From the Book to the Big Screen: The Ones That Got Away 2

Earlier in the month, I mentioned that one of my bookish goals was to watch TV and film adaptations of books I’ve read. If you read that post, you also know that I failed miserably at it in 2020. Even though I spent a lot of time at home, I didn’t spend time watching movies rated over PG. Only kindergartner-approved films were consumed! So here are the adaptations I’m most looking forward to viewing…someday.

• Enola Holmes (Netflix), based on the Enola Holmes Mysteries series by Nancy Springer
  • When Enola Holmes’ mother goes missing, she calls on her older brothers for help, but quickly ditches them and goes off on a quest to find out where her mother is and why she didn’t take Enola with her. Another mystery hooks Enola along the way, and she uses her smarts to solve it. A fun update to Sherlock Holmes. 
• Little Fires Everywhere (Hulu), based on Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
  • A book about race, class, and what it means to be a mother. With nods to ‘90s pop-culture and a suspenseful secret I was itching to uncovering, Little Fires Everywhere lived up to its hype.  
• All the Bright Places (Netflix), based on All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
  • Violet, already dealing with the loss of her beloved sister, finds escape and hope with Finch, a classmate who is familiar with darkness. Violet gives him a new lease on life, but is it enough? I’m also a fan of Jennifer Niven’s Holding Up the Universe.
• To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (Netflix), based on P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
  • Lara Jean returns in the sequel to To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, but this time, she and Peter are having some growing pains. Lara Jean spends time with another one of her letter recipients: John Ambrose McClaren. 
• The Handmaid’s Tale, Season 2 (Hulu), based on The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
  • Atwood’s book about a religious regime that has overthrown the government and stripped women of their power and autonomy is a classic. I was stunned at how incredible the first season of The Handmaid’s Tale was. Dare I say, it was even better than the book? While terrifying, this show is so well done that I can’t wait to see what happens next. 

Not Released Yet:

• Chaos Walking (film), based on The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
  • Read about my excitement here. 
• Shadow and Bone (Netflix), based on Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
  • Leigh Bardugo is a pro at creating fantasy worlds for YA readers. This series is supposedly going to combine her Shadow and Bone series along with Six of Crows – which take place in the same universe. I also really enjoyed her recent adult release, Ninth House, so I’m hoping Bardugo’s work translates well on the screen.  
• Paper Girls (Amazon), based on Paper Girls comic book series by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Cliff Chiang
  • This is one of the most original and awesome graphic novels/comic books I’ve ever read. Set on Halloween night in the late 1980s, four pre-teen newspaper delivery girls get tangled up in a war between time travelers. In each subsequent volume, the girls get flung backwards and forwards through time, piecing together a mystery as they try to get back home. There is cool technology, humongous monsters, evil cavemen, new languages, body doubles, and twists and turns galore. So clever and amazing. Vaughan is attached to the Amazon series, so I hope that means this project is in good hands. 

Here’s to hoping that I’ll be able to cross a few of these titles off my list in 2021! 

As long as there are a few compensations…

I recently tackled The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. This was my first time reading a novel by the respected and revered Atwood, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Of course I knew her name, but I was unfamiliar with her actual work. After reading The Handmaid’s Tale, I’m curious to learn more about her and her other books. As Hulu is set to release a television series based on The Handmaid’s Tale this April and some women recently wore handmaid’s robes to the Texas Senate, you’ll probably be hearing about this book, originally published in 1985, quite a bit.

Here’s what Goodreads tells readers about the book:

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now…

It’s hard to say that I “liked” this book, because it made me feel anxious, on edge, and desperate for more information. The narrator held back a lot, in fear for her safety, but I wish more of the gaps could have been filled. I definitely wanted to know more about the world she was living in and the history behind it. Then again, this made me want to keep reading and my imagination was spinning with all the possibilities. This is a grown up version of a sci-fi(ish), dystopian story. Basically, the government has been replaced by an ultra-religious governing body which has stripped women of their jobs, money, privacy, and dignity. Why do people go along with it? Well, as the narrator’s mother says, “Humanity is so adaptable…Truly amazing, what people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations.” Words that are ominous and thought-provoking, for sure.

In our current political climate – women ridiculed for rallying and voicing their concerns on many important topics, attempts to defund programs that provide quality medical care, advice, and contraception for women, government officials who claim to be Christians yet strip others of their basic human rights – Atwood’s book feels more cautionary and relevant than ever. Sales of 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 may have gone up since Trump took office, but The Handmaid’s Tale makes me even more terrified of what would happen if, say, Mike Pence became president.

Our current president may have campaigned under the slogan “Make America Great Again,” but as Atwood writes, “Better never means better for everyone… It always means worse, for some.”