Books can Actually Affect You MORE then Movies.
I’ve always been a big movie buff. In fact, I find myself saying, “did you ever see…” way to much to be honest. But I hadn’t realized how much books really affect me more then movies do until I read Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. There’s one part in the book where who goes to this Indian jail and he’s there for months and beaten and tortured and he doesn’t even know why he was arrested. The series of chapters is so painful to read and just made my heart sink into tragedy. Especially since this book is based on the true life of the author. In the midst of all this mood altering text, I realized how deeper a connection i felt with the book then I ever had any movie (apart from Fight Club perhaps).
In a movie, no matter how brutal the scenes get, you know it’s going to end with in 2 to 3 hours. If you’ve already looked up the movie length, then you know exactly how long that block of experience will be for you. A book however is much more self paced and if you’re a slow reader like me, you have no idea how long he’s going to be in this situation and how long it’s going to take you to get to the end of the book. It’s a much more real life experience cause you never know how long events in life will take either when you’re going through hard times. I had a similar experience when I read Seabiscuit. So much horrible stuff was happening to that jockey, I just couldn’t finish the book. Once his leg got ripped up, I put the book down and never picked it up again. I didn’t realize it then, because I had given up, but by making myself push through the horrible trials of this author, I emerged a stronger person vicariously through the story.