People We Meet: On Vacation and On Screen

Join hosts Nikki and Sam as they chat about People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry. There's lots to talk about, complain about, and admire about this first book to screen adaptation from Emily Henry Universe.

What did you think about the book and the movie?

💬 Read the book? Tell us what you thought—did we miss something, or totally nail it? Drop a comment!

📲 Follow along on IG: @readersoftwocitiespodcast
🎧 Listen now on Apple Music & Spotify

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

I was so excited for this movie since last year the day they announced the date. I was like, oh my god, yes, let's go. What are you currently reading?

SPEAKER_00 0:10

I am currently on a book club thing with my friends, and we're reading the first Hunger Games. So we're reading the Hunger Games. What about you?

SPEAKER_01 0:19

I am reading. So I was reading the days at the Morasaki bookshop, and I tried so hard to read through it. I I gave up. I feel sad, but I just I don't have enough time to like keep reading books that I'm not able to enjoy, and that book made me so frustrated. I just stopped reading it. The other book that I'm reading right now, it was just pretty interesting, is I Who Have Never Known Men. That book has a very unique like storyline, and you can't stop reading it. It's very bizarre. Okay. It's very interesting. I think it's a very like, I don't know, it's like a bizarre premise. I can't stop. Like, I wanna know. There's just this one person, I still want to know like what's happening with her. But anyway, it's a very, very good book. I have sort of become like a librarian for my friends here because I keep pitching them books and like I read a book, I love it so much. I just do want to give it a try because none of them read and trying to get them into reading. So the one friend that I was actually able to successfully make him read a book, that's the only one that I have been successful so far, but it's People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry. When I read that book, I was so in love with the characters and like the whole story, and just the perspective that the book has. But my friend and he he like has never read like a novel novel, like a romance novel or something. I pitched that book a couple times and he was like, This seem very passionate about this book. I'm gonna see what it's about. And he actually, on a random Thursday, he's like, Oh my god, Alex and Poppy, I love them. This is so great. I'm I'm I can't wait to read what's gonna happen and what happened in Croatia. I can't wait to see that. So I am very proud of that accomplishment. So when I read the blurb, it actually talked about how two people go on a vacation each year, two friends, and the versions of them that they meet each year because it's like a catching up trip. You've been busy all year and you're catching up, and of course, like life events happen and you change, you know. And when they go on vacation, it's like them, those two friends, but like a new version every time. And I thought that was such an interesting premise for a book, or just to explore in general because we do like even just us being friends, we've known each other for like how many ever years, every time we would like catch up, there's something new that's happened, and you're like, Oh, I had no idea you like did this or you liked that, and it's always such a you always like meeting your friends different version, and I loved that in my head, I was like, Oh, they're gonna meet on vacation, fall in love, have drama, blah blah blah. But this was I think a very refreshing take on the vacation aspect of like having a story revolve around that idea. So I didn't really have a problem with the cast per se. I just have a problem with the other things in the movie, both which we'll talk about. But as a cast, I love Emily and I am really happy for her, and I hope she gets a lot more work, like a lot more projects in terms of because she's so I just think she's a she's great. Like I think she's a great actress. I think she can do I sh I want to see her and more more stuff. I really like her character because I can understand running away from your hometown or where you've where you've grown up because of something that is upsetting, and because you don't have a really strong foundation of where you feel like you belong, you are always escaping or running away from something and looking for something where you feel like okay, I belong here. So the Poppy in the book, you truly see that fight in her where she's like, I want, I'm not able to accept this portion of my past, and I don't want to be there because I don't like the version of me there, something like that. So she's because she there's nothing that is like holding her in place, nothing that she's tethered to, she's always looking for something meaningful meaningful in new places. She wants to travel, she wants to, she's scared of settling because settling down means people around you getting to know the real you and there's a chance of them rejecting you once they get to know you because you're too much. Yeah, so that kind of is the crux of who poppy is, and she's uh she's a chatterbox, she speaks a lot, but because she's also trying to like not reveal herself too much, like the real her, because she thinks that if she shares who she is, people are gonna think, Oh, she is like too much, like she she's this weird person, so that's why she's always kind of hiding behind this like chattery kind of a trait of hers. But honestly, the poppy you meet in book, you can truly look at the world through her eyes without getting annoyed. The poppy in in the movies, I saw the effort of trying to convey that, but I think the so okay, since you've not read the book, the movie changed like 80% of the book. Oh, I don't like the So it was true in the sense that they did capture the essence of why she wanted to travel and the essence of like the intention of the story, but it didn't really capture this story that Emily Henry wrote. And I'm sure like the team is happy with what they did. The movie looked beautiful, nothing against that. But for me personally, if they would have renamed the movie and to did not tell me that this was the adaptation, I wouldn't have guessed. Like if they had changed the names and they had just told me that this is a movie, it's like a wrong com over traveling. I would not have guessed that this is people we meet on vacation. Gotcha. So that was kind of when I was watching the movie, I was like, nope, this did not happen. That's not what Poppy sounds like, that's not what Alex sounds like. Alex is not that bland, he's not Alex speaks, Alex is not randomly saying weird dialogues. I think Tom he did a great job being Alex, but I think the Alex in book has so much more personality than the Alex that. Like, he's charming in a weird way. Okay. He's charming, like he's he's like charming in like an endearing way. If that makes sense. I don't know if that makes sense. But the Alex in book, you really in the book you really feel like he's so he's so sweet, like he's so cute. First of all, the movie did not capture why they fell in love with each other. They just did from the beginning. You were just told that they did. The movie did not capture truly how much Alex cared about Poppy.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

