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Title: not by the book, but captures the spirit of the book
Review: An exceptionally well-done adaptation of the book. Unlike a typical film, where the screenwriter thinks he or she knows better than the original bestselling author, Ryan Murphy (who also directed and produced this film) trusts the original material enough to adapt the majority of it. The casting for this movie is superb too - from the surprising appearance of Joseph Fiennes as the mentally deranged 35-year-old Bookman, who has an affair with the protagonist, to Annette Bening cast as the protagonist's mother, a woman who comes further apart at the seams with each scene we see her in to Rachel Evan Wood and Gwyneth Paltrow as the perfect fit sisters and daughters of the psychiatrist who adopts the main character.
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