Charlie Kaufman to Adapt "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" for Netflix

If you haven’t read it already, put I’m Thinking of Ending Things on your ‘to read’ pile. Oscar winner Charlie Kaufman is set to write and direct an adaptation of Iain Reid’s internationally best selling novel  for Netflix. Kaufman, nominated for his adaptation of The Orchid Thief (Adaptation) and Being John Malkovich won the Oscar in 2004 for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. 

The book is Reid’s debut. I’ve just read the first twenty pages  and it’s as addictive as the cover blurb promises. Both eerie and gripping. When a book begins with a young woman saying I’m thinking of ending things while she’s driving in a car to meet her boyfriend’s parents, the effect is chilling. 

Dakota Fanning in Please Stand By

Maybe because I’ve been watching her in The Alienist, Dakota Fanning comes to mind. Jake, because he comes off a bit shy and awkward, seems a good fit for Freddie Highmore who plays the autistic med student on The Good Doctor. 

Freddie Highmore in The Good Doctor

But that’s a long way off, in the meantime I’m Thinking of Ending Things has jumped to the top of my own TBR pile.

Here’s how the publisher sums up the book named an NPR Best Book of the Year in 2016:

“I’m thinking of ending things. Once this thought arrives, it stays. It sticks. It lingers. It’s always there. Always. 

Jake once said, “Sometimes a thought is closer to truth, to reality, than an action. You can say anything, you can do anything, but you can’t fake a thought.” 

And here’s what I’m thinking: I don’t want to be here. 

In this “dark and compelling…unputdownable” (Booklist, starred review) literary thriller, debut novelist Iain Reid explores the depths of the human psyche, questioning consciousness, free will, the value of relationships, fear, and the limitations of solitude. Reminiscent of Jose Saramago’s early work, Michel Faber’s cult classic Under the Skin, and Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk about Kevin, I’m Thinking of Ending Things is an edgy, haunting debut. Tense, gripping, and atmospheric, this novel “packs a big psychological punch with a twisty story line and an ending that will leave readers breathless” (Library Journal, starred review).

And how Variety describes the story Kaufman has been hired to write

 “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” examines the fragility of the psyche and the limitations of solitude. On a road trip to meet his parents on their secluded farm, Jake’s girlfriend is thinking of ending things. When Jake makes an unexpected detour, leaving her stranded, a twisted mix of palpable tension, psychological frailty, and sheer terror ensues. Reid’s debut novel has been published in 17 territories and received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, Library Journal and Booklist.

If you’ve read I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reed, what did you think of it? And who would you cast in the key roles?