That's true, but in my notes I did write, uh, Alex is sweet. I forget what what part it was, but I was just like, oh, he's so sweet.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

He is. Yeah, so like the movie did capture like the essence of Poppy being this, uh and Alex being like this sweet, nice person.

SPEAKER_00 6:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

But I don't see the Poppy that I've read about. I don't see her being this version that I saw in the movie. I don't believe they are the same person. While Poppy is this like chattery, like loud, can be obnoxious sometimes person, but Poppy tries really, really hard. Like she genuinely wants to be a good friend to Alex, or she genuinely wants to kind of make sense of how she is. The book, Poppy, she genuinely is like fighting with her insecurities. The Poppy in the movies is just like, oh, I'm just gonna go on vacation, I'm just gonna like have fun, I'm gonna like do I'm just gonna be this crazy girl who's like all cool. I didn't see Poppy like that. And Alex, Alex has a very peculiar sense of humor, which I also did not see in the movie. Alex is very funny. If you read the book, Alex is genuinely funny. He has this peculiar sense of humor that only comes out when he's with Pop. Interesting. He also speaks a lot. If you imagine my freak. Yeah, it's it's absolutely right. Alex is he when you see him in the book, you feel like, oh, he's absolutely perfect for her. Yeah, they did not be they did not become friends overnight, like they showed they did not stay at a hotel, like a motel. None of that happened. So Alex does drop her home because he's like driving after the school year, school semester, or whatever. So they do like get to know each other in that car ride, and then the most important thing that the movie did not capture at all is how and why they grew attached to each other. It was because they both made a constant effort of staying in touch. They would like meet between even if even when they were at home for vacation, they would then start meet they met each other, they would hang out, they would catch up, and kind of it slowly became a thing. It did not become like, oh, on one drive home, you're like suddenly, let's go, travel love. Alex does not speak like that. Alex doesn't talk like that. It was so weird, and I'm sure Tom did a great job with what he got for the character, but that is not what Alex sounds like at all. Or at least in my head, I don't think Alex like, for example, in one of the scenes, he's like, What am I to you?

SPEAKER_00 9:05

What?

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Where did you stop watching the movie?

SPEAKER_00 9:10

They had done it was like a flashback to one of their vacations. That's not helpful. But I can't remember. Actually, you know what?

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Let me just And every there's a reason why in the book there is a chapter focused on like each of the vacation because you take away something that grows in their relationship in each vacation. In the movie, they're just literally having fun and be like, I don't know. I didn't see any connection, I didn't see any chemistry, I didn't see any hint of them liking or like not liking, but like them getting attracted to each other. I did not see any of that. Maybe I'm biased because I've read the book, but I just did not see it.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

Yeah, where did you stop watching? It was six summers ago trying to find the location. It looks like New Orleans, but I can't figure out where they are. Dancing in the streets or something? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

I guess it's New Orleans.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Yeah, was that New Orleans? It looks like it's New Orleans. It's her in the denim jacket with her hair all like poofy and curly.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

