I felt some ambivalence this week when I read that director Mark Romanek’s film adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s deeply affecting novel, Never Let me Go, is set to open this October on the festival circuit. My concern is not about the film-maker, Romanek is certainly skilled, nor is it about the screenplay, the film was adapted by the multi-talented Alex Garland. The problem lies in the process. It seems that the film industry manages time after time to take exceptional books and turn them into mediocre, or even horrible movies.

For example, Ian McEwan’s superb book, Atonement, which was transformed into a beautifully photographed, but inert film. Coincidentally, Keira Knightly also stars in Romanek’s Never Let me Go. And then there’s the baffling example of Children of Men, the hopelessly muddled film adaptation of P.D. James’ compelling, dystopian novel that was practically insulting to any movie-goer who had read the book. I could go on and on. I’m sure you have your own “favorite” book-to-film disasters.

Still, I do look forward to the possibility that this time they’ll get it right. If you haven’t read Ishiguro’s thought-provoking and beautifully executed novel, read it now before the movie hype begins. And, if you’re a genre snob, don’t be put-off by the “sci-fi” appellation. Ishiguro borrows from the sci-fi framework, but at the core this elegantly written book is about the existential challenges of being human.

Spoiler alert: Don’t read the book reviews; they’ll ruin the story.