#99: 3 Book Adaptations on Netflix

Source Material, Volume 9: The Wonder, Where the Crawdads Sing, Rebecca

Preamble

Hello! I am extremely pumped for all the end of year lists that are starting to come out. I’m also looking forward to all the great stuff coming in 2023. In the next few weeks, I’ll have my Best Of 2022 and my Most Anticipated of 2023 articles out and there will be nothing “bite size” about those!

Today I’m featuring three books that I read this year and their movie adaptations. They are female authored books with female protagonists. I am mixed on two of these, but there is one I loved. Can you guess which one?

Let’s get into it!

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue (2016)

“Perhaps because your religion’s filled her head with morbid nonsense.”

“Perhaps because she’s mistaken morbid nonsense for true religion!”

Quick confession: This book is slow. I read it over Thanksgiving break and didn’t have the patience for its pace, so I broke my rule and watched the movie first. It was then I discovered: The movie is also slow! I broke another rule and watched it on 1.5x playback. That worked well. The explanation and ending were satisfying and I went back and finished the book.

The story takes place in Ireland in 1859. Anna, an 11-year-old girl, claims to have not eaten for four months. Lib, a young English nurse who worked under Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War, is brought in to examine her and watch for any signs of alternative nourishment. Could the girl be a medical anomaly who doesn’t need food? Could this be a miracle or sign from God?

The girl’s parents and the influential men of the town are people of faith who want Anna’s situation to be a miracle. They may even want it a little too much. Lib as a person of science is not convinced. She was asked to observe, not meddle, but she was also taught to fight for her patient’s lives. Her brave actions and creativity are what give the story such a satisfying conclusion.

I don’t love the book or the movie, but I have positive feelings toward the story. It’s going to be hard to forget that I read a book about a fasting girl over Thanksgiving. And the conflict with religious orthodoxy resonates with me.

Has anyone else read or watched this? If so, what did you think?

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (2018)

I listened to and enjoyed the audiobook back in June and finally got around to watching the movie now that it’s on Netflix. I didn’t like it and once again took advantage of the 1.5x playback. The movie has too much sheen for how dark the subject matter is. As a Hello Sunshine production, it is far too shiny and has a Hallmarky look. The characters are portrayed as caricatures of good and bad without much nuance. Daisy Edgar Jones, who I love, is a great casting choice for Kya, but the rest of the cast is forgettable.

Have you read and seen this? What did you think of the adaptation?

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (1938)

This was my favorite book of the bunch! I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. A classic worthy of the moniker that I think most readers would enjoy. It is a bit slow and meandering in the beginning but the final third is razor sharp and drops more bombshells than an episode of TMZ.

The story follows a poor, young woman who marries a rich and much older man and goes to live with him in his sprawling estate. Everything is like a fairy tale except for the shadow of his former wife, Rebecca, that looms large. Her abiding influence permeates and complicates the new wife’s adjustment to her new life and circumstances. The housekeeper Mrs. Danvers, whose motivations are murky, doesn’t make things easier on the girl.

If this is all you know going into it, good. It’s a fun, twisty ride and I recommend it.

The 2022 movie was not great. I worry that those who watch it may lose interest in the book, which would be a shame. The 1940 Hitchcock version has much more promise, but I didn’t finish it.

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Does any of this sound interesting to you? Which have you read or seen? Let’s talk about it!

Thanks for reading,

Kyle