Musing on “You”

I don’t remember ever reading a book after watching its movie/TV series adaptation. In fact once I watch the adaptations it puts me off the books. A big example is my lifelong vow (a little dramatic?) of not reading A Song of Ice and Fire book series after watching Game of Thrones TV series.

Then why did I change my reading policy for the Netflix original series “You”?

When people ask if I am a dog person or a cat person my reply is always “a human child person”. I am not only fond of them but also I instantly get impressed by anyone who is kind to children. So when I saw this character Joe Goldberg on screen being utmost nice to a child, who is in a bad situation, I was immediately drawn into his drama. And then the positives kept piling up.

Joe practically runs a book store dealing with old and rare books. What is better than books? Old books, of course!

He is not only an extremely well read young man but he is also super judge-y about other people’s reading choices. That’s so me, I mean not the “extremely well read” part but the “judgy” part (which I do with a dramatic monologue in my head, like Joe).

I accept there are few negatives such as compulsive stalking, living like life is a romantic comedy, misrepresenting facts, and occasional violent episodes. But then no one is perfect, right!

In the 3 season old TV series, like any Hollywood romantic comedy, Joe feel the connection, fate, celestial line up, and what not the moment Beck enters his shop to buy a book. He is no less than Hugh Grant in Notting Hill! Joe becomes the dedicated lover with one point agenda, just like lovers from fictional romances. So how does such a person inspired by characters from romantic comedies fare in real life (or real life-ish)? Thus starts the twists and turns of the series.

In each season of the series he meets new people and new adventures. Joe’s love for books and genuine care for children though remain constant in the series.  

I had to know Joe more, I mean who would not! So I decided to read the first book in The You Series, “You”. The writer of the series is Caroline Kepnes.

The book has brilliantly depicted the truth of fictional romances. We read/watch something and romanticise but how would it feel if that happens to us in real life? In real life how would one emotionally respond if another person crashes their wedding, or stops them from flying to Paris for a job, or sneakily watches them sleeping? Would they madly fall for this wedding crasher/airport crasher/sneaky peeper?

The person, who can’t distinguish between romantic comedy (rom-com) and real life would assume these actions would be reciprocated with undying passionate love because that’s what happen in each rom-com again and again. Kepnes has used an exhaustive list of references from romantic films and songs for this narration.

Another significant theme of the book/series is social media. Most of us can’t live without broadcasting each tiny part of our days on media. This says so much about us. We love to be on display. We don’t forget the window dressing while displaying. And also the best products are displayed while the bad parts must be hidden in the attic. But when we keep ourselves in display we forget that with desired attentions we get undesired ones too.   

The book is a page-turner although I had already seen the series and knew the events.

I want to clarify one thing here – if the readers look for TV’s Joe in the book then they would be utterly disappointed like me. The best way to approach the book would be to treat it independent of the TV series.

The book is a treasure if one is building up an out of ordinary lists of “what to read”, “what to listen”, and “what to watch”.

SOME QUOTES I LOVED

The only thing crueler than a cage so small that a bird can’t fly is a cage so large that a bird thinks it can fly.

Do you ever notice how many words we waste?

You can tell when something is right because most things are just plain wrong.

…in both bookstores and coffee shops, it’s actually polite to leave browsers and readers alone.

And then it happens, the most dreaded response in the world, more terse than any word, more withholding than a no, ….. You: K

…because every time I check my phone, it’s like you all over again.

And exactly how do you even read a book without marking it up?

[SPOILER ALERT]  

CHARACTERS IN BOOKS VIS-À-VIS IN TV SERIES

Joe

The book is narrated from Joe’s point of view (POV). He is narrating everything to you, as in Beck. So in that sense the book is in second person narration. I don’t remember ever reading a book in second person.

In the series although Joe is the narrator but there are scenes when he is not present. And in the scenes he is present in the “background” we directly hear what the characters are talking. We don’t have to hear Joe’s version of their talks or actions. Hence the series can’t be said to be depicted exclusively from Joe’s POV. However I have to say, his POV is overwhelmingly present in the TV series.

In TV series, Joe’s father was extremely abusive while his mother did not stand up for Joe. He spends most part of his childhood in a foster home infested with abusive bullies. In the book, Joe’s childhood is narrated with his parents (and at least one cousin), who seem to be constantly bickering and are unpleasant. The mother leaves when he is in second grade and then Joe continues living with his cold and irresponsible father. But there is no sign of physical violence.

The owner of the book store Mr. Moony takes teen Joe under his wing. His treatment towards Joe is mysterious. It is suggested in the book here and there he might have been an extreme disciplinarian bordering on abuse. He keeps Joe in cage for days but there is no depiction of anger or resentment from Joe’s side. He grows up “learning” that it is a good thing to teach loved ones lessons by keeping them in cage. In TV series it is shown Mr. Moony keeps Joe locked up against his will as punishment but there is no leftover anger in adult Joe about those days.

The biggest difference between the book Joe and TV Joe is, Book-Joe does not care about children at all. This is a big letdown for me. In the book there isn’t any character named “Paco”, who could be disturbed by his domestic situation and then could be rescued by Joe. In fact from snippets of his narration, it can be confirmed book-Joe does not treat kids as anything other than nuisances. He has never tried to establish any kind of connection with any child throughout the book.

