Page to Screen: Book to movie / series adaptation discussions - Page 8

Since it's just come out (not everywhere, I can't even watch it until next month), has anyone watched A Good Girl's Guide To Murder yet? It's one of my most highly anticipated series of the year because I loved the book so much! (about to lose my mind waiting on my copy of the second book)

Originally posted by: foreverlazy

Since it's just come out (not everywhere, I can't even watch it until next month), has anyone watched A Good Girl's Guide To Murder yet? It's one of my most highly anticipated series of the year because I loved the book so much! (about to lose my mind waiting on my copy of the second book)

I just checked this out, looks like it set to release on Aug 1.

Looks super interesting, haven't read the book but might give this a try if decide to re-subscribe to Netflix

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/a-good-girls-guide-to-murder-release-date-cast-details

Originally posted by: LizzieBennet

I just checked this out, looks like it set to release on Aug 1.

Looks super interesting, haven't read the book but might give this a try if decide to re-subscribe to Netflix

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/a-good-girls-guide-to-murder-release-date-cast-details

Highly recommend the audiobook!

I'm so jealous of people who've already gotten to see it, I woke up to like, 10 new notifications of edits and reactions.

Originally posted by: foreverlazy

Highly recommend the audiobook!

I'm so jealous of people who've already gotten to see it, I woke up to like, 10 new notifications of edits and reactions.

I can’t do audiobooks. I’m more a visual learner. I find my attention wandering away too often with audiobooks.

Originally posted by: LizzieBennet

I can’t do audiobooks. I’m more a visual leaner. I find my attention wandering away too often with audiobooks.

I see! It's a good book either way, I just found the audiobook more engaging because of the production of all the mixed media elements like recorded interviews, phone calls, etc. and also the thriller aspect of it was more fun this way. If you do decide to check out the book, for some reason, there's an American and UK version (the UK one is the original) so just a heads up.

Originally posted by: foreverlazy

I see! It's a good book either way, I just found the audiobook more engaging because of the production of all the mixed media elements like recorded interviews, phone calls, etc. and also the thriller aspect of it was more fun this way. If you do decide to check out the book, for some reason, there's an American and UK version (the UK one is the original) so just a heads up.

Thanks for the heads up! This is a series, right? I can see there's a loooong wait to get to my hold at the library. Is it available on KU? I might try there.

Originally posted by: LizzieBennet

Thanks for the heads up! This is a series, right? I can see there's a loooong wait to get to my hold at the library. Is it available on KU? I might try there.

I think it should be on KU. The first book was free on Spotify and I'm using the Libby to borrow the ebook from library, but same problem, nearly a two month wait.

Thanks for the wonderful thread, Lizzie 🤗

So I utilised June to familiarise myself with the story of June Osborn (what a co-incidence lol). Yes, I am talking about the Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood.

Synopsis/Book blurb:

The Handmaid's Tale is a futuristic dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which has overthrown the United States government.

The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire - neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs.

(Offred means 'Of Fred' because she has been given to Commander Fred Waterford)

I find that the on-screen adaptations almost always stray from the books at least by some degree. It's like when the characters are moulded for the screen from the pages, they take a life of their own, develop a mind of their own and hence never seem to behave the same way as they do in the pages. That does not always have to be a bad thing, but I guess it depends on the POV of the person reading or watching and what they could relate to most in the story. Whether in the book or in its adaptation.

The same happens in the Handmaid's Tale and as I discuss I’ll try not to give major spoilers. Interestingly enough, the book never mentions the protagonist's name even once. There is a line at the end of the first chapter where the handmaids are exchanging their names lying on their beds in the basketball court, the protagonist's name in the series is a deduction from that line. June is Serena's handmaid. She is supposed to bear children for Serana and her husband Fred by.. yeah, the story is that dark. Serena Joy is an old lady in the book but an infertile woman in her 30s in the series (I haven't completed the series by the way, five seasons are too long for me to watch). Commander Waterford is also an old man in his 50s in the books but in his 40s in the series. June is in her 30s in both the versions. Aunt Lydia in the books seemed kinder, maybe because I could only read what Offred remembered of her words and not what she did when she said them. The Aunts trained the handmaids and they carried electric cattle prods to punish their disobedience.

