Feature | P.S I Still Love You by Jenny Han - Book and Netflix Movie Thoughts
It took a while, but I finally read P.S I Still Love You, by Jenny Han. *applause*
I read To All the Boys I Loved Before back in 2018, and Sophie and I watched the movie and chatted about the book and film on our podcast. TATBILB was really enjoyable (both book and movie, actually), but I didn't get round to reading P.S I Still Love You until this month. A few hours after I finished reading the book, I watched the movie. And I have thoughts.
Spoilers are likely in this post! You've been warned!
The book
While P.S I Still Love You was a good story, I didn't like it as much as I did To All The Boys. I remember liking Peter way more in the first book than I did in book two, but I really liked John Ambrose McCLaren in P.S I Still Love You. So that was an annoying internal conflict. But as the story went on, I did find myself rooting for Peter over John. Which I think was how it was meant to be, so I guess that's good?
My main gripe with the story is that the part that I really enjoyed the most was when the group of friends (and ex-friends) get together to open their time capsule they buried under Lara Jean's neighbor's tree house (which is getting taken down in the near future). After opening the time capsule that they buried about 5 years prior, they decide they should play a last game of Assassin. The game goes like this: everyone puts their own name into a hat, and everyone draws a name from the hat. Whoever you draw, that's your target, and you need to place two hands on their shoulders to get them out. You then take the name that they had, and try to get that person out. Each person's home is safe house, as is school. The last person standing gets to have one wish granted from anyone in the group.
I love the idea of this game! I really wish that the game was something that ran through the entire story, rather than starting half way through and ending with about a quarter of the book to go. It's a concept that I think could have made the book a lot more quirky and fun. Not that it wasn't fun, but it would have made it that little bit more entertaining.
Having said that, I did really like the addition of John Ambrose to the story, and some of the side stories that were going on, like Gen's family troubles, Lara Jean visiting Stormy at the Belleview retirement home etc. Overall, I did enjoy it (probably a 3.5 - 4 star), but not as much as TATBILB.
The movie
Having the book fresh in my head (like I said it was mere hours later that I watched the film after finishing the book) is something that rarely happens in my life. At the end of 2019 I read Let it Snow and then watched the movie that week, but other than that I can't think of anything recently that I've done this with. I think doing this - finishing the book and then really soon after watching the movie - has it's pros and cons. But that's a post for another day, perhaps.
P.S I Still Love You the movie was a lot of fun. But there were so many things that were different to the book. To name a few: the way John Ambrose McCLaren re-enters Lara Jean's life is different than in the book. He still writes her back after he gets the letters from the first book, but then he shows up to volunteer at Belleview. In the book, he's Stormy's great-grandson (by marriage), so he meets Lara Jean when they're both their visiting her. In the book, John gives Lara Jean the snowglobe, in the movie she chooses it at a fair that she's at with Peter (also new to the movie). In the movie Gen and Lara Jean chat in the treehouse, which was a nice addition I have to say, and while their friendship isn't really restored, it seems more on the right track in the movie than in the book. Also in the book, the Covey family gets a dog, and he's not in the movie. I could go on with the differences, but I won't.
But I will say: the Assassin game they played in the book and that I enjoyed so much wasn't in the movie at all. I understand that they can't put everything in, but now all I want is to see Noah Centineo, Jordan Fisher and Lara Condor running around the town trying to tag their friends. I think that would be awesome, and would make for some brilliant hilarity.
I do also want to mention there were some things in the movie that I'm discovering were pulled from book three, Always and Forever, Lara Jean, which I started after watching the movie.
Verdict?
So all in all: I liked the book. I liked the movie. But I would have like the movie more if I hadn't read the book. And I would have like the book more if it involved the Assassin game more.
Obviously, if you've read and enjoyed To All the Boys I've Loved Before, then do pick up this one.
What are your thoughts about the book vs movie? Let us know!
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