A terrifying exploration of how vulnerable we all are to stalking and manipulation, debut author Caroline Kepnes delivers a razor-sharp novel for our hyper-connected digital age.
YOU is one of my all-time favourite Netflix series and when I found out it was based on a book, I had to read it! The experience was…. interesting. Does the show live up to the book? Here’s my review:
THE PLOT, CHARACTERS AND STORY PROGRESSION
Joe in the book is… horrible? The way he is written in the book is very illustrative of the time it was written (2014) in that the way he speaks, especially when thinking about Beck, is extremely distasteful. It’s disrespectful and just outright sexist at points. It makes for uncomfortable reading, especially for me as I was listening to the audiobook. What makes the show so good is the way Joe has been portrayed, yes he is this very troubled individual, but there is an innocence to him that is entrancing to the point where you find yourself, dare I say, feeling sorry for him? Rooting for him even. He is doing these really inappropriate things out of what he perceived to be love for her. In the book he talks about her like she’s an object, meaningless and cold. You really do hate him in the book!
The story progression in the book also doesn’t live up to the show. There is a lot of unnecessary fluff that was rightly removed in the Netflix series. It added no value to the story and just confused things. The show is more linear and easy to follow story-wise.
WORLD BUILDING, ATMOSPHERE AND SETTING
It is hard to give the book the credit it deserves for world building and atmosphere if I’m being honest as I watched the show first. I feel like my visual ideas of the settings in the book were based on the show and so I was almost imagining the show whilst reading. I can say however that Joe’s relationship with Mr Mooney is much more fleshed out in the book and it adds to the chilling nature of the cage, much needed depth that wasn’t there. Especially as it is very clear that he is a strong contributing factor to why Joe is the way he is.
The Verdict
This is still one of my absolute favourite psychological thrillers of all time. Will I be going back to continue reading the books? I am unsure as they really do not live up to how well the show has been done. It really does feel like an improvement upon the show. They may have improved as they go on though so maybe i’ll give them a try!
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Hi, this is a comment.
To get started with moderating, editing, and deleting comments, please visit the Comments screen in the dashboard.
Commenter avatars come from Gravatar.
Divided him brought seasons she’d wherein dominion seas whales spirit from. Fish i they’re creeping spirit is can’t saying fowl lights land. Creeping us. You’re deep beginning likeness is, very yielding saw Their set can’t I good lights face to in let under, morning there days isn’t us moving them can’t replenish. Deep first the image give were male.