Recently, Netflix released their new hit show, 13 Reasons Why, and a lot of us have gone through the great debate of either watching the show or reading the book. Books being adapted into their films can have their pros and cons; here are some of them to help you decide what to do.

The show added some elements to be more dramatic and get the shock factor in. They did not hesitate to show inappropriate behavior such as underage drinking in an attempt to raise awareness of the reality that real high school students go through. Some scenes were too graphic for some people. The book does touch some of these subjects, but it is emphasized more in the show.

In the show, a lot of people were annoyed at how Clay (the person who’s listening to the tapes with you) stalled. The viewers just wanted to find out what was going to happen next, but had to wait it out. While many found this annoying, it lets Clay confront characters. In the book he does not. In the book Clay binge-listens to all the tapes letting the audience know what happens at a much faster pace.

Something else that the show included was that you got to see the actions of Hannah Baker being played out. In the book it’s just Hannah talking about what happened to her in the tapes. Hannah tries to go in depth on the events that happened to her as much as she can. Most everything that happened in the book played out in the show. However, if you just read the book, you will not get to see those scenes in the show that excludes Clay and focuses on other characters, and how they are handling the tapes.

The whole switching between showing Hannah Baker when she was alive and when she’s not on the show did confuse some people, but by doing this you got to see a lot more relationships and plots being formed by other characters. In the book it switches from being italicized when Hannah is talking and then back to normal when it gets back to Clay. When you’re reading nonstop trying to find out what happens next, you don’t notice when it switches between characters. Since Hannah and Clay are the only two narrators in the book, their relationship seems more intimate.

When the book ends, it’s over. There is no sequel to the book; unlike in the show, where it ends with a cliffhanger. This allows for the show to continue, and the directors and producers will have the liberty to stray from the book since there is no second book to go off of.

Overall this one of the best book adapted films. The directors of the show did not take the book as a suggestion, so it ended up taking a completely different path.  It’s kind of shocking at how closely it resembles the book. There were of course a few things tweaked in the show and some added scenes that did not take place in the book, but the show also includes a lot of the small, yet important details that other directors might leave out when they adapt the books into films. Whether you read the book or watch the movie, both are a brilliant example of the very possible, very real struggles of high school students.