To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

However, I think one interesting change is how the movie makes it apparent from the start that Kitty is responsible for mailing the letters, whereas the book, to my knowledge, withholds this information from us until the end. I’m not going to fall down the rabbithole of comparing the book to the movie and noting all the differences. There’s Peter working through his feelings about Jen, Josh and Margot working through their feelings about each other, a whole family dynamic among the Song sisters and their father … this is a very rich story, and it’s the kind you can luxuriate in while you soak in a bathtub without worrying about getting lost or bogged down in details. It really helps that, although the core plot involves Lara Jean’s fake relationship, there’s actually so much more happening in this book.

Indeed, that’s the miracle of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before: Han’s writing, her characterization, is deft enough to avoid making this incredibly contrived situation seem all that contrived. Let me assure you that it’s anything but. Man, when I try to describe the plot of this book, it sounds terribly hokey.

Of course, nothing is that simple, and it isn’t long before the lines between fake love and real love are too blurry for comfort. Lara’s childhood crush on Josh has flared up again as a result, and even as she tries to figure out a “new normal” to their suddenly Margot-less friendship, disaster strikes: somehow the letters she wrote and addressed but deliberately never sent to the five boys she has crushed on get mailed! And so, like you do, Lara Jean has no choice but to start up a fake romantic relationship with one of those boys, Peter, to throw Josh off the trail. That boyfriend? None other than their next-door neighbour, Josh. Her sister Margot broke up with her boyfriend just before leaving to college. Lara Jean Song Covey is a high school junior (Grade 11 for us Canadians) who mostly seems to keep to herself at school, at least at first. In whatever format, though, one thing is clear: Jenny Han’s story of Lara Jean and the letters that were never meant to be sent is a lot of fun even as you fight back some tears. While I don’t think this is one of those cases of “the movie is better than the book”, I do think it’s a case where the movie and book are equally good for different reasons. I think it’s so well shot that it’s nearly frame perfect. Although To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before was on my radar for a while, thanks to Twitter hype, I actually watched the movie first, and it definitely motivated me to read the book.

To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han