Ella enchanted

I read this because I really like the film adaptation, and since said adaptation has some flaws which have always niggled at me, I thought the book might get those bits right, and be - as books nearly always are - a much deeper and richer version than the film.

However. Much like another book-to-film adaptation starring Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries), the book and film of Ella Enchanted have very little in common aside from the main character names and the basic premise that Ella has been “gifted” with obedience. Nothing else bears any resemblance to the film I saw. And yet it's still hard for me to judge them as separate entities, because I found the film so much more interesting and fun. The book really fell flat for me, because I never really got a sense of what the characters were like. Even though it's told in first person, I didn't really get to know Ella, somehow. Things happened to her, or she caused things to happen, but the book never got under her skin. Same problem with Char. If I had to write fanfic about them, for example, I'd have no idea how, because neither of them really had a voice.

I'm being quite harsh here on what is really a sweet story with an interesting premise and take on the Cinderella story, but unfortunately it just left me cold. Two stars = “it was okay”, but I think if you haven't seen (or enjoyed) the film, you might enjoy the book more. Unfortunately I just kept comparing it to the fun, self-aware humour of the film, and its strongly-drawn characters, and the book fell short.