How Did Critics Rank The Top Adapted Books Of The Decade?

Honestly, when I skim those end-of-decade roundups, what jumps out is how critics don’t just grade fidelity — they treat adaptations like conversations. I’ve spent more than a few evenings cross-referencing lists from places I trust, and the pattern is consistent: the highest-ranked adaptations are the ones that feel both faithful to the core of the book and brave enough to become their own thing on screen. Critics look at writing and direction, of course, but they also weigh performance, cultural timing, and whether the adaptation reveals new layers in the source material.

If you look across major outlets — from broadsheets to film mags — a handful of titles keep popping up near the top. For TV, 'The Handmaid's Tale' often scores highly for how it amplified Margaret Atwood’s themes and made them urgent for a new audience; critics praised Elisabeth Moss’s performance and the show’s willingness to expand the book. 'Normal People' is frequently lauded for capturing intimacy: the novel’s interiority translated into small, quiet scenes that critics thought television rarely pulls off so well. Limited series like 'Sharp Objects' and 'Big Little Lies' were noted for turning psychological novels into star-powered, atmospheric TV, even when they had to add or rearrange plot beats to make things work episodically.

On the film side, critics often reward tonal fidelity and craft — 'Call Me By Your Name' and 'Room' are examples that made many top-ten lists because they preserved the emotional center of the books while using cinema’s tools to deepen that feeling. 'The Social Network' is another favorite, and it usually ranks highly not just as a biopic but as a literary adaptation: Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay extracted a novelistic texture from reportage and created dramatic truth. What I take away from these rankings is that critics aren’t chasing page-to-frame literalness; they celebrate translations that feel inevitable — like the story couldn’t have been told as powerfully in any other medium. If you’re hunting a list to binge from, I’d mix consensus picks with one or two that critics loved for entirely different reasons — and enjoy watching how each one reinterprets its source.

I like to think of critics’ rankings as a conversation between books and screens rather than a strict scoreboard. From what I’ve seen reading critics’ lists and forum debates, there’s a loose consensus about several standout adaptations, but the exact order changes with who’s writing and what mood the culture is in. Generally, the entries that consistently show up near the top are ones where critics felt the adaptation either deepened the novel’s themes or reinvented them in a way that made sense visually.

If I summarize the common pattern: TV adaptations that expanded the world and captured performances — like 'The Handmaid's Tale' and 'Normal People' — get high marks. Films that kept emotional fidelity and used cinematic language — think 'Call Me By Your Name' and 'Room' — also score well. Critics reward smart adaptation choices, sharp acting, and when the project adds something essential rather than just retelling the plot. So if you want a quick binge list based on critical favor, pick a mix of prestige TV and emotionally true films and you’ll see why critics loved them.