Literary Cup of Tea

First of all, while the book does focus on Coley falling for Sonya, there's a much bigger plot: Coley's Mom committed suicide before the book begins and as such, Coley is sent to live with her Dad Curtis, a Father she says left her when she was young. She's dealing with the pain of her Father never being around when she was young, issues of abandonment and guilt over not being able to stop her Mother's suicide. A big chunk of the book is Coley working through these issues.

The book is also narrated by Coley, so we get to see these issues and these strong emotions play out in real time. Coley is hurting and as such, is also lashing out at everyone. The book also portrays her as being intelligent and unwilling to put up with drama. She appreciates authenticity.

We also get to see a little of Sonya's inner turmoil over liking Coley play out in the book, mostly through her live journal page. Sonya may be dramatic, but she's dealing with teen angst and a Mother with high expectations.

The friends play a bigger role as well, specifically Trenton, SJ and Alex. Alex has a side hustle selling pot in the book; Trenton is a bigger asshole than in the movie and while SJ starts off being aloof, she warms up to Coley. Trenton is watered down in the movie; Alex isn't shown selling or even smoking pot and SJ is relegated to background status.

The movie flies through the book, relegating certain bigger scenes to montages, which works in some instances, but not others. For example, the book has the friends hiding in poison oak to escape the police after a barn party, which culminates in Coley and Sonya rubbing calamine lotion on each other. This is shown as part of a quick montage in the movie and only has Trenton referencing the poison oak incident.

The book has more interactions between Coley and Curtis, as they try to work through their grief, but is only touched on in the movie and there's no big dramatic moment where Coley saves Sonya from the oncoming train like in the book.

The scenes at the restaurant towards the end of the book where Coley finally starts to heal are glossed over as well, which I think is a shame because not only does it touch on found family, it also shows a healthy, mature same-sex relationship between Coley's co-worker and his boyfriend.

While i understand you can only squeeze so much into an hour and 35 minute movie, to me the movie lacked plot, substance, and any significant character development.