Rating: 
Summary: Great movie, poor book
Review: I'm a huge fan of the movie. I think it had excellent everything and wonderful music. But the book was awful-if I hadn't seen the movie and felt some devotion to it, I would have quit in the middle. The movie was quite inaccurate, but the action and storyline made up for that. But how can I comment on the book? I could say it was poorly written, or I could say that the plot was deviated with holes, or that William's eye color changes, and we never know what Murron is embroidering, or I could just say I wasted my time reading it. Unfortunatly for Randall Wallace, I rarely forget. Let's just say I won't be reading any of his books anytime soon. Don't waste your money-just watch the movie.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, poor book
Review: I'm a huge fan of the movie. I think it had excellent everything and wonderful music. But the book was awful-if I hadn't seen the movie and felt some devotion to it, I would have quit in the middle. The movie was quite inaccurate, but the action and storyline made up for that. But how can I comment on the book? I could say it was poorly written, or I could say that the plot was deviated with holes, or that William's eye color changes, and we never know what Murron is embroidering, or I could just say I wasted my time reading it. Unfortunatly for Randall Wallace, I rarely forget. Let's just say I won't be reading any of his books anytime soon. Don't waste your money-just watch the movie.
Rating:
Summary: See the movie; don't read the book.
Review: In the movie version of "Braveheart," I was able to overlook the historical innacurracies because of the excitement of the battle scenes and the epic feeling of the entire movie. But in this novel version, those inaccuracies are glaring,and this reader - without the stirring excitement of the movie battles - could not overlook them, and could not enjoy the novel because of them. Even were the story fully accurate historically, it is not very well-written, and, as another reviewer stated, is a fit story for children, but adults had better seek another source.
Rating: 
Summary: It didn't happen
Review: It's all right as long as you don't mind the fact that Wallace died before Princess Isabella married the prince; Wallace and the Bruce are unlikely to have had many personal conversations; Wallace probably died during the torture and did not yell out freedom like some superhuman. Aside from that, it is an epic story that became that incredible movie. An entertaining read if you don't mind complete bastardization of Scottish history.For fact, try "William Wallace: The Man Who Was Braveheart." I don't remember the author, but it's a pretty fast, interesting book.
Rating: 
Summary: Fair book . . . better movie
Review: It's finally happened . . . and I didn't think it possible. The movie was better than the book!
And while the story is a good one (and the only reason I gave this book a '5' rating . . . read on for further positive comments) . . . Mr. Wallace's prose style is rambling. His shift of viewpoints is confusing. And his references to modern phrasings and objects is bizarre, blasting the reader out of the storyline, and into reality.
An example: Fifty pages in . . . the setting is solidly 13th century Scotland, a festival is in progress, and the reader stumbles across the following . . . "Farmers were roasting a pig; women were comparing handiwork; young men were tossing a caber -- an unbranched tree trunk roughly half the size of a modern telephone pole -- in the traditional Highland games."
What?!
Slam! Bam! Back to 20th century America . . . and the telephone pole outside my house.
Should have stopped with ". . . an unbranched tree trunk," Mr. Wallace.
Leaves the reader scratching his head . . . a happenstance every writer worth his salt avoids like the plague. Writers usually strive for one thing -- total reader immersion. And Mr. Wallace's writing reveals he, too, ascribes to this theory.
A better question may be -- where was the editor?!
On the good side, there was enough lyrical prose set solidly in the 13th century to keep me reading, which in itself is a coup of sorts. And, except for those jolts at odd intervals . . . it was, as they say on the dustjackets,
"A rollicking good tale!"
Rating:
Summary: Fair book . . . better movie
Review: It's finally happened . . . and I didn't think it possible. The movie was better than the book!And while the story is a good one (and the only reason I gave this book a '5' rating . . . read on for further positive comments) . . . Mr. Wallace's prose style is rambling. His shift of viewpoints is confusing. And his references to modern phrasings and objects is bizarre, blasting the reader out of the storyline, and into reality. An example: Fifty pages in . . . the setting is solidly 13th century Scotland, a festival is in progress, and the reader stumbles across the following . . . "Farmers were roasting a pig; women were comparing handiwork; young men were tossing a caber -- an unbranched tree trunk roughly half the size of a modern telephone pole -- in the traditional Highland games." What?! Slam! Bam! Back to 20th century America . . . and the telephone pole outside my house. Should have stopped with ". . . an unbranched tree trunk," Mr. Wallace. Leaves the reader scratching his head . . . a happenstance every writer worth his salt avoids like the plague. Writers usually strive for one thing -- total reader immersion. And Mr. Wallace's writing reveals he, too, ascribes to this theory. A better question may be -- where was the editor?! On the good side, there was enough lyrical prose set solidly in the 13th century to keep me reading, which in itself is a coup of sorts. And, except for those jolts at odd intervals . . . it was, as they say on the dustjackets, "A rollicking good tale!"
Rating: 
Summary: A story about love,hate,freedom,and bravery
Review: Set in scotland and in the hearts of many BRAVEHEART is a must see must read story.
Rating: 
Summary: "Every man dies, not every man truly lives" Braveheart
Review: The book was a good book. It was a story about courage and compasion. This story will touch your heart and make you sad. I felt sad after reading it. It gave me a sense of admiration for the main character.
Rating:
Summary: Please: someone put me out of my misery
Review: The film Braveheart was truly magnificent and amazing to watch. It's one of my all time favourites, despite the historical inaccuracies. This book, however, is complete rubbish. I saw the movie before I read the book, so I was able to project pre-formed images and ideas into what I was reading. That made me able to finish this book. The grammar is so awful that one wonders how an editor would allow it to be published. It seems like he wrote a 10 grade (long) report on the movie. Images were not completely described, dialogue was not inserted well into the text and generally it was painful to get through. It does complete injustice to the wonderful screenplay that he wrote. My advice - stick to writing screenplays Mr. Wallace and leave the novel writing to novel writers.
Rating:
Summary: Please: someone put me out of my misery
Review: The film Braveheart was truly magnificent and amazing to watch. It's one of my all time favourites, despite the historical inaccuracies. This book, however, is complete rubbish. I saw the movie before I read the book, so I was able to project pre-formed images and ideas into what I was reading. That made me able to finish this book. The grammar is so awful that one wonders how an editor would allow it to be published. It seems like he wrote a 10 grade (long) report on the movie. Images were not completely described, dialogue was not inserted well into the text and generally it was painful to get through. It does complete injustice to the wonderful screenplay that he wrote. My advice - stick to writing screenplays Mr. Wallace and leave the novel writing to novel writers.
|
