Book: If Only It Were True by Marc Levy

I like watching Mark Ruffalo ever since 13 Going On 30, and Reese Witherspoon has became one of my favorite romantic comedy’s actresses since Legally Blonde. So you can imagine how I felt for Just Like Heaven: LOVED it!

Reading on the back cover that this book was the original script for that movie, definitely made me curious. While reading it, I found a lot of details that didn’t make it to the big screen; the fate we have to accept for most books that had been turned into movies. Of course, afterwards the common comments usually would be “I like the book better” or “They cut off my favorite part of the book” or “And there gone the depth of the book” etc. When the debate between books and movies arise, most of the time I’ll join the pro books choir, with a BIG exception for the Lord of the Ring’s trilogy, of course—but that’s only because I haven’t read the book. Hehehe.

So I was kind of surprised when finding myself liking Just Like Heaven better than If Only It Were True. The fast pace of the movie fit right in and felt like a wise decision for the story. I even found, sometimes, the details in the book unnecessary and only prolonged the pages. The Lauren I read in this book was somehow felt different with Reese’s Lauren. It was hard for me to care for this character; there were some things that just felt off with her. Lauren’s love interest, Arthur, was more likeable—the emotions built surrounding him were more real for me.

If you have watched the movie then you would probably already familiar with the story: Lauren was a dedicated resident at the San Francisco Memorial Hospital who kept postponing life because of her profession. One catastrophe accident threw her into a deep coma. While everyone had given up hope, Lauren’s soul wondered in some kind of limbo, able to see and hear everyone but not the other way around.

And then six months later, one stranger, an architect, magically made a contact with her. Arthur found her in his closet; both of them were surprised to see and hear each other. After a while, bonds were made, and Arthur decided to help Lauren. How to do that? He had no idea, as he was the only person who could see her, hear her and talk to her. Arthur finally found himself with no other choice but to go to the extreme when the doctors were preparing to end Lauren’s physical care.

So, the main thread was the same as the movie, but with more details in Arthur life in this book—about his mother, and her life also. I became more certain in the middle of it that the book was originally more about Arthur than Lauren, unlike the film.

But funny how when the time has sunk for a while and I looked through its pages again, now I have to admit that this book was a good reading. It’s very romantic and in its own world. Reading it, we would temporarily live in a place that only three people could experience: Lauren, Arthur and you, the reader. Ever since the first line, there’s this different “taste” that I couldn’t distinguish. Could it be because this book was originally published in French?

And of course there were these beautiful words put out by Marc Levy in it that I would like to share with you:

“What I have to tell you is not easy to understand, impossible to accept. But if you will listen to our story—if you are willing to trust me—then maybe in the end you’ll believe me. And it’s important that you, in particular, should believe me. For without knowing it, your are the only person in the world I can share our secret with.”

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Genre: ChickLit, Romance
Volume: 246 pages
Images:
www.rottentomatoes.com for Just Like Heaven
www.gramedia.com for Indonesian version of If Only It Were True: Andai Dia Nyata