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The short answer is, I made it up. The long answer is, it measures how well an adaptation of a book matches its source. The name comes from the 1924 Erich von Stroheim attempt to create a literal adaptation of Frank Norris’s novel McTeague with his film Greed. The result was over nine hours long. The studio (understandably) insisted on cuts and the final film at just over two hours, was largely incoherent. Since then, few directors have attempted to put everything from a novel into a film.

My love of book adaptations started early. I remember at age 11 reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula right around the time the movie came out. I was so excited to see the complex character of Van Helsing portrayed on the big screen; to see how Francis Ford Coppola would handle the visual effects needed to capture Dracula. And I remember being disappointed. The movie was fine. And I’m sure if I hadn’t just read the book, I would have liked it. But it was such a departure from the book that I couldn’t enjoy myself. The movie version of Van Helsing was so dreadful – rude, pompous, and irrational – compared to the complex character portrayed in print. This is certainly not a knock against the incredible Sir Anthony Hopkins, but rather likely the effect of the screenplay not being able to translate the depth and inner dialogue that makes the book so rich.

There is something about finding a book where you visualize the characters, the scenes, the world and that giddy anticipation when you find out someone else has put those visualizations into reality. Will the characters be true to the source material? What plot points or scenes will be missing or changed? How closely did your vision match the film? Even though more often than not I am disappointed by the film – it rarely lives up to the book – I still love seeing my favorite books up on the big (or small) screen.