New film #5: Can one of my favourite books turn into my favourite film?

Cecelia Ahern is a very popular author, and most people recognise the name because of her debut novel P.S. I Love You. However my favourite book of hers, and one of my favourite fiction books, is her second title Where Rainbows End. I'm a fan of When Harry Met Sally; those long friendships turning into relationships, and for quite a while years ago I thought that sort of thing would happen to me.

The book, and the film is about Alex and Rosie, who go from childhood friends, to teenage years and coping with adult life; tricky marriages, kids, loss and career. What differs with the film is while the book spans from childhood to their fifties, the film spans over 12 years. It’s quite a difference, but the film covers all the major events in the book. Like most chick flicks, there could have been a bit more depth that there was in the book. The book achieves this by conversations Alex and Rosie have with their siblings, but the film just shows their siblings to be minor characters with the main purpose being to annoy the main characters growing up, rather than being confidantes for them. 

The highlight of the film for me was Alex played by Sam Claflin. I'm becoming a big fan of Sam Clafin. Me and my flatmate Charlotte who I went to see Love, Rosie with call him Claffers and we've even got a picture of him on our fridge! He had the right balance of humour and sensitivity, and isn't exactly hit with the ugly stick so it was a very easy film to watch.

Book to film adaptations are always tricky, and I think Love, Rosie pulls it off. If you've read the book, you just have to ignore the fact they've muddled some of the character names around! Which films do you think have been adapted from a book well?