If you walk into a bookstore right now, you will inevitably come across a shelf or a table stacked with books that have all fallen under a genre that many are calling “Book Tok.” Books from authors like Colleen Hoover, Emily Henry and Taylor Jenkins Reid are often grouped together under this category as they are extremely popular now within young adult readers.
It was only so long before these books started getting transformed into movies and television shows. Many popular books are currently in the process of being turned into screen adaptations. However, people have problems with each and every one of them.
Those problems range from casting to direction to even the streaming platform purchasing the book. Last year, Netflix announced that they would be turning Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel, “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo,” into a movie, which left people disappointed. Many were hoping HBO Max or Hulu would claim the rights to it and turn it into a seven-part limited series, with one episode for each husband, as the book is structured. However, Netflix has hired Liz Tigelaar to turn it into a movie, and many are worried it will become another Hallmark-esque Netflix original with no depth.
Another example of the public’s disappointment in a plan for a screen adaptation occurred just this past January. Sony Pictures announced that they are turning Colleen Hoover’s viral New York Times bestseller, “It Ends With Us,” into a movie. Unsurprisingly, people are very unhappy with the casting choices. Blake Lively is set to play the leading role of Lily Bloom, and Justin Baldoni will play Lily’s love interest, Ryle Kincaid, as well as direct the movie. Many had other actors in mind for these characters. The casting for the rest of the characters, such as Lily’s childhood love, Atlas Corrigan, has yet to be announced.
People are worried that these castings and the production of the movie will become a shallow visualization of the novel that is beloved by many, like the Sally Thorne novel, “The Hating Game.” The book was published in 2016, and came out as a movie in 2021, resulting in a large portion of its audience being severely disappointed by the final product.
However, not every review of screen adaptations of books are negative. Sally Rooney’s bestselling novel “Normal People” was turned into a series on Hulu in 2020, and has been very positively reviewed for its production and specifically, its casting. Additionally, just last year another one of Rooney’s popular novels, “Conversations with Friends,” was also made into a series on Hulu, and received pleasant feedback alike.
Evidently, it is always going to be difficult for streaming platforms or production companies to successfully turn books into movies and series without some sort of backlash or negative commentary from the public. The beauty of books is being able to see the characters and the story the way you want to. When Netflix tells people how exactly to see those things, someone will inevitably be unhappy.