2023, books, Movies, Mysteries

Tomatoes of Wrath

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Remember last May when I watched all those killer tomato movies?   I watched some of them online and so found a lot of assorted information, including several sites that said the initial movie was based on “the best-selling novel The Tomatoes of Wrath” by Paul Watkins.  I couldn’t let that pass by, now could I? 

Couldn’t find the title either in my library system or the inter-library loan, but I did find it online.  Please don’t ask me why I thought this was a good use of $12 – I don’t remember what mania overtook me that day.  It showed up promptly and then sat on my nightstand for several months.

I’m here to say that whoever says the movies were inspired by this book is a lunatic.  The book is subtitled “Adventures of a Tentative Traveler” and there isn’t a killer tomato in sight.  The chapter titled Tomatoes of Wrath is ostensibly the account of Watkins when he picked tomatoes for a day in California however most of the story is a reminiscence of the three days he spent sightseeing in San Francisco.  And not a very well-constructed nor interesting reminiscence.  (And I have to admit that after reading this chapter, I didn’t read the rest so I haven’t the vaguest idea WHY was traveling around with no money, hence needing to go out to pick tomatoes.)

When he finally gets back to the tomato picking, it is more of an expose (although a very short expose) on farmers vs. pickers and the injustices meted out by the tomato industry onto workers.  On the next to the last page there was a mention of Grapes of Wrath, comparing the Joads’ struggle to survive picking fruit in California and how unfairly and unjustly they were treated.  Hence the title of the chapter and the book.

All of this is to say, I didn’t like what I read of the book and to think that the Killer Tomato movies were inspired by it is ludicrous.  After this critical review anybody still wants to borrow it, just let me know!

Do you read the book before you see the movie?

36 thoughts on “Tomatoes of Wrath”

  1. Considering how few movies I see (in the movie theater, anyway) it’s safe to say I read the book first.

    Few of the books I read are or have been made into movies.

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  2. A rough guess? I’d say half the time. Like Bill, I don’t watch many movies, so my default answer would be I read the book first. But sometimes I go to a movie not even knowing it was based on a book until I get there. Then again, maybe out of the few new movies I see, a fair number might be based on stage plays or are original screen plays.

    Bottom line, movies aren’t what they used to be a generation or two ago. They’ve lost that “lustrous panache” and magical allure. I’ve heard from many sources it’s because TV is drawing all the screenwriting talent away from the movie studios, so TV shows are relatively better now.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  3. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I laughed at the premise of the book–I think that the opportunity for character development and plot might be limited with tomatoes. Shallow, perhaps? But then a tomato movie holds little allure either. I am coming off a summer with a bumper crop of tomatoes. There are still 4 from the crop waiting in my refrigerator.

    Like Chris, I am often not aware of a book being made into a movie/TV series. I was surprised to discover that the Netflix series, “Lincoln Lawyer” came from a book. I did read the book, “Flowers of the Killer Moon” recently. I decided to wait for the movie to appear on the AppleTV choices rather than watching in a theater. It sounded like too great a time commitment for a theater. All of that said, one of my favorite book-to-movie experiences is “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” What fun that one is. But Kevin Spacey gives us a peak into his own evil character in that one.

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    1. Lincoln Lawyer was much better book than movie…apparently there are sequels but I’m not interested.

      And while I really appreciated Flowers of the Killer Moon, the reviews have put me off— too long and sounds like too much focus on the big name white stars….

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  4. About 50/50.
    Read Lord Of The Rings waaaaay before the movies.
    Same with Dune.
    And though they aren’t books, I dare say that I read Shakespeare’s plays before watching any movie based on them.
    The Red Badge Of Courage book before movie.
    Lord Of The Flies book before movie.

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      1. I rushed to read PB the day before I went to see the movie. One of the rare occasions in which the book is a good taste of the movie to come. However I never could have predicted how much I would love the film. I went back two more nights in a row.

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        1. Our bookclub is reading Princess Bride for our next meeting. The guy who recommended it also recommended the movie. I’m listening to the book now, hope to find the movie to watch.

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  5. I read the book much more often than I see the movie. I guess I don’t go to movies when they’re in the theater. I really don’t go to movies in theaters at all. I wait until they’re on some movie platform so that I can watch at home. So I would say that about 90 percent of the time, the book comes first.

    One movie caught my eye last year and I almost went to the movie theater to see it – The Banshees of Inisherin. Did anyone see it?

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    3. We just watched that a few nights ago. Kelly hated it. I thought it was darkly funny in places. And an interesting study of characters.

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  6. I read the book much more often than I see the movie. I guess I don’t go to movies when they’re in the theater. I really don’t go to movies in theaters at all. I wait until they’re on some movie platform so that I can watch at home. So I would say that about 90 percent of the time, the book comes first.

    One movie caught my eye last year and I almost went to the movie theater to see it – The Banshees of Inisherin. Did anyone see it?

    I’m having the WP issues again. Circular reasoning – forcing me to log in, telling me I am already logged in, telling me I already said that, not allowing the post until I log in. Gaaaah!

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  7. When I saw that The Martian was coming to the big screen, I got the book from the library. One of my favorite books of all time. In fact I will now never watch the movie because I don’t want to mess with the picture in my head. Luckily since the movie was being advertised, Matt Damon is firmly embedded in the movie in my head!

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    1. “The Martian” is one of the few movies that is as good as the book. I saw the movie before reading the book – the movie was actually quite faithful to the book. And Matt Damon did an excellent job.

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      1. The LOTR movies were, for me, eerily like the imagery my mind had evoked from the books. I’m glad I read the books first, but I thought the movies were really well done too.

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  8. I really liked the book “Killers of the Flower Moon” – it focused more on the fledgling FBI and its investigation. The movie was much more focused on the killings themselves (and, of course, Leo DiCaprio & Robert De Niro). The movie was too long – at least an hour could have been edited out. I found myself becoming bored at times.

    More times than not, I like the book better than the movie. And anything that is “based on a true story” is likely to be highly fictionalized.

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  9. I’m guessing that half the time I’ve read the book prior to seeing the movie, and almost inevitably when that’s the case, I liked the book better. I’m more likely to give the movie a fair shake if I see it before I’ve read the book.

    Dr. Zhivago and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest are examples of films that didn’t live up to my expectation based on my reading the novels first. This despite the fact that both movies were excellent. A River Runs Through It and Brokeback Mountain are examples of films that I really liked, and which prompted me to read the books. That is true of A Gravestone Made of Wheat as well.

    Based on the reviews I’ve read, the Netflix four part series of Anthony Doerr’s “All the Light I Cannot See” is an insipid mess. This was a book that Steve raved about, and one I read based on his recommendation. I didn’t particularly care for the novel, and I have no intention of watching it on Netflix. I know that several of you have read it. Has anyone seen it?

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      1. The film did take some liberties with Will Weaver’s story that really didn’t make any sense. Still, I thought it was a beautifully done movie.

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    6. I have not seen it and I don’t know if I will. I adored the book but a four part series made my Netflix doesn’t ring any bells for me. Will undoubtedly be just too dark for me.

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  11. I join the throngs who usually prefer the book. To avoid repetition, I’ll focus on TV series… Sometimes I’ll like something so much I will seek out the book – for instance I’d missed a lot of Ballykissangel when I started watching, and found a book (maybe written after the series) which was not noteworthy.

    One exception – I thoroughly enjoyed both the book and the TV series for Call the Midwife.

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