So he gets to see all of these different sides of her, and she gets to see that Alex is actually, you know, funny, yo, he's actually so sweet. He cares about me so much. So there's always this like guilt of knowing she cares so much about Alex, but he has this honor of girlfriend, which he also knows is not gonna go anywhere because he loves Poppy so much, because he just like loves the version of himself that he is with Poppy. And Poppy is scared of settling down and feeling like because Alex is so like straightforward and like you know, yeah, he likes to be in Ohio, he likes to like be, you know, quiet and be in one place, and Poppy wants to like travel the world. She feels like she might be a burden to him in some form or the other, and Alex feels like he doesn't deserve her because she's so wonderful. So in the book, you see this constant push and pull between them because they are battling with their own insecurities, and because of that, their relationship kind of suffers, they don't let each other cross that boundary of being friends. Just to give you context of how much Alex cares about Poppy, like how seriously he takes her, as and Poppy is scared of not being taken seriously, she's scared of being judged, she's scared of people are gonna not accept her if she shows them her real self. But she does share that with Alex. She is completely herself with Alex. All her peculiar, unique, like you know, shenanigans, Alex knows everything. One of the summers when they decide to bring their own partners with them, so that you know their partners are also like, Who is this Alex? Or who is this Poppy? Like, you wanna spend some time together. Poppy has a pregnancy scare. This was years ago before they stopped talking. She has a pregnancy scare, and then when Alex and Poppy actually like accept their feelings, get together, kind of a thing. Alex is like, Oh yeah, I just I just had a vasectomy done. And he's like, What you did what? That's so random to pull out because she had a pregnancy scare and he saw how much she was afraid of having kids.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

I mean, a vasectomy is reversible, so it's like whatever. Do you see like how much like thinks about their future together?

SPEAKER_01 12:19

So this is like an example of like how much Alex thinks of Poppy, like in terms of like how much he wants her in her life. And also in the books, Poppy really after their fight or whatever, she really wants to make like make up with him. And so Alex's brother's wedding is in California, not in Barcelona. It's super hot there, and Poppy is already like she's like a little broke. So, but because she wants to make up with Alex, she's like, You come stay with me, we'll do like this one vacation before your brother's wedding for a few days. My company's paying all the expenses, but they actually weren't. So she likes spending she's spending her own money to like spend time with Alex. But Alex doesn't know this that she's paying for this, and she lied to him. So the whole book is Poppy trying to hold on to whatever's left of that friendship because in Croatia, whatever happened, they kind of stopped talking because Alex got scared, and Poppy got scared of like, we don't know where this is going, and that kind of like ruins the friendship for a little bit. So it's like this whole book is you get to see why their friendship kind of got disturbed, and along all the summers, when you go along with them on all these summers, you see each time what insecurity, what growth, what challenges they both kind of face, and then eventually kind of decide to be together, and how that happens over a span of 10-12 years. Nothing happens overnight, nothing happens this fast. While the movie was beautifully done, it was, I'm sure, a lot of hard work and a lot of care that went into it, and a version that was suitable in a movie format.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Did they actually I don't know if you would know the answer to this, but did they actually travel, like film at these locations, or was it all done in like LA studios or whatever? That I'm not sure. Because I'm like, it doesn't like it, it's hard to fake it in those specific locations, but at the same time, I've seen other shows and movies be able to fake it, so I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Yeah, I think okay, what I was trying to say is I know you got annoyed by the the poppy version in the movie. In the book, she's actually very thoughtful and very insecure, so you kind of almost feel bad for us like girl, I love you. Why are you like being so hard on yourself?

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Okay, yeah, because Emily did a good job playing her for what I saw, but I was just like, she talks a lot, and a lot of it is just like like like she's just rambling, like half of it doesn't make sense, it's just yapping, and I was like, you know what? I'm used to this because my sister does the same, but hers at least makes sense, like you can follow what she's trying to say, but then Poppy just goes from like one thing to another, and there's just like five million stops in between that like money in the book, yeah. But for me, watching it or like hearing her just yap, I zone out so fast because I'm like none of this is relevant or like important, it's just her going on and on and on and on, and I'm like, okay, stop talking. I agree, I agree.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

In the book, Alex also talks a lot with Poppy, and they kind of have they just like live in this weird bubble with themselves, which I think is fine because I know people like I do that.

SPEAKER_00 15:26

Like my sister and I, if you hear us talking, we're just going on and on and on. And my parents are like, stop talking, you guys talk too much. But like for the two of us, you know, we can follow everything that we're talking about and whatever, and it just sounds to an outsider like we're just yapping about nonsense. That's what I think to capture.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

The movie tried really hard to capture it, but Alex had no personality whatsoever. He was not retaliant, like he was not part of the conversation. Yeah. If he was, it would all make sense.

