Trigger Warning: The article mentions domestic abuse
Spoilers ahead!!
It Ends with Us is a heartbreaking, yet hopeful, deep dive into the cycle of domestic abuse. It is an inside look into someone who witnessed domestic abuse in their childhood, and then unknowingly faces it in their adulthood. Ultimately, the cycle is ended with them and their child. Lily Bloom’s story encompasses how you can assume the best in someone who unfortunately does not reciprocate the best for you, and the difficulties that come along with having to leave someone you love and thought loved you. That being said, you can still choose what is best for yourself, and you can get through whatever you are going through.Â
That is the message I got from the book, and for the most part, the movie portrayed a similar message. However, I did notice there were some differences between the book and the film. Some are trivial, but some, in my opinion, downplay the horrors of what Ryle Kincaid did to Lily and what ultimately led to her deciding to leave him.Â
Disclaimer: I’m not saying she was only justified in leaving him based on what he did in the book, but I do believe that these details were important to take note of who Ryle is and what he put Lily through.
The very first time Lily meets Ryle, the neurosurgeon/soon-to-be neurosurgeon (depending on whether you’re talking about the book or the movie), is by him performing an act of violence. In the movie, he kicks a chair once, before noticing Lily, and the violence ended there. However, in the book, he kicks the chair multiple times, giving more insight into how violent he is.Â
As their first interaction progresses into the book, Lily tells Ryle about her father abusing her mother on the night they met. This is a pretty significant detail to take note of, considering, in the movie, he finds out later on. It made it all more enraging when the casserole scene happened and Ryle knew.Â
Another detail worth mentioning in the book was that Lily and Ryle had a lot more fights than were showcased in the movie. One fight included how Ryle wanted to move to Minnesota for his fellowship, but Lily didn’t want to since her flower business was in Boston (considering: how she was supposed to run her business in Massachusetts from Minnesota?).Â
The last significant event worth mentioning is that Ryle very invasively read through Lily’s journals to find out her history with Atlas in the book, whereas, in the movie, Atlas published a snippet of their story in his article for everyone to see.Â
The rest are not super significant to the story, but I thought they were worth mentioning:Â
- Atlas’s restaurant was called “Bib” in the book and “Roots” in the movie.Â
- Lily and Ryle got married in Vegas in the book, but in the movie they get married in Boston.Â
- In the books, Lily is 23, but in the movies, she’s a little older (late 20s to 30s).
- In the books, Lily sprained her ankle in the shop and that’s why Ryle and Marshall came into the shop in the first place (and that’s how she finds out that Allysa and Ryle are related).Â
- In the book, Lily met Ryle months before she even thought about opening her shop (she had a marketing job).
Overall, the movie did a decent job at showcasing the message of the book and hopefully letting victims of domestic violence feel seen and know that they’re not alone. However, many details of the book were left out. While not all were super significant to the story, I think the book is worth reading. As for if the movie did it justice? I think that is up to you; I think both are worth looking into!Â
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