Nick Blaine in the series is way cooler (and braver) than in the book – and he has insane chemistry with on-screen June. They have good chemistry in the book as well but IMO the book version is not nearly as shippable. Nick is Waterford's driver and an "Eye". In the book, Offred suspects him to be an "Eye" while in the series he tells June that he is an “Eye”. So, most main characters look and feel differently in both the versions, but I felt both versions are good in their own ways based on where the storyteller wanted to focus.

Now, coming to world building. Since the Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel, the world building is a very important part of it. I find the book version of world building is more consistent than what is shown in the series. The series starts with the feel of the book version of the world but as it progresses it becomes more and more inconsistent. In Gilead, they live in a world where they'll be shot or hanged for one careless mistake but in the series they keep showing breaking of Gilead rules and not getting punished. For example, In the book version, the handmaids exchanged names barely moving their lips in hushed voices in the darkness of the night from their beds when the Aunts were not looking. In the series, they exchanged names in broad daylight in a shopping centre in front of Guardians who carried machine guns – the scene looked ridiculous because Gilead is supposed to be a suffocatingly strict regime, especially for women (seen through the eyes of handmaids) and for LGBTQAI+ community. Apparantly Atwood’s dystopian novel is inspired from real events and she had a file of newspaper clippings for the same.

The series is definitely darker than the book since it is longer and goes beyond the plot of the book. I left the series around the starting of season three (of course I skipped some part too). Overall it was worth reading and watching as it sheds light on the rights and freedom that people get at present yet are taken for granted, and what more would take to build a better and more equitable society.

Fancast: I don’t fancast before reading a book, maybe afterwards. I try to understand the author’s version of the characters first. But if I have to fancast for Handmaid’s Tale from the Indian entertainment industry (because HW has already casted its version 😅) then: Jennifer Winget for June/Offred, Barun Sobti for Luke Bankole, Shaheer Sheikh for Nick Blaine, Rupal Patel for Aunt Lydia, Manoj Bajpayee for Commander Waterford and Ratna Pathak for Serena Joy.

Wow, thanks for that detailed insight on the Handmaid's tale Book Vs Series.

I haven't read the book, but watched a few episodes of the series and it's quite disturbingly dystopian. I mean I like some things about the series now - the fact the Fred and Serena are younger. It would somehow be more icky if they were older like in the book (imo).

But yeah, I do get where you're coming from vis-a-vis the series showing us that it's a strict regime yet the handmaids find it real easy to talk while on their shopping trips.

Does the series follow the book right up until Season 2? I mean do we get to the ending of the book at the end of Season 2 and then the makers go off on their own tangent?

Originally posted by: LizzieBennet

Wow, thanks for that detailed insight on the Handmaid's tale Book Vs Series.

I haven't read the book, but watched a few episodes of the series and it's quite disturbingly dystopian. I mean I like some things about the series now - the fact the Fred and Serena are younger. It would somehow be more icky if they were older like in the book (imo).

But yeah, I do get where you're coming from vis-a-vis the series showing us that it's a strict regime yet the handmaids find it real easy to talk while on their shopping trips.

Does the series follow the book right up until Season 2? I mean do we get to the ending of the book at the end of Season 2 and then the makers go off on their own tangent?

Oh yeah, it would be creepier if Waterfords were older like in the books. Gives insight into what kind of messed up regime Gilead is and how it treats the women. But apart from the books, the show has its own creepy points.

I think they shot that scene of handmaids exchanging names in a shopping center for dramatic effect, but it would make no sense in the books because everyone is always under watch or "under his eye". They won't even let someone look inside their own cloaks to search for a coupon if it seems suspicious.

The plot of the book ends with the ending of season 1. Season 2 onwards the series explores the aftermath of the ending of the book plot. Honestly it starts to feel tiring by the end of Season 2 because the theme keeps recurring and I want to say something else too but I don't want to give out spoilers (for the book and the show) – basically, June breaks quite a lot of rules and still gets to live. She isn't even sent to the colonies. Why? Who knows 🤷🏻‍♀️ But she suffers because leading a handmaid's life is painful in its own.