# Same story, more than one book **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113 "2017-03-13T20:28:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/1 "2017-03-13T20:28:09Z")
I was thinking today about the choices made in telling a story. POV, tense, framing etc. The same story could have a different impact and/or find a different audience by changing choices like that. Anyone able to think of someone who’s done just that? Of the top of my head I could only think of Ender’s Shadow, which seems to really be a different story, parallel to Ender’s Game, and the evangelists, who aren’t really authors, or all that different. Any real life examples of what I’m trying to describe? Or are is it only movies and visual art works that are recreated with minor differences. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/2 "2017-03-13T20:31:35Z")
_Grendel_ is a telling of _Beowulf_ (or the first part of Beowulf; I haven’t actually read it so I’m not sure) from the POV of the monster. Frances Hodgson Burnett liked her romance _A Lady of Quality_ so much that she re-wrote it from the guy’s POV as _His Grace of Osmonde_. The first book is rough around the edges, but delightful and progressive for its day. The second is a saccharine sack of s—. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/3 "2017-03-13T20:36:54Z")
I don’t know that I’d call it a real life example, but somebody took the old Beowulf story and wrote a book called Grendel, from the POV of the monster. And Wicked is the POV of the witch in The Wizard of Oz. You get like the other side of the story. Oh yeah and then there was The Wind Done Gone, which was a black/slave perspective of Gone With the Wind. Someone wrote another sequel to GWTW which was the further adventures of Scarlet O’Hara, it was terrible. Someone also wrote a sequel to Rebecca, also pretty bad. I think this is more like giving somebody else’s story a different ending (and don’t even get me started on current mysteries featuring Sherlock Holmes and, of all things, Jane Austen. Invent your own damn characters, please. I don’t mind if a real/historical person shows up in a cameo, but grr.) And ninjaed. Also there is Wide Sargasso Sea, which is the story of (assumed) Mr. Rochester’s (“reader, I married him”) first wife from Jane Eyre. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/4 "2017-03-13T20:37:15Z")
[_Desperation_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperation_%28novel%29) by Stephen King and _[The Regulators](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Regulators_%28novel%29)_ by Richard Bachman"kinda" fit. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/5 "2017-03-13T20:49:21Z")
Mary Stolz’s children’s novels The Bully of Barkham Street and A Dog on Barkham Street cover essentially the same story, one from the point of view of Martin “The bully” and the other from the point of view of Edward “the Dog” (Well, not the dog. The kid who wants the dog. Let’s not be picky.) ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/6 "2017-03-13T21:11:00Z")
[Perspective Flip](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PerspectiveFlip) Lion King 1 1/2 is basically Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to Lion King’s Hamlet. It’s the only Disney Toon sequel worth a damn. Also, Rosencrantz and Guilderstern. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/7 "2017-03-13T21:37:17Z")
There are a number of Sherlock Holmes pastiches, most of which seem to date from the 1970s-80s, written from Holmes’ perspective as a time traveler or something and retold some of the canon stories from another perspective. (Not quite to the OP, but one had Holmes turn out to be the Ripper, and Watson kills him by pushing him into Reichenbach Falls. Another had Holmes and Moriarty as good/bad clones from the future, a la Time After Time, and Watson eventually figures it out.) ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/8 "2017-03-13T21:37:49Z")
Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet has the same events narrated from different perspectives in the first three novels ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/9 "2017-03-13T21:44:35Z")
_Wicked_? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/10 "2017-03-13T22:16:18Z")
_[Mary Reilley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Reilly_(novel))_ is _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ from the point of view of Jekyll’s servant. The book was made into an unsuccessful movie. John Barth’s _Chimera_ tells the tale of _1001 Nights_ from the point of view of Barth, who is magically transported to meet her. The other two sections of the books are retellings of Greek myths from the point of view of the aged hero reflecting on what happened. _Marvels_ was a graphic novel/comic book series that showed major events of the Marvel Comics Universe from the point of view of Phil Sheldon, a news photographer who witnesses them. Ann McCaffrey’s Harper Hall trilogy portrays events of her first Dragon trilogy from the point of view of some children. _[The True Story of the Three Little Pigs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_True_Story_of_the_Three_Little_Pigs)_ gives the Wolf’s point of view. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/11 "2017-03-14T00:59:20Z")
In the first five Incarnations of Immortality books Satan is the antagonist but then in the book For Love of Evil you see all five stories from Satan’s point of view. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/12 "2017-03-14T01:57:40Z")