SPEAKER_00 15:54

Yeah, he gave like one or two answers, or like said one or two things, and it was just her dominating the whole thing. And I was like, I don't think this is how the dynamic is supposed to be between these two. But at the same time, I hadn't read the book, so I was like, okay, maybe he is a quiet person and he just is a good listener and just listens to her ramble, and then like whenever he thinks it's necessary to like interject with a thought or a question, maybe that's what he does because that's kind of what it felt like. But you now saying no, they both like go back and forth. It's almost like ping-pong where it's just you know going back and forth like that. That makes more sense to to visualize, like for the book, but I think it's very hard for people to do it in real life if you're not friends with them.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Yeah, and I think again, this is what I remember from reading the book. I read it a long time ago, but I don't remember Alex being so like quiet. Yes, he's like quiet and calm and shy, but I remember it being I remember Alex being a lot more interesting as a person than what the movie shows him to be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:02

But I mean, even if you're like a shy, quiet person, once you find your people, you can, you know, go off. That's how I am. If I'm with people I don't really know, you won't even know I'm in the room half the time. But if it's people I do know, it's constant. I'm like yapping all the time. So it's just when you find your people. So I mean you can be both.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

That's what Poppy brings out of Alex, is like he she makes him like comfortable and he shares like all this stuff with her, and that's what makes him fall in love with her because she just like brings this refreshingly. Also, he has grown up with taking care of his family because his mother passed away. He's taking care of a heartbroken father and her younger sibling, so he takes on a lot of responsibility. So for him, it seems like if he spends too much time being happy, he's being selfish. So when he meets Poppy and he gets to be a fun vacation Alex, he loves that version of himself, which he doesn't get to be otherwise because he's always taking care of somebody or the other. So that's why he falls in love with her.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

Yeah, that was not really shown in the movie, but I only watched half of it, so I don't know really what happened in the second half to even to like fully understand whether it was shown that way or not. But since you've seen it and you said it's not, then Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

The book is and I I again I know that making a book into a movie, everything that's supposed to be made in two hours and explained and shown and to m to justice, it's very difficult. And I'm sure the team tried their best. This was no way trying to bash the efforts of the movie being made, but it genuinely could they should have just not said it was an adaptation of that, honestly. They changed and I'm sure if you you can change stuff and still have the essence, it's not.

SPEAKER_00 18:54

It was I think for a lot of these, if it's not almost identical to the book or whatever original source material it is, it should say based off of and not adaptation of, because based off of, which means just well, this is the concept that we took and we made it into our own thing, versus an adaptation is literally the book in movie or TV form. Maybe it was based on, but the way that that's how I process it in my head. I don't know if a lot of people process the word wording the same way, but also I'm the type of person that's like if you're calling a three-book trilogy a series, that's incorrect. But anyway, I'm very specific on the wordings when it's like books, TVs, movies type of stuff. So, like a revival versus a reunion are two different things when it comes to TV shows, adaptation versus based on two different things. If it's a standalone, a series, a duology, or trilogy, very different. But people interchangeably use everything, which bothers me so much. But we can have that conversation another day. And but visually, this the movie is so beautiful. The locations that they shot out were really nice. Whoever was in charge of that, I think the director's usually in charge of it.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

The movie had a personality, like it wasn't like it's zoomed in just on these two people. There was there was a style to the environment, there was a style in the background and the costumes and like the where they are. So this this movie had a personality of its own. I'm not saying it's a bad movie, it's a bad adaptation, if that makes sense. On its own, if you just had told me it's a sweet rom-com based on these two friends, and I did not know all these nuances about them already, I'd be like, Yeah, cute movie, like it's nice.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Yeah, it was okay. Didn't know anything really going into it. I like read the blurb on Netflix that gives it gives you, but that really didn't tell me a whole lot. But when I started watching it, literally in my notes, I went already bored 10 minutes into the movie. I was like, well, firstly, I guess for me, this is not the type of movie I would watch, at least on my own. I would not watch it if I had friends that were like, hey, we want to go see this. Do you want to come? I'm like, okay, I'll come with you, because that would be the only way I would watch it by myself, like would watch it, but you would not catch me watching it by myself ever.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

I know that's why I that's why I'm like adding to your review is like this is a cute movie on itself for people who like this genre. It's a cute movie by itself. It's it's an enjoyable two hours. There's nothing bad in the movie, as as a movie itself. The direction is great, the costumes are great, dialogue. I'm not a fan of. The dialogue could have been so much better. It did not feel like a dialogue, it felt like one person talking all the time.

