Edited the original novel to be closer to "Let me In"

For discussion of Matt Reeve's Film Let Me In

Moderator: LMI Moderator

Post Reply
BrokenChild
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2017 4:52 pm

Edited the original novel to be closer to "Let me In"

Post by BrokenChild » Mon Feb 27, 2017 6:17 pm

Greetings to all. Sorry for my poor english but it's not my native language.
I realise the consequences behind this. However, since I am also an Infected (perhaps because of my somewhat hard childhood, I was deeply touched by the story of Abby and Owen), I couldn't keep it just for me.
My first experience with "Let the Right One In" was the american film and to be honest, although i find the novel to be really fascinating, I just felt that I could relate more with the characters as they were depicted in "Let me In" (Owen/Abby instead of Oskar/Eli).
Anyway, what I did was editing the novel to be closer to "Let me In" universe. I really hope that you won't take it as an insult (I really found the novel both in english and in my native language trully beautiful and heartbreaking). I am not encouraging anyone not to buy the original novel (and chances are that everyone here has already bought it).
So, anyone who might be interested can send me a personal message to send it to them. I would like to share it with others who also loved the relationship of Owen and Abby and perhaps wanted an "adaption" like this.
The location though is still Blackeberg in Sweden, and not Los Alamos as in the movie.
In the end, I have included the short story "Let the old dreams die", which I find a really both bitter and sweet conclusion of the story of Abby and Owen.

The changes:

The biggest one are of course the names of Oskar and Eli. They were changed to Owen and Abby. Also, Abby is a girl from birth. Obviously, I had to edit many references to her gender that were made in the novel.
In order to fit the description with the characters of the movie, where Owen was described as chubby I changed it to thin, and where Abby's hair were described as black I changed it to dark blonde.
Other names that I changed (the ones I found most important):
Jonny -> Kenny
Tomas -> Jonny
Håkan -> Thomas
Avila -> Zoric
I also changed the insult "pig" to "little girl", as in the movie. Also Owen, when he is cutting the tree with his knife, he says the line "Are you scared? Are you scared little girl? Huh?", as in the movie.
There was a scene where the police officers discuss the name Eli and its religious reference. I slightly edited it because it didn't make sense with the name Abby.
There was a scene where Lacke discusses with the others his intention to kill Abby. The others didn't like the idea of becoming "vampire killers". I changed it to "vampire hunters" (that was totally random, I know...)
About Hakan/Thomas: his novel background remained intact, even though this is a great deviation from the movie. But, on the other hand, his pedophilia as you know plays an important role in the novel and it is really impossible to change it to depict the real relationship of Thomas-Abby. But in order to make it somewhat more "canon" with the movie, I (reluctantly) added this after the scene where Abby/Eli meets Thomas/Hakan: "And that’s how the obsession started. An obsession which drove him to fabricate photographs that depicted his younger self together with Abby. He had to convince himself that he knew her, that he was with her his entire life".
Also, in the scene where the 15 year old boy asks him if he likes boys, I slightly changed Thoma's answer:
“Twelve? You like twelve?”
“I . . . yes.”
“Boy.”
“Yes… or girl… I… I don’t know…” (instead of just "Yes.")


That's all. Personally, I was really delighted that I could re-read the novel with the above changes. I hope the best for all of you and I am really glad that there is such a fanbase for both Lindqvist's novel and the films. Take care!

User avatar
dongregg
Posts: 3937
Joined: Sun Jul 21, 2013 10:58 pm
Location: Atlanta
Contact:

Re: Edited the original novel to be closer to "Let me In"

Post by dongregg » Mon Feb 27, 2017 10:23 pm

Welcome, BrokenChild. What a labor of love. Although I have read the novel (in English) and seen the film many times (Swedish, English subs), I haven't seen LMI. :(
“For drama to deepen, we must see the loneliness of the monster and the cunning of the innocent.”

User avatar
PeteMork
Posts: 3781
Joined: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:56 pm
Location: Menlo Park, California

Re: Edited the original novel to be closer to "Let me In"

Post by PeteMork » Tue Feb 28, 2017 12:47 am

I admire your dedication to what must have been a time-consuming process. As dongregg put it, it was surely a labor of love. But I'm most gratified that you kept the first meeting by Abby and Thomas as it was in the original book. To me, it makes all the difference, because it keeps Abby's and Owen's relationship unique.

And welcome to the forum! You should check out the Fan Fiction section, in which many of us have written our own versions of what we imagine their lives together might have been like. Although most were inspired by the original Swedish film and/or the book, there are several inspired by Let Me In. The most comprehensive of these is most certainly Lee Kyle's, Let Me In 2, which you can find here: http://let-the-right-one-in.com/fancont ... -me-in-2-0

The discussion thread begins here:http://www.let-the-right-one-in.com/for ... =12&t=4859

Have fun!
We never stop reading, although every book comes to an end, just as we never stop living, although death is certain. (Roberto Bolaño)

BrokenChild
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2017 4:52 pm

Re: Edited the original novel to be closer to "Let me In"

Post by BrokenChild » Tue Feb 28, 2017 4:53 am

Thank you both for your kind words and the warm welcome! Indeed, there is a lot of material in this forum :) I will definetely check the fan fiction threads!

Post Reply

Return to “Let Me In”