When you think of sisterhood, first loves, and coming-of-age stories, it’s easy to think of Jenny Han, the No.1 New York Times Bestseller of the successful series The Summer I Turned Pretty and To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. Coming-of-age narratives usually follow the same tried and true pattern: protagonist is placed in a situation that they have never had to deal with in the past and try to navigate it with a number of hurdles thrown their way. Having this go from pages to big screens isn’t always a hit, so what makes Jenny Han’s book adaptations so successful? Read on to find out!
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
This is the first book-to-movie adaptation for Jenny Han, and it set up the rest of her success for adaptations. This romantic comedy set in high school follows Korean-American teenager Lara Jean Covey as she deals with the aftermath of getting her love letters exposed to her crushes. She then starts fake dating one of them, Peter Kavinsky in order to throw off her sister’s boyfriend Josh who she wrote a letter to. Not only is this story full of sweet romance, it is also full of relatable sisterhood and great female friendships.
Casting and Representation
Moving away from the typical all white leads, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before changes things up with a Korean-American lead and family. What stands out about this representation is that it isn’t Lara Jean’s entire identity — instead we see little elements of her Asian side through Korean skincare, Yakult yoghurt drinks, and pointing out racist characters in iconic ’80s movies. Having a minority lead in a YA coming-of-age story is very important for people all around the world who aren’t used to seeing people who look like them on screen, especially for a romantic comedy.
Book Accuracy on Screen
The films can arguably be seen as better than the books. Maybe that’s why this adaptation is so successful. One distinct aspect that separates the film from the book is that the book portrays a bigger love triangle between Lara Jean, Peter, and Josh. However, the film seems to quickly get rid of Lara Jean’s crush on Josh the minute she starts fake dating Peter. Lara Jean and Peter’s relationship on screen develops more organically the more time they spend with each other. Movie Peter also seems to be less of a jerk than book Peter, which could be part of what makes the films greater than the books.
Another great aspect of this adaptation is the coloring. While reading books is great, seeing something on screen is a different experience. The film’s bright use of color invites a happy and cozy feel to the film, whereas this vibe isn’t really captured on pages.
Cultural Impact
Sisters are supposed to fight and make up, because they are sisters and sisters always find their way back to each other.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jenny Han
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the perfect amount of high school drama and romantic cheesiness. The romance on screen isn’t the only love portrayed, as we get to see the Covey sisters dynamic throughout the film. After losing their mom at a young age, Lara Jean and her sisters seem to be very close with one another and their bond seems stronger than ever as the film develops. Its refreshing relatability makes this series memorable, since it doesn’t solely focus on Lara Jean and Peter.
You only like guys you don’t have a shot with, because you’re scared. What are you so scared of?
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jenny Han
Lara Jean’s character is painfully relatable for many teens, or even older audiences. Lara Jean seems to be afraid of love and relationships and spends most of her time watching The Golden Girls with her sister or spending time with her best friend Chris. Before the letters got leaked, Lara Jean seemed to constantly be in her own world, fantasizing that she was the lead in one of her romance books. To many readers, the character of Lara Jean is a comfort character. Having that on screen really makes an impact.
The Summer I Turned Pretty
This Amazon Prime Video series follows teenager Belly Conklin as she returns to her family friend’s beach house for the summer and finds herself in a love triangle with her childhood friend Conrad Fisher and his brother Jeremiah Fisher. Similar to All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, The Summer I Turned Pretty is a coming-of-age teen drama full of first loves, heartbreaks, and found families.
My mother was good at that, making people feel normal. Safe. Like as long as she was there, nothing truly bad could happen.
The Summer I Turned Pretty, Jenny Han
Representation on screen
In the books, Belly is actually a White 16-year-old girl. However, in the show, Belly is half American and half Korean. This is a very minimal change as the character of Belly still stays the same personality wise; she just happens to be part Korean on screen. Diversity on screen is something we want more of as audiences, but this wasn’t always as accepted within the media. It’s refreshing to see that we are able to make these little changes on screen that can really have any impact on minority audiences.
Book Accuracy on Screen
Some great changes were made when adapting this book to a TV show. In the books, the kids know about Susanah’s illness. In the TV show, the kids don’t know until the finale with the exception of Conrad. This decision arguably had a greater influence on the success of the show, as it built up the suspense and included an emotional season finale when the characters and audiences realized what was going on. Additionally, Steven Belly’s brother, leaves the beach house in the book to go on a college road trip with his dad. However, in the TV show, Steven spends the summer at the beach house. This decision also impacted the show successfully as we got another interesting storyline to dive into, as Steven deals with many things throughout the show.
Cultural Impact
For me, it was almost like winter didn’t count. Summer was what mattered. My whole life was measured in summers.
The Summer I Turned Pretty, Jenny Han
This series is set during summer time at a beautiful beach house, with cute boys and fun town activities. These factors allow audiences, younger and older, to live vicariously through these characters and stay at Cousins Beach — it’s a great form of escapism. It’s been a while since we’ve had such an iconic summer show that has had this much of an impact on audiences. It resembles the early ‘2000s summer shows that had audiences on the edge of their seats with dramas such as The OC or 90210. With episodes dropping weekly, this created a community anticipation every week leading up to the next episode.
Overall, Han’s page-to-screen adaptations are successful due to their authenticity to the books, positive changes, relatability of characters, and the comfort of fictional worlds. The coming-of-age narrative is Han’s strong suit, as she is able to encapsulate what it feels like to a teenage girl, and her works hold such a nostalgic feeling for the good parts of growing up.
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