SPEAKER_00 21:49

Okay, so it felt like it didn't feel like a conversation. It didn't feel like a conversation.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

The dialogue felt like, oh, I just wrote this for this one person. So the dialogues and the communication. Could have been way better. But again, as a movie as itself, it's a rom com. It's a fun watch. And we did enjoy watching it. Like we were having dinner, and all of us, like friends, were. But I just if you just named it something else and did not tell me this was a but this this book, People We Meet on Vacation, this book is really close to my heart. Because the character, like I love Poppy, I can understand where she's coming from. There's a sense of familiarity with her that and I really admire like her character. So again, this is just my experience with the movie. If you had just told me this was a fun rom, that would have been better off. On its own, great. For people we mute on vacation, I did not like it at all. They should have just made it a series of 12 episodes and 12 summers, and it did not do justice to the story. But the book, it is genuinely a good story. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Something you probably wouldn't really catch me reading. I know. It's not easy. Unless it was like a book club book, like, hey guys, you know, let's all read this together. I mean, The Hunger Games isn't really my type of book either. I had to push myself to read the first like six or seven chapters. But even now, I'm like, I don't really enjoy it as much, but I do like it a lot more than when I tried to read it when they first came out. And it's nice to have like people to read it with and kind of talk to them about it. So I'm like, you know what? Okay, I'll read it. But like you kinda I have to be put in a situation where I ha like I'm like forced to read it.

SPEAKER_01 23:33

I know this is not your style of book, so I completely understand.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

The last thing I want to say about the movie is the the like title cards that they would put, like two summers ago, one summer ago, last summer. I thought they did that really well where it wasn't where heated rivalry would just have a freaking black screen and be like three months later.

SPEAKER_01 23:57

I was like absolutely I forgot to mention that. I was like, we've both watched both the movies and the show and we discussed this. They did such a bad job with the transitions, and when I was watching people we meet on vacation, I was like, I had to tell Nikki this is how they should do it.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

The transitions in my notes. Really? I observed that too. And every time they did like three summers ago, one summer ago, whatever, the color changed, which I thought was really cool because it matched like the background or like the vibe that it was going for. So I thought that was a really good job. And I liked that it was like into the scene with the text, and it wasn't just like a black screen or something like random like that. It didn't take me out of it.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

I thought they did that really well with the transition. I and I immediately observed that because I was like, Heated rivalry.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

I was like, Can you stop putting a black fucking screen in the middle? It pulled me out so bad watching Heated Rivalry, and they would just put the black screen with the text. And my sister watched it too, and she was like, I don't think I can keep doing this if they're just gonna put the text on a black screen. I was like, I I even like fully warned her, and she's like, Oh, that's not bad. And then she watched it and she's like, This is bad.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Yeah, no, I agree. That's what I'm saying. The movie was nice, it wasn't a bad movie, it was just a bad adaptation or based on whatever. But the book in itself is very rich in like it goes in depth with you feeling that discomfort of putting a person you love and you worrying about you being a burden on them. And sometimes how that fear almost makes you lose that person. Like if you you would rather sit in the fear and process it, but sometimes when you run away from it, you might just lose the person because of that fear. So this book really takes you through that journey of yeah, I did lose him once because I was so scared of admitting the truth, and then the next time you lose him again because you just you've met after two years, and the all the memories come back how wonderful it was being with Alex. And when she's in the position again, she's like, Okay, fuck it, I can't, I can't lose him again. So it's kind of a really well-rounded kind of a journey that you truly care about. And it's like, please, Poppy, get over yourself, please. You guys are so cute. Alex is so sweet, please don't hurt him. So you're really rooting for the characters when you read the book, you truly care about them. Yeah, and the one funny scene that I don't know if the listeners, I don't know if you would remember this or not. So Alex's family is all very emotionally constipated, right? Except for his younger brother. So his dad is like very, very introverted. So then Poppy, and Poppy's like, she's obviously talks first things later, right? So she goes, like, good evening, Mr. Nielsen. She's trying to be formal. And he's like, Oh, you can call me Ed. And then Poppy goes, You know what? You can call me Ed too. What? That doesn't make sense, but it's funny. Exactly. Like, Poppy is so funny in the book. She's like, and I did not see that coming. Like, why would a meeting with his dad be this funny? And I was like laughing for three whole minutes straight. And I was like, This has to be the most randomly funny dialogue I've ever read. She's like, you know what, you can call me Ed too. And the same thing, my friend, when we were discussing, I was like, Did you find the funny line? He's like, Was it when Poppy talked to his adult? I was like, Yeah. It was so funny. That's what Poppy, she just like makes you laugh. It's she's like silly. I would say in general, the book I would highly recommend. People meet on vacation, even if you don't like rom-coms, it's just like it's just a book about two friends, honestly. Just read it. Don't be so picky. Nikki, I'm talking to you. It's a good book. The movie, just if you're watching the movie, watch it as like a standalone. Like it's not related to any book. If you watch it like that and enjoy it, don't watch it as a book based on a movie based on the book. That would be heartbreaking. This is Nikki. This is Sam. Thank you for listening to the Readers of Two Cities podcast. Tune it from wherever City you're looking to. See you next time.