If you haven't read the book beforehand, you probably won't understand a lot of what's going on until later on in the movie. To me, the movie was more of an overall summary of the book, and lacked a lot of plot and character development. Not that it was bad! I think they did a pretty good job, and the characters were cast very well. Just be prepared, and don't expect every juicy detail of the book to show up in the movie.