I watched the movie and wasn’t impressed, so I was very reluctant to read the book at the suggestion of a wine friend. I thought Paul Giamatti’s Miles was an incredibly annoying, whiny, unlikeable ass. They nailed Jack with Thomas Haden Church. In the book, Miles is not as annoying as Paul Giamatti’s version. The book makes Miles seem more attractive, as he gets the attention of women. I don’t see Giamatti getting any woman’s attention. The author actually looks more like a Miles, not exactly a stud, but someone who would be able to get the attention of a 30-something and a 20-something. There’s just no way I believe Giamatti doing that. The biggest thing I remember is that Giamatti’s character was unbearable, like there was nothing to like about him, not the slightest hint of charm or wit. Just this self-loathing, self-pitying, moody, immature foil to Jack who was light-hearted, macho, and manly. While the book is filled with rather poetic descriptions of scenery, it sometimes gets a bit cliched and that’s exactly how the whole book comes across with Jack and Miles the complete opposite and Jack being the personification of a Pinot. Miles must be the personification of a fat, buttery chard or a fat, juicy zin, something that pleases women without getting too deep or austere, a cheap, self-indulgent thrill on impulse that doesn’t age well.
The one thing that will shock you in these times is how much they drink and drive, at one point drinking while driving. Although, self-disclosure, I visited Napa with my best friend, and we drank and drove too, but nothing to the extent of these two dudes. You just can’t and shouldn’t do that if you really want to enjoy yourself and sample a lot of wines. I actually drove around the Bourbon Trail and went to three distilleries, but in Kentucky, you can, because they are only allowed to pour you like 1.5 ounces per visit, something ridiculous like that. Now, there’s Uber, there’s really no excuses not to get a ride, and what fun it is now that you can really get hammered.
One unfortunate thing about seeing the movie first is that you hear Paul Giamatti’s voice as Miles. I actually re-watched the movie, and there are a few interesting differences that must be noted. First of all, a lot of the movie was verbatim from the novel, but they completely removed the wild boar hunting chapter, gave Terra a daughter in the movie, and rather interestingly, [spoiler alert] did not mention that Jack had paid Maya $1000 to sleep with Miles. It really does completely change Maya. I mean seriously, who would take $1000 to sleep with a dude, even if you are interested in that dude? In the next novel, Vertical, early on, you learn that Terra supposedly moved to Reno to become a stripper. When I was in college, I took a writing class and was accused of not being charitable to my female characters, and I have to say, Pickett is rather hostile to his female characters.
I am reading Vertical, the Hollywoodesque sequel to Sideways right now, and it’s worth noting, because you won’t see Miles the same in Sideways after you see him in Vertical. You’ll have to read my next review on Vertical to understand why, but I’ll just give you a hint that Miles is much more successful in Vertical while Jack is much less successful, but amazingly, Miles is still just as annoying, but in a different kind of way, while Jack is just as charming, but in a different kind of way. In fact, it’s an important comparison. How does a shallow introvert handle failure and success, and how does a shallow extrovert handle success and failure. There are many similarities.
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