Ongoing Dilemma: Which comes first: reading the book or seeing the movie?

I love the book The Giver but I feel ambivalent about it’s movie release on August 15. Since stories enter through the back door of our imaginations, they speak to our hearts and minds in very personal ways. I worry that if a person sees the movie before they read the book, they will know this story through the lens of another and that saddens me.

The story centers on a community that has eradicated worries and cares, where sadness doesn’t exist and one person holds the memories for all. The story unfolds and shows us what it would be like to live in such a world.

I highly suggest you read the story first and then see the movie. All too often I hear the disappointment people feel who see a movie first and then come to the book.

Every medium has advantages and disadvantages. But I can only seem to think of the advantages that come from reading a book. With a book, you can take your time. You can read it as fast or as slow as you want. You are in control. When it is all said and done, I want to be the one to bring a story to life. And only then I will be eager to see how another brought that story to life.

I don't want any movie to rob me of my first impressions or interfere with my fist encounter of reading the story. I am eager to see the movie but the book came first and in that order is how it should be.