The early 2000s were a wild time. If I had read the book back then I might have liked it. But in general I think the movie did it better. The book laid on the diary format too hard. It's like that break up book by Daniel Handler where the MC is writing a letter... I just don't believe Mia taking the time to write all this stuff down as it's happening. Also there was some racial stereotyping with the German and Japanese tourists among other things you probably couldn't get away with in books today.