Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr is a weekly Canadian podcast about young adult literature, their film and television adaptations, and everything in between. Now in its sixth season, the podcast—hosted by film critic Joe Lipsett and English professor Brenna Clarke-Gray—aims to highlight the cultural worth of young adult and middle-grade texts, with a focus on Canadian, Indigenous and minority creatives and stories.

Join us weekly for deep dives, as well as a round of YA BINGO.

Book 6, Chapter 24: One of Us is Lying

Brenna and Joe venture to California to discuss Karen M. McManus’ 2017 book One of Us is Lying and S01 of Erica Saleh’s 2021 TV series.

We’re discussing the characters we latched onto in each version, as well as the changes made in the adaptation and how that would change the next book/season.

Plus: thoughts on the “twist” and “villain” reveal, the beautiful 25 year olds on the show, and its sheer Canadianess.

Read on for more about this week’s episode from co-host Joe Lipsett:

Typically I only make Brenna read/watch spooky stuff  around Halloween. Having already read the first entry in McManus’ mystery whodunnit series a few years ago, I knew that it wasn’t particularly scary or gory. Plus it’s a really great page turner!

TV series are often a mixed bag in terms of adaptations. With more time, characterizations should be richer and the plot more involving. In the case of One of Us is Lying, though, there are plenty of unnecessary additions and surprising omissions. The series isn’t bad, but it’s obviously been tampered with for the purposes of running multiple seasons.

It’s almost enough to make me wanna cover S02 just to see how they do it! -JL

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