"P.S. I Love You"

by Cecelia Ahern, AF, 2004, 375p, rating=3

"Holly couldn't live without her husband Gerry, until the day she had to. They were the kind of young couple who could finish each other's sentences. When Gerry succumbs to a terminal illness and dies, 30-year-old Holly is set adrift, unable to pick up the pieces. But with the help of a series of letters her husband left her before he died and a little nudging from an eccentric assortment of family and friends, she learns to laugh, overcome her fears, and discover a world she never knew existed."  (Goodreads)

I enjoyed the movie version of this book so I thought I'd revive the feeling by reading this novel.  Well, this is one of those rare cases that I adored the movie adaptation better than the book!  Right off the bat, things were different ... in the book, Holly had all the "letters" (though she had to read one per month) at once, while in the movie, she gets them monthly in the mail.  That set the mood for me, disappointment, because I liked the excitement of getting the letters in the mail version.  However, I was reading on in hopes that the sappy feeling I got in the cinema's adaptation comes.  Not fully.  Bummer!

Don't get me wrong, the book wasn't badly written.  It still had the element of hurt and process of healing that was important to pick up.  Being a widow and the desire to hold on as long as possible was simply understandable.  However, the movie take was just more moving and captivating.  Having the conditions of seeing the emotions, hearing the theatrical music, and getting swept by the drama that the motion picture projected was overwhelmingly more impacting than in the book.

Plus it didn't hurt that it casted a couple of my favorite hot men ...Gerard Butler and Harry Connick Jr.  And borrowing  Lightening McQueen's tag phrase, "Kachow!!!!"  (Yes, this 40+ lady is a kid at heart)  :D

P.S.  I love you hubby, don't you go dying on me!!