Behind the Story: The Life List

Based on a book by Lori Nelson Spielman, The Life List is now a Netflix movie! 

Not long ago, on a quiet, rainy weekend afternoon, I ran across “The Life List” on Netflix. It’s a cute movie, following a young woman in the wake of her mother’s death. When Alex and her siblings visit their mother’s lawyer for the reading of their mother’s will, Alex discovers that she must complete a “life list” she wrote as a teenager to receive her inheritance. It’s the story of a woman’s journey through grief, but also a story of self-discovery, discovering true happiness and growth.

While the movie was the perfect addition to a rainy Sunday, I wanted to know more about the novel it’s based on, how Spielman came up with the idea and how the movie and the novel differ.

How is the movie different from the book? 

Well, most notably, some of the characters’ names were changed when the book made the jump from print to small screen. In the book, the lead character is named Brett and her brothers and boyfriend all got different names in the movie version, too. In addition, Alex/Brett’s mother, Elizabeth, portrayed by actress Connie Britton in the movie version, has already died in the novel, while her death is pivotal part of the movie. In addition, in the book, Elizabeth leaves letters for her daughter as she achieves each life list milestone, while she leaves videos in the movie (likely to give the well-known Britton more screen time). 

Where did the idea come from? 

The major plot point of the novel and the movie is Alex’s long-forgotten “life list.” Spielman said the idea began to form when she found her own teenage life list—”29 things I thought would make for a happy life,” Spielman said in an an interview with Deborah Kalb. “I realized I had indeed accomplished many of my adolescent dreams,” Spielman said, “ but some goals hadn’t yet been achieved, and others never would.” Spielman began to wonder if we evolve and grow over time (making youthful life lists less realistic) or if we simply “give up and settle in life.” Then, she pondered what would happen if someone was compelled to complete their life list. The answer, at least from the perspective of the movie version is clear—sometimes we need a little nudge from our younger selves to continue to grow and evolve into the person we were made to be. 

How long did it take to write the novel? 

“I started writing in October of 2009 and finished the first draft in January 2010—record time for me,” Spielman remarked in an interview with Traveling with a T. Editing came next, a process Spielman said took about a year. After another year of sending query letter to book agents, she finally found an agent and sold the book to a publisher in 2012. 

What’s the message Spielman hopes readers take away from the book or movie? 

Spielman said in the Traveling with a T interview that she feels the most satisfaction when a reader tells her the book caused them to pause and consider their own goals in life. “Sure we have dreams, but we never really seize them, and before long another year has passed, then a decade,” Spielman commented. “I’d love to think the story might motivate someone to find a new job, dump Mr. Wrong, move to a new place, or anything else they’ve been too timid to do.” 

Interested in the movie or the book? 

Get the book!

Watch the movie!