It's always a hit or miss experience when it comes to books being adapted for the big, or small, screen. A lot of the time, the books are better. Taste is subjective, but I think we can all agree on one thing: there are just some books that deserve better adaptations.



When it comes to book adaptations, we should, first and foremost, honor the source material. For the fans and the authors. My intent for this week's topic was to make two categories and split the theme up into the categories: adaptations I loved vs. adaptations I did not/had issues with. Which is super simple. And really needs no further explanation, I don't think!

Let's go!





I don't mind The Giver's film adaptation in the least, in spite of its flaws, and we all know that I like Shadowhunters, but I do wish we'd had a true-to-the-source-material adaptations. For both. I mean, come on. They deserve adaptations that actually capture the books. I think that Shadowhunters stands out good on its own, but not as faithful adaptations.  

Allegiant wasn't good to begin with but the film somehow managed to be worse than the book. Which was a stretch because the book was basically garbage, anyways. I almost feel like I have to give them credit for turning something so infuriating into... whatever that was. Shout out to my best-friend Sammy for warning me the film was trash and not worth seeing. (I didn't listen.) We all know how dirty Hollywood did the Percy Jackson series.

Also, it always makes me cringe remembering how attached 12-18 year old me was to Gossip Girl and seeing how it stuck to absolutely none of the books. Ugh. Gag, gag, gag. No matter how much I want to shake that series, I've never been able to and I always see red when it comes to the show.

Private was just awkward/bad, plus, the fact that it was so short really made things seem rushed. It was also, basically, just a glorified commercial for certain things they advertised during the movie. Which made it all the more cringy. It wasn't the actors faults, however, because I really loved the casting choices and thought they did well with time restrictions and what they were given. 



To All the Boys I've Loved Before is probably one of my favourite adaptations of all time. It's just... ah, it captures the light and fluffy aesthetic of the book so well, stays pretty dang faithful to the book, and is perfectly cast. Swoon. Sharp Objects was another hit of an adaptation, I don't even have to explain how brilliant it was. Honestly, the films for The Hunger Games were super spot on--they added and left out some things, but for the most part it's actually one of the best YA page-to-screen transitions I've ever seen.