It’s been a short while since I watched Apple +’s adaptation of Defending Jacob, a novel written by William Landay. Since I’ve been burned this year by reading before watching, I decided to finally follow my old advice and read the book after I’ve watched the show. This is crucial! Personally, I am never disappointed by a book whenever I read it, but I am always disappointed by a show or film if I’ve watched it after reading. There is just no way for them to capture all the details that make a novel special.
While Defending Jacob followed the novel pretty closely, there were some key elements and details that were altered. For instance, Duffy in the show was played by actress Betty Gabriel, while that character was a male in the book. Same thing goes for lawyer Joanna Klein, who in the novel was Jonathan Klein. I thought these were nice deviations from the book, because really the gender didn’t make much of a difference in their roles. There were however, some more crucial details changed. Prepare for spoilers!
In the show, Jacob is suspected at having caused a girl disappear while on vacation. She ended up being found and her disappearance really had nothing to do with Jacob. However, in the novel, the girl’s body ends up being found on shore several weeks after their vacation. While there was too much decay to find evidence against Jacob, they did note that her windpipe was crushed. Still not something they can prove Jacob did. And finally, the most important difference is that in the show, yes, Laurie crashes their car into a concrete wall, but they both survive. In the book, Jacob perishes.
After being exposed to both scenarios, I would have liked to have seen another death in the book, and that would have made Jacob seem even more sinister in my mind. I do like the show’s choice of having Jacob also survive the crash, because what in the hell would happen next?! Unfortunately, the show was a miniseries, so we will never know. Missed opportunity on Apple’s part because it almost perfectly set itself up for an additional season. Oh, well. Can’t have everything.
Overall, though, the show did a nice job adapting the details in Landay’s novel. It probably helped that Landay himself is a former lawyer in real life, as it really nailed down details as appearing more accurate. I enjoyed both watching a reading Defending Jacob, so if you’re a fan of books, read it, and if not, give the show a watch!