Bones and All: What’s better, film or novel?

(Image from Bones and All 2022)

Bones and All is the story of a young woman, Maren, who has cannibalistic urges. After being abandoned, she travels across America to understand her past. On the way, she meets another “eater,” Lee, and they form a bond. The original story was written by Camille DeAngelis in 2015 and adapted into a film in 2022, starring Taylor Russell and Timothee Chalamet.

The first time I watched Bones and All, I fell in love with it right away, and added it to my top 4 on Letterboxd. I am such a sucker for unique and "weird" romantic movies. Cannibalism, being a metaphor for addiction and dependency, was so powerful, and the way shame and identity were explored felt so relatable to someone who also felt like an outsider. The cinematography was so breathtaking, and the acting was absolutely perfect. Earlier this month, I was looking for something new to read and decided to pick up the novel. I was fully expecting to love the book too, and I was right. Although there were major differences between the novel and the film, it didn’t change what I felt about the movie. Often, when there is a movie adaptation of a book, people have the common opinion that the book is better than the movie. However, when it comes to Bones and All, I can’t honestly pick; both of them are so great.

One of the biggest differences between the novel and the film is which of Maren’s parents is also an eater, and which one stays only to leave her later on. In the novel, she gets her cannibalistic urges from her father, and in the movie, she gets them from her mother, and both work for the story so nicely. In the book, I thought it was so devastating that it was Maren’s mother who stayed with her but never truly showed her any love, only to leave her when she was 16 and just starting to discover herself. But I also think that it’s so poetic that in the film, Maren and her mother both share that cannibalistic trait. It feels like they both got a different side of the mother-daughter relationship and a different complexity. 

Another difference between the two is the relationship between Maren and Lee. In the novel, it is very clear that whenever Maren gets romantically close to anyone, she gets her cannibalistic urge. With this in mind, Maren tries to keep away from Lee, keeping their bond as a friendship. After their encounter with Sully, Lee lies in bed with Maren, and according to her, Lee lets her eat him. This doesn’t really make sense because Lee states multiple times that the most important person to him is his sister, and unlike the movie, his sister is still alive and well in the novel. It doesn’t make sense for him to willingly let himself be eaten. I chose to interpret this as Maren finally accepting who she is and not resisting her urges. However, in the movie, it’s completely different. We’re not shown how Maren gets her urges, and she also starts a relationship with Lee pretty early on. After their encounter with Sully, Lee is left extremely injured, and he finds out that Sully killed his sister. Lee doesn’t let Maren take him to the hospital due to fear of her nature being exposed, so as a final act of love and devotion, he tells her to “love me and eat.” In the end, Lee becomes a part of Maren. I do like the movie ending better because it does have a clearer ending, while the book leaves with a more ambiguous ending.

(Image from Pinterest)

Even though these are two major differences, I still can’t decide which one I like better. I really like both of them because of their differences. I think this is one of those unique times when both the book and movie are equally good. If you haven’t seen/read Bones and All, you’re missing out big time.