Page to Screen: The Fault in Our Stars

 

My first movie review. Yay!!!

 

My Rating: 5 of 5 stars

 

 

I just came home from watching The Fault in Our Stars. I dragged my poor boyfriend to see it with me and my cousin who initially got me to read TFIOS. I truly enjoyed this movie. I would have enjoyed it more had we not been unfortunate enough to be sitting in front of a large group of loud pre-teens who clearly snuck in from another movie. But that's besides the point. Theater etiquette is a rant that I'm not willing to go into here.

 

For anyone who read my book review of TFIOS, you'll know that though I enjoyed the book, I was not as impressed by it like so many others nor do I think that the book deserves the crazy, insane hype that it gets. Neither book nor movie made me cry. However, in comparison, I definitely liked the movie better - I know, crazy right? What book geek ever says the movie's better? But it's true this time around.

 

 

 

SPOILERS AHEAD

If you haven't read the book or seen the movie, proceed with caution or avert your eyes.

 

 

 

As with any book to movie adaptation, there were parts that were taken out or changed. A lot of the lines were fairly word for word and all the best quotes were kept in. One thing that was taken out of the movie that I thought was a particularly good choice was the decision to remove the Caroline Mathers storyline. In the book, Gus says that he was staring at Hazel during support group when they met because she looked like Caroline. Note: I don't own a copy of this book; I borrowed it from my cousin. So I don't remember if he said Hazel looked like her or reminded him of her and I can't check. Either way, I thought that storyline was a bit on the weird side. Regardless of the fact that Gus loved Hazel as herself and not because of her similarities to Caroline, I thought that whole storyline was a downer on their relationship. I'm glad they took that out.

 

Another thing that I'm glad that they changed for the movie was they made Hazel and Augustus less pretentious than they were in the book. The movie portrayals made them seem more like real teenagers. They weren't spewing SAT vocab in every sentence and there were no silly debates over the symbolic connotations behind why certain food is considered breakfast foods and some aren't. I loved that they made the characