5 stellar TV series based on award-winning novels

Turning novels into TV shows is a practice as old as the visual medium itself. But it is relatively rare for filmmakers to tackle award-winning or short-listed works of literature, which makes Max’s adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s 2015 novel “The Sympathizer” a gamble. As opposed to more plot-driven genre writing, prestigious literature depends on dynamic prose and careful characterizations that can often be difficult to translate to the screen. But when great novels meet great television, the results are memorable. These are five of the best TV literary adaptations of the last five years. 

‘Normal People’ (2020)

Hulu’s take on Irish novelist Sally Rooney’s literary sensation turned not one but both of its leads into stars. Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Marianne, a disaffected young woman who falls in and out of love with Connell (Paul Mescal), whose house her mother used to clean, over the course of several years following the Great Recession. In Rooney’s novel, Connell is popular and charming, whereas Marianne is an outcast, a dynamic that gets somewhat lost in the show’s casting of these two supremely attractive actors. Released early in the pandemic, the 12-episode adaptation was almost universally praised. “Normal People” is a “triumph in every way,” said The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan. 

‘Foundation’ (2021)