As someone who is still stuck on the ending of this book, when I heard there was going to be a movie adaptation of it, I could not wait to see if the two were similar. Because it has such a dark plot, I could not wait to see if the movie would finally answer my question: was it the manuscript or the letter that was true? The movie itself had people walking out, questioning what the ending actually meant. There were many complaints that the movie was nothing like the book or that the movie was way too short. The reality of a book making it on the big screen always comes with different opinions, whether people absolutely love it or hate it. Let’s talk about what I noticed.
Background
The twisted plot of the book Verity begins when a writer, named Verity, gets injured in a car accident and has an incomplete book series. In order to finish her series, her husband, Jeremy, hires a struggling writer from the city, Lowen. Lowen moves to Vermont to find more background on Verity but instead uncovers her darkest secrets from her manuscript. Lowen develops a relationship with Jeremy and tells him what she knows, and the next thing you know, she helps him kill Verity. Seven months later, when Lowen and Jeremy are starting their new life together, Lowen finds a letter from Verity that reveals that the manuscript was just an exercise to help her writing become stronger. Jeremy had already read the manuscript and knew what she had done, but of course, Lowen never confronted Jeremy.
Team Manuscript vs. Letter
When I finished the book, I was immediately team manuscript. There was absolutely no way Verity could have written all of those things, and then suddenly it was just an exercise. The way she described Harper and Chastin’s death was so sickening, and I could never imagine anyone writing that kind of story, even if it was not true. There is just no way that it could have been made up. Everything added up to the children’s actual death, and it would make perfect sense that she wrote a confession to make her books seem more mysterious. Until I watched the movie, I began to lean towards team letter. When I got to see Jeremy’s initial reaction to finding the manuscript and how he dealt with it, I could see the fear in Verity’s eyes. Watching him physically drug his wife, then making her crash the car, and seeing her fear in the hospital bed changed my opinion completely.
Where is Chastin?
When talking about the manuscript, I briefly mentioned Chastin, Harper’s twin, but what is unbelievable to me is why they did not include her in the movie adaptation. Chastin’s story in Verity is the main reason I was team manuscript. In the manuscript, Verity revealed that when she was pregnant with the twins, she attempted to give herself an abortion with a coat hanger, which then left a scar on Chastin’s cheek. Also found in the manuscript, Chastin was Verity’s favorite because Jeremy gave more attention to Harper. Chastin had a very serious peanut allergy, and one night at a sleepover, she died from it. Ever since that night, Verity blamed Harper for being the cause of her sister’s death, which is one reason Verity wanted Harper dead. I wish they had added Chastin’s character into the movie because we hardly saw the worst parts of Verity, which led many audience members who did not read the book to become team letter.
Sleepwalking and The Lock
There was one part of the book that I was looking forward to seeing in the movie adaptation until I realized they did not include it. During the book, Lowen has a history of sleepwalking going back to when she was a child. The book mentions her climbing onto a porch balcony railing, then standing on it for an hour fully asleep, then jumping off of it, which led to several injuries. During the night at the Vermont house, she sleepwalked into Verity’s bedroom. Jeremy then put a lock outside Lowen’s room, locking her in for the night. Another thing that happened in the book was that Jeremy fell asleep in Lowen’s room, and they both mysteriously got locked in. This was another clue that Verity was not actually in a comatose state.
Length
When it comes to books adapting into movies, unfortunately not everything from the book will be included. During the movie, we heard parts of the manuscript but not everything. We never knew Lowen’s inner thoughts on how she felt towards Jeremy and how scared she was of Verity. In the book, you are trapped inside her head and can feel all of the different emotions she is going through. Also, because we could not hear everything Verity said in her manuscript, most viewers became team letter due to feeling bad for her or not knowing how powerful she truly is. If everything that was in the book was put into the movie, it would have been way too long. I believe the directors did an amazing job figuring out what key parts should and should not have been in the film. They really did do a great job bringing this book to life and bringing back those emotions we felt the first time we read the book.
I knew that this movie adaptation was perfect when I walked out of the movie theater feeling the same emotional high as I did when I flipped over that final page of the book. I felt the confusion, shock, and suspense all over again even after I already knew what happened. While there were some parts that made me upset, unfortunately you cannot put everything from a book into a movie. Even with the parts they left out, I still think all the key details were there. I loved that they kept the opening scene with Lowen getting splattered in blood, the bite marks on the bed, and the whole scene with the lake. Overall, I think even if you have not read the book, everyone should at least go see this movie once.