_Every Day_ and _Another Day_ by David Levithan tell the same events from different perspectives: > **[Every Day (novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Every_Day_(book))** > > Every Day is a young adult romance and fantasy novel written by American author David Levithan. It was published on August 28, 2012, by Knopf Books for Young Readers and is recommended for ages 14–18. Every Day is a New York Times bestseller. > A prequel novella only available digitally titled Six Earlier Days was released on November 26 of the same year. A companion novel titled Another Day was released on August 25, 2015, and a sequel titled Someday was released in 2018. The story "Day 3196" ... > **[Another Day (novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_Day_(2015))** > > Another Day is a young adult romance and fantasy novel written by American author David Levithan. The novel was published on August 25, 2015 through Random House Children's Books. Another Day is the companion novel to Levithan's popular teen romance novel, Every Day. Every Day establishes the story line through the perspective of "A", a mystical soul who falls in love with a girl named Rhiannon. Another Day features a similar story line; however, it is retold through Rhiannon's perspective. Bo Th... ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/13 "2017-03-14T02:09:52Z")
_Mists of Avalon_ tells the classic King Arthur story from the point of view of the women. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/14 "2017-03-14T02:16:50Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Someone wrote another sequel to GWTW which was the further adventures of Scarlet O’Hara, it was terrible. Was it that bad? I remember reading it as a teen when it first was published, and liked it well enough (in a bodice-ripper way, which I guess sets the standards pretty low). But I may be confabulating it somewhat with the novel written about Rhett Butler’s early life. Back to the OP, I’ve always enjoyed stories that are alternative histories to the Bible or other religions…Christopher Moore’s “Lamb,” James Michener’s “The Source,” the Terry Pratchet/Neil Gaiman stories featuring gods/religion, hell, even Anne Rice’s “Memnoch the Devil.” In that vein, I even binge-read a Messianic Jewish version of the Bible with annotations a few years ago, in just a few sessions. Very thought provoking. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/15 "2017-03-14T03:17:29Z")
Bit of a stretch, but _Ulysses_ and _The Odyssey_? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/16 "2017-03-14T03:23:55Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > _Mists of Avalon_ tells the classic King Arthur story from the point of view of the women. Lots of King Arthur examples. Mary Stewart’s Merlin Trilogy for one. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/17 "2017-03-14T03:37:39Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Lots of King Arthur examples. Mary Stewart’s Merlin Trilogy for one. And T.H. White’s brilliant _The Once and Future King_. It’s absolutely the best of the Arthurian retellings. Even better than Malory’s _Le Morte d’Arthur_. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/18 "2017-03-14T05:54:50Z")
> [@Elemenopy](#): > > Was it that bad? I remember reading it as a teen when it first was published, and liked it well enough (in a bodice-ripper way, which I guess sets the standards pretty low). But I may be confabulating it somewhat with the novel written about Rhett Butler’s early life. > > Back to the OP, I’ve always enjoyed stories that are alternative histories to the Bible or other religions…Christopher Moore’s “Lamb,” James Michener’s “The Source,” the Terry Pratchet/Neil Gaiman stories featuring gods/religion, hell, even Anne Rice’s “Memnoch the Devil.” > > In that vein, I even binge-read a Messianic Jewish version of the Bible with annotations a few years ago, in just a few sessions. Very thought provoking. The thing is, as a historical romance novel, it wasn’t that bad. As a sequel to GWTW it was horrible. Main character Scarlet, completely different. GWTW was not even a romance in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/19 "2017-03-14T07:08:50Z")
Not entirely the same story, but it fits a little: Anne Rice’s _Interview With The Vampire_ and _The Vampire Lestat_. The first is written from the POV of Louis, while the second is from Lestat’s POV. They cover some of the same events. I actually read _Lestat_ first, and was then surprised to read him portrayed as such a villain in _Interview_. ---
**Author:** ![blue\_infinity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_infinity/32/2817_2.png) [@blue\_infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blue_infinity)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2017, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113/20 "2017-03-14T07:22:49Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > [_Desperation_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperation_%28novel%29) by Stephen King and _[The Regulators](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Regulators_%28novel%29)_ by Richard Bachman"kinda" fit. That’s more like two people were given a list of character names and some suggested plot points. And were told to turn something in by Monday. Hugh Cook wrote a series called the _Chronicles of an Age of Darkness_. Each book has a different set of protagonists. Sometimes the protagonist of one book will turn up in a supporting role or cameo in another book. They’re portrayed rather differently from one to the other. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/same-story-more-than-one-book/782113.md?page=2)