“I know the book had to be better than the movie,” is the phrase a friend said to me as we walked out of the theater to the movie that was once only a book. When was the last time you read a book? Or sat down to watch a movie without any distractions? As humans, we find enjoyment in entertainment. While entertaining yourself can come in all forms, analyzing the adaptation of a book to a movie is usually how I spend my time entertaining myself.
I don’t purposely do this all the time, but after I read a book I search to see if there is a movie I can compare and contrast it to. Such as, how the characters, settings, and overall dialogue look. Let’s take a deep dive into two points that made each form of It Ends With Us better than the other, along with which one I enjoyed more and why. After consuming both, I always have the same question, which is better: book or movie?
It Ends With Us is a book-turned-movie adaptation that follows the life of Lily Bloom. A woman with aspirations to open up her floral shop in Boston. After the death of her father, Lily is overwhelmed with grief one night and ends up meeting her love interest, Ryle. Furthermore, in the story, Ryle begins to abuse Lily in their relationship. Even though Lily falls pregnant, she still has to overcome many obstacles. Lily is faced with breaking cycles that she had once witnessed before.
I was influenced by BookTok to read It Ends With Us in May 2022. Everyone’s reaction to reading this book was intriguing, so I knew I had to read it.
What made the book better?
- Emotion: Throughout the pages, the book tells a story that couldn’t just be seen with words. Readers could infer and comprehend how they interpreted the situations in the story. I enjoyed this aspect because I already imagined how the characters and settings looked in my mind, so adding emotion to it made the experience greater.
- Advocacy: As a woman, I find it important that the book touched on the topic of abuse. One in four women are in domestic violence situations. Stories like Lily’s could be taking place right in your backyard, and you wouldn’t even know it. The power that Lily holds when going through her abuse could help a woman in real life get out of her situation.
Nearly two years later, the on-screen adaptation of It Ends With Us came to theaters. Overall, the film reviews ranged from good to bad. I enjoyed the book, so I knew I had to see the movie.
  What made the movie better?
- Positive Female Friendship: Having an example of on-screen friendship between women that doesn’t start or end with them hating each other was great to see. Ryle’s sister, Allysa, was Lily’s friend throughout the movie even though her brother was the abuser. I like how the movie showed this as women can get through anything.
- Backstory: In the movie, the audience sees more of Lily’s backstory helping us see how she handles relationships in the past and present. Seeing the facial expressions, body language, and eye contact between the characters during these moments of her back story helped me fully grasp situations that I did not in the book.
Which one did I enjoy more, and why?
Overall, I enjoyed the book more than the movie. I like the imagination aspect of reading a book and the raw-cut truth in dealing with unfortunate situations; in this case, it was abuse. Books, when followed correctly, don’t leave you with unanswered questions like some movies do. When coming to this conclusion, I initially thought that some books didn’t need to be made into movies for that exact reason. I like to think that allowing your imagination to run wild when deciding if you want to read or watch determines which one you think might be better.