Conversations with Friends
I’m pretty lukewarm on this adaptation I must say. I’m not a <PERSON> mega fan by any means, in fact I actually hated Normal People (the book) and quite enjoyed Normal People (the series). But when I read Conversations with Friends earlier this year, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It was witty and funny, raw and introspective and real. The series, however, sucked away all of its life. It was a shell of the book. I liked the casting when it was first announced, and even the trailers looked promising. 292
So when I watched the episodes I was shocked at how they got so many interpretations of the characters wrong. I always saw <PERSON> as a character to be quite strong-minded, aloof, but also very witty. In the show she just seemed insecure and awkward, and delivered lines on screen not at all how I read them on the page. That’s not at all an attack on the actress, I actually think she was quite good for the most part, and when she had the chance to shine, she did. I just think maybe the director or writers got the character all wrong, or something. There was just so much about this that felt off. <PERSON> also felt a bit different to me, and I understand he’s described as a passive character a lot, but <PERSON> unfortunately wasn’t giving anything except dull 90% of the time, but again that’s probably down to the writing/direction.
I don’t know, I think I just had truly high hopes for this after the success of Normal People, but it disappointed me greatly. It wasn’t all bad, I enjoyed aspects of it, but I think it’s missing a lot of the book’s soul, and that’s what was the most detrimental thing, unfortunately. 577