I specifically read the book prior to watching the movie so that I can compare with all the controversial opinions on it. The book was very very good. I can absolutely see why Blake lively was way too old to play this part. And they tried so hard to make this diverse.... This movie was so dragged out though. I missed a bunch of good stuff that's in the book and the sexual scenes could be implied. We did not need that many. It just was not the main focus in the book. This movie should not have been this long and it could have done with a better rewrite. Also, the clothes kind of sucked and the shop for flowers while it's beautiful is just not realistic. Like not at all.....
But I do want to give props to the character who played Lily as a child because she looks extremely similar to Blake lively. Although she could totally play a younger version or a daughter of the girl from spy kids, I forgot her name something Vergara