I’m Thinking Of Ending Things: Film Vs. Book… Only Slightly Later Than Planned

I have to say the only reason I knew about this book was because the film came out. But when I hear that there is a really weird horror film that’s based on a book I have to pick up the book first. I listened to the audiobook and absolutely loved it, it is one of my favourite books of the year.

My thoughts on the film were all over the place, so here are my thoughts when watching the film, as they happened:

• Knowing the ending when watching the film is a bit weird
• Narration a bit different – glad the film had narration though
• Don’t get the weird phone calls in the film so early
• You see an old man and have this undercut stuff – the plot and structure is a bit different
• Obvs in book you get a sense of Jake that is a bit different
• Both characters different in a narrative of thoughts than an active film narrative
• Love the tone of voice in narration – slightly different to her speaking voice and it reminds me of the audiobook
• Loved the interrupted narration in the film
• Weird road trip film rather than weird in the head film
• Found it weird that the how they met scene was not at the beginning of the film
• The film seems to hint about what is happening a bit earlier on – including memory type stuff in the film even though an old man
• Don’t remember anything about poetry in the book – white a lot about literature etc and academia – maybe should have included the uni setting etc at the beginning, she does mention an essay she is writing but
• Suicide talk and everything wanting to live
• Don’t get a proper sense of Jake being really clever and the main character not being a full person – works better in the book as we never get a sense of her but it works cause of the narration etc
• Toni Collette should be in all weird horror films
• Film not as engaging but I do know the ending so…
• Her wearing his old clothes make it work
• Something about her weird outfit that really works
• An amazing cast
• Reminds me of the house I grew up in – then mentions grew up in an apartment
• Using the fear if meeting a partners parents when you want to break up with them to distract you from what is happening
• The basement
• Toni Collette wonderful – steals every scene
• Is she an artist in the book – I remember the weird painting in the book, but wasn’t that the mum?
• Attempt to express how I feel at the time – what the film is doing really
• The accents in the film adds to the weirdness of it all – talking about the art with the parents works so well
• Love her weird laugh and the mother acting strangly – although I don’t think this was as obvious in the book, it was weird but in a weirder way
• The mother who is too much and the sexist dad who says weird things
• The parents every so often repeats themselves when speaking – kind of like remembering something you can’t remember
• Jake starts acting weirder earlier on
• Telling the story of how they met – wish I could have had more of that
• Jake is clever than anyone else – it’s kind of him not remembering it all, but he is aware of all of the details
• Discrepancies in the story are not established – weirdness linked to her more than in book – ie. She is overly comfortable in the weird situation – a difference in her narration and her acting which works really well
• The lack of music is really good as it feels strange which works
• Feels like longer idea also in the book I think – a sense of weirdness about her relationship with Jake
• Don’t feel as connected to the main character in the film – the film does something different with her, but maybe it needed to as film is a different medium
• The main character changes outfit – I remember the mum doing this in the book – maybe she also does this in the film I forgot to pay attention.
• The picture looking like her – this happens much later on in the book than the film. I really liked how the book takes forever to get into it – I think this works better when reading it as it adds to the strangeness