Book and Movie Comparison :: The Host, by Stephanie Meyer

The Host by Stephenie Meyer
Published by Little Brown and Company
on May 6th 2008
Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 620
Goodreads

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, didn't expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

Last updated on 19 January 2022

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Comparing The Host by Stephanie Meyer to the movie adaptation

After reading the Twilight Series (before they were the ‘in’ thing, I might add, and before the whole thing blew up the entire world), I decided to read The Host, which is Stephanie Meyer’s other, non-vampire book. I’m not ashamed to say that I actually really like the Twilight books (don’t get me started on the movies…Kristin, please just make another facial expression! Haven’t even seen the two most recent ones…), but I really really liked The Host. Probably more than the other books.

Perhaps it was because the typical love triangle was actually a love square, but the two girls were in the same body…and that blew my mind a bit. Perhaps it was the way that it was written, or the way that she managed to write a book about aliens that didn’t involve green slime. Or perhaps it was just because it was a cool story. Needless to say, when I heard the movie was coming out, I got super excited. And then I thought ‘Well, what if they ruin it?’, which left me with mixed feelings about the whole thing.

This -past week I watched The Host, and I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. I thought they did a great job at keeping details and the main storyline the same and not changing much. I thought Saoirse Ronan did a good job at playing Wanderer (and also Melanie), and was pretty much how I imagined the characters when I read them for the first time. The guys in the story weren’t really what I had imagined, but I still think they did a good job.

The only things that I didn’t really like were how fast two of the characters fell for each other. It seemed like it was only about a week in the movie, but I think it was longer in the book…but I could be wrong. It just seemed too fast in the movie. Also, I remember in the book (which, to be honest, I haven’t read for about a year and a half) there was more of a climax to the story. The movie, to me, didn’t really have a big climax…and things happened too easily. Like the baddie getting caught.

But overall, I did enjoy the movie, and although it won’t be one I watch over and over, I do think I’ll watch it again sometime.