must have. Congrats!!

My wife and I saw the movie this weekend, we thought it was great. I adored the book, yet I recognize a book can’t be perfectly translated to the screen.

I thought the directors did a good enough job at translating the sci-fi into something the masses would enjoy.

Kudos to you

[superchink]

Would you recommend reading the book first?

[alistairSH]

As a general rule, always read the book first. In this case, that holds true - there was too much in the book to cover completely in the movie. It's a pretty quick read as well - you could probably bang it out in a long afternoon, if you were inclined.

That said, I never read Harry Potter and can't imagine going back and reading it now. So, YMMV.

[elictronic]

I don’t think it does here. This has been one of the times where I enjoyed the movie more than the book. I liked the character in the book, in the movie I couldn’t take my eyes off them.

[lmm]

> As a general rule, always read the book first. In this case, that holds true - there was too much in the book to cover completely in the movie.

That's normal, and precisely why my general rule is the opposite. Watch the movie first, and then if you like it the book expands on and deepens it. If you read the book first then when you watch the movie you'll just be annoyed at how much was left out or dumbed down.

[qingcharles]

I watched the Harry Potter movies first and then read the books and thoroughly enjoyed the books, and the movies didn't spoil them at all.

[9dev]

They might be a special case considering the audience, books, author, actors, and the movies themselves grew alongside each other; it’s pretty singular, I think.

[qingcharles]

It's definitely possible. I've almost never watched the movie first. Normally I see a trailer for an upcoming movie and I'm too impatient so I grab the book and read it.

[TyrunDemeg101]

Both are wonderful. I thought the movie was an excellent adaptation of the book.

But I am glad I read the book first, I got much more out of it - it goes a lot more in depth into the science and engineering challenges that occur throughout. Which I appreciated. I'm not sure I would have read the book in the same way if I had seen the movie first.

[RulerOf]

I watched the movie and then read the book.

I tend to prefer movies as a storytelling medium, and enjoyed watching the story unfold that way. I ended up just wanting to know more about things that were implied in the movie but not explained, and the book filled in those gaps well.

So if you want to do both, and want to get something new when you do each, then, having done it that way, I would recommend it.

Edit: reviewing my app history, it took me somewhere between 10-11 hours to read the book, and I do not read fiction especially fast.

[opan]

I often feel similarly to this when it comes to anime vs manga. I've explained it to people as the anime with its voice acting, music, motion, and color being able to present a better version of the story. You hit the nail on the head with reading the book after to fill in blanks as well. I like to say the manga often has bonus details, but if I'd read it first, it would spoil the anime, similarly to reading a movie script before watching a movie. Basically no one agrees with me on any of this so I was surprised to see your take being similar to mine.

[csours]

I read the book before watching the movie - I'd recommend the opposite.

Watching the movie first will set the stage for a lot of details that work better in a book than a movie.

[seer]

Haven’t seen the movie yet, but the book is definitely one of my all time favourites, so I would recommend reading it regardless of the movie.

The way the book is structured there is only one big reveal that would be spoiled by the movie, but I don’t think that was the most interesting thing in the book anyways, it was all about engineering, the scientific method and all that, and I think that will still hold before or after watching.

The one big exception I’ve found to “read the book first” advice to me has been “the expanse” there the books and the series were so great that they sort of complemented each other, and the advice there is “definitely do both”. I was reading the books and watching the series in parallel - side by side.

I do hope Hail Marry is like that…

[j_bum]

That’s a tough one. I’d recommend the book first, but I can see arguments for both orders.

By reading the book first, you’ll have a better background and understanding of the context of the plot, the science, and the overall objectives of the mission. There are also several “twists” in the book that were cut from the movie for runtime.

I enjoyed the movie after reading because I got to see the story “come to life”.

But I could also understand the perspective of enjoying the movie first, and then having the story/world expanded 8x with a 16hr book.

You’d could equate “movie -> book” order to watching the LoTR standard editions first, and then watching the extended editions.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Ray Porter (on Audible) and would recommend that production if you enjoy audio.

I don’t think you can go wrong either way :)

[aczerepinski]

Book is better but they’re both good. I don’t think order matters.

[geerlingguy]

I agree; the movie is more of a relationship/self-reflection/friendship story, with some pop science and space stuff mixed in to keep it interesting.

The book is more of a true sci-fi novel, with the relationship stuff keeping it interesting.

I liked both a lot, and think both could be enjoyed fully with or without the other, in either order.

[estebank]

I found that I would have enjoyed the movie a bit more if I hadn't read the book, but it was still a solid 8/10. I'm really glad that a movie like this did well in opening weekend.

[zyberzero]

Not the parent, but I've seen the movie and read the book. I think there are a few gaps in the movie that's explained by the book, but there are some artistic freedom as well between the book and the film.

I would recommend reading the book first at least.

[dahart]

The book is fantastic, I’d recommend reading it one way or another. ;) Speaking personally, I lose some motivation to read a book after seeing the movie. But book-based movies of course rarely if ever live up to the book. I read first, so I can’t speak to the other way around, but I think I was looking forward to the movie a lot more than I would have if I hadn’t read the book. I also suspect I was more forgiving of the movie than if I’d seen it cold.

[gukov]

The audiobook version is amazing, if that’s your thing.

[throw0101d]

> Would you recommend reading the book first?

I recommended it to a co-worker, who ended up going with the audio book, and found he found it good.

[stevenwoo]

Audiobook is outstanding with sound fx, if one is into that.