The Book Did It Better

 

Let’s just get this out of the way: I will always choose the book over the movie.

Always.

And no, that doesn’t mean I won’t watch the movie—I will. Curiosity gets the best of me every time. But do I go into it with high expectations? Absolutely not. Because let’s face it… books are almost always better.

Why?

Because books let you live inside the story.

When you’re reading, you’re not just watching events unfold—you’re inside the character’s head. You know what they’re thinking, what they’re feeling, what they’re not saying. You catch the hesitation, the internal conflict, the tiny emotional shifts that make a scene powerful.

Movies? They try. They really do.

But even with the best actors, you’re still guessing. You’re relying on facial expressions, tone, and dialogue—and sometimes that just doesn’t cut it. There’s a whole internal world missing, and that’s where books shine.

Books give you:

• Backstory that actually matters
• Inner thoughts that explain why a character does something
• Details that build tension instead of rushing through it
• The ability to imagine everything your own way

Movies give you… a two-hour highlight reel.

My Latest “Yep, the Book Was Better” Moment

 

I recently read The Housemaid series by Freida McFadden—and honestly, I’ve read pretty much all of her books at this point. The Housemaid books? Really good. Fast-paced, twisty, exactly what you want in a psychological thriller. So naturally, when the movie came out, I thought, Alright, let’s see how this goes.

And listen… just because I prefer books doesn’t mean I won’t give the movie a fair shot. I made it about 30 minutes. That’s it. I was done.

And here’s the thing—it wasn’t even bad. The storyline followed the book pretty well. The actors weren’t terrible.

But it just… wasn’t the same.

One character in particular completely threw me off. In the book, I actually liked her in that “she’s a little unhinged but fascinating” kind of way. Freida McFadden wrote her with just the right balance—unsettling, yes, but layered.

In the movie? I couldn’t stand her. She felt over-the-top, almost exaggerated to the point where all the nuance disappeared. And maybe that was the intention—maybe we weren’t supposed to like her—but in the book, she worked. In the movie, she just felt… too much.

Photo from Entertainment Weekly

And I don’t even think it was the acting. It was the translation.

What Movies Can’t Capture: This is where adaptations struggle the most. Books build characters from the inside out. Movies build them from the outside in. So, when you take a complex, layered character and try to squeeze them into a couple of hours of screen time, something gets lost. Usually the depth. Sometimes the entire personality.

And once that connection is gone? So am I.

Maybe I’ll give the movie another shot at some point.

Maybe.

But honestly? I’d rather just reread the book. Because no matter how good the casting is…No matter how closely they follow the plot… You can’t recreate what happens in a reader’s mind.

And that’s why the book wins. Every time.