This is not quite a straight-forward book vs TV series, because the book I read about fraudster Anna Sorokin – My Friend Anna by Rachel DeLoache Williams – was not the basis for the new Netflix series, Inventing Anna. Instead, the series was based around a feature article by Jessica Pressler (and her forthcoming book, Bad Influence).
So, read or watch?
Read. Because:
- Rachel stands by her version of events, whereas the TV series has a number of fictional characters that are a pastiche of people involved. I’m not a fan of sorting fact from fiction – just let me be absorbed in one or the other.
- The book gives a slow build. The series unfolds from the perspective of various characters, making the accumulation of Anna’s fraudulent activity a little disjointed,
- Nine hour-long episodes of Anna’s terrible accent in the TV series was almost too much.
Oh the accent! 😂
Almost unbearable!
I just finished binging this TV series, and to be honest, after watching it, I don’t think I’ll want to read Rachel’s side of the story. She might have been out of pocket temporarily, and on some professional thin ice for a bit, but she ended up recouping 10 times as much as she was conned out of, plus she got not only an article published in Vanity Fair but also a book deal. I can’t feel sorry for Rachel, but that doesn’t mean I like Anna much better. As for the accent… it was hard to listen to, but what do you expect from a mash-up between German and Russian – two of the most ugly languages on earth!