Miracles of the Namiya General Store: Book Versus Film
The Namiya General Store, written by Higashino Keigo, has been sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. This fantasy artwork tells the story that three thieves accidentally become advice purveyors after seeking shelter in an abandoned house. Owing to the creative content, the novel has received universal acclaim and gain global success upon release. It is adapted for the live-action movie in 2017. Again, the work garnered rave review from audiences. Although the movie is based on the book, there are some differences among them. The following will compare differences between the book and the adapted film of the Namiya General Store.
To start with, the two versions have differences in the time order. In the book, it begins with the letter about a prominent athlete’s decision between her beloved and her career; however, the movie chooses to skip that part and starts from A Musician of the Fish Shop. The deletion of plot is directly contributed to the lacking of coherence, which is a fatal flaw of the cinema. Readers’ imagination run wild under the world set up by the writer in the novel owing to the consistency of each storyline. Furthermore, there are some slight connections between each short story in the book. Readers may feel surprised through the process of finding clues among these peoples. The novel offers a great unity and coherence for readers to enjoy the plot without interruption.
Apart from the differences in the chronological order, the two versions utilize dissimilar techniques to express the storyline. The writer uses the flashback narratives to construct the novel. It implies that people require to finish reading the whole novel and thus realize the reason why the three thieves need to hide in a forsaken house. Readers can figure out the motivation behind the thief trios’ action as the story develops. Compared to the novel, the film gives the answer straightforward in the beginning. Although it allows people to get into the situation at once, there are lacks of the dramatic effect and bombshell to a great extent.
Even though the film deletes some plots and revises the storyline to some degree, it adds some sophisticated details to increase the dramatic tension. Take the story called A Musician of the Fish Shop for example. After the musician played his own song “Rebirth”, the orphanage is engulfed in flame accidentally. To save a boy’s life, the musician decided to sacrifice himself in a fire. Originally that song is uncompleted by the musician in the book in reality. Nonetheless, the movie director adds lyrics as well as composition, and playing the song in the background when the shot focuses on the last breath of the musician. With this delicate arrangement, the audience can immerse into the atmosphere immediately, which cannot be presented by the novel.
To sum up, the novel and the film provide different perspectives of the story. The movie tells the story chronologically and adds some information to polish the dramatic effect. By comparison, the writer makes use of flashback narratives and gives vivid description on each protagonist, which is interesting and thought-provoking in some aspects. It is difficult to decide which version is better because the two versions use different techniques to elaborate the whole story, and spice up the plot with some sophisticated details. In my opinion, the two are definitely worth checking out.
Sources of the book or the film
Wikipedia (n/d) Miracles of the Namiya General Store
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