I had seen the movie many times before I read the book, and I thought the whole Johnny-Lucy storyline was a waste the first time I read it. I think it would be impossible to pull all of that material into the 2 hours of a movie, and that Coppolla did a near-perfect job of what to keep and what leave.

That said, I don't mind those passages so much now. They're kind of a time capsule of the Sixties.