Another difference is, book-Joe collects typewriters. He has collected those from garbage dumps. He talks to them just the way he talks to books. Joe thinks one day all digital things will die then everyone will need typewriter. And guess who would be super rich selling typewriters! There are suggestions of weirdness between him and the typewriters.

Unlike TV-Joe, Book-Joe is more prone to violent episodes. His home borne the witness of his past aggressions with so many broken parts and there is even a spot of dried blood. Book-Joe is darker, creepier, less lovable, and always in his mind behaving like one of the heroes from rom-com.

He is aggressively judgy. He judges everyone about everything. He might judge Beck for loving good expensive things but he is the one who is really in love with super expensive things. His love is not like Beck’s love for a new purse or a new laptop. He is far beyond that. He is into antiques, first editions, and so on. He has in depth knowledge about all these.

TV-Joe is pleasant and can make friends. He can be kind and understanding, which no way the judgy-Joe of book can be. He pretends to be woke and politically correct so that he can criticise others, hate everyone, and can think he is better than everyone else. But the reality is he is jealous of everyone. The way he never fails to criticise women in general for not appreciating him or for not behaving the way movie-women do, show how little his PC quotient is.

You see Elliot in Hannah (the film Hannah and Her Sisters) scam his way to be near his sister-in-law and you call that romantic but if you knew what I went through to get into your home, that I messed up my back trying to know you inside and out, you’d judge me for it. 

Joes of all media can twist facts. He thinks he knows better always. He has this God complex of knowing what’s best for others, which according to him they are always ignorant of. He can defend himself in his mind against any crime. Any heinous act he commits it is always someone else’s fault. For instance, about stealing Beck’s phone and constantly reading her mails on that phone this is what he has to say-

…you could have told your mother to cancel your f*****g phone. That’s on you.

He is an abuser.

You make me do terrible things like hold you down and clap my hand over your mouth.

The TV Joe has systems, rules, fairness, and a caring tendency. He has been turned into a loveable stalker/killer in TV adaptation but it would be really really tough to love or to relate to book-Joe. Although like book-Joe I too detest it when people claim to have read a book without reading it. And it happens much more than you would have thought.     

And most importantly, book-Joe’s cage has shower and toilet so no gross cleaning up after the prisoner.

Book-Joe starts with judging Dan Brown but ends up with loving his book. That’s not done Joe!

One thing though works for book-Joe. When TV-Joe cheated on her girlfriend it did not feel like Joe. Book-Joe does not cheat.

Beck  

The most interesting thing about the book is decoding Joe’s lopsided narration to reach at truth or at least to guess the truth. Readers know Beck only through Joe and few lines by her psychiatrist Nick. But we never get the chance to know Beck personally. She says few things about her during her last days. Those might be closest to Beck’s truth or not, who can say. I have tried to do few dissections to find the real Beck.

First of all Beck’s full name is Guinevere Beck.

Beck is only 24 year old. She is a creative writing student and is trying to be a writer. Unlike the TV series there is no predatory professor. It is certain that she is extremely beautiful in an old-world-delicate kind of way, which makes certain people love her in a protector/knight-in-shining-armour kind of way. But she is actually not delicate and she has never asked for any kind of protection. No one has any rights to impose their knighthood on her.

She gets a scholarship but she lives above her means. She takes financial assistance from both her parents and accepts expensive gifts from her friends. She might have a tendency to lead on people but then who does not enjoy attention once in a while.

She flees when a relationship gets serious because she is supposedly scared of settling down. But the rational inference would be at 24 she does not want to be tied down.

She cheats on Joe. But she has never ever proclaimed to be in an exclusive relationship with Joe. It is narrated that she has been always sexually active with multiple partners. She goes out with Joe when she is supposed to be with Benji.

She loves good things, great experiences, and new stuff. Can we blame her! She is young, pretty, and surrounded by rich friends so why would not she enjoy good things.

She wants to be a writer desperately. She has potential. Unfortunately, she never gives her 100% to writing. Because she has lots of things going on in her mind to focus on writing.

She does not have curtains on her windows and she over shares online. Is she an exhibitionist? Or maybe her apartment is tiny so she does not put curtain on her windows to have an illusion of space. Maybe she wants the Sun light from outside. Maybe she never thinks/bothers about Peeping Toms. About social media, how many young women in their 20s don’t constantly broadcast about their days on social media!

Or maybe she needs audience online and offline because her true calling is acting. Maybe when in the end she says she wants to be an actress, she is being most honest.

Others

The list of characters in the book is different from TV series. There is not much of space for other characters in the book. Book-Peach is more or less same as TV-Peach. Book Benjy is a little better than his TV counterpart. There is shuffling among other friends in the adaptation.

END WORDS

Although the book is great, I did not like the book-Joe. Given the fact that he is the main character it is difficult to get engrossed in the book. So I can’t say I particularly enjoyed my reading experience. For now I don’t want to read the second book in the series but then who knows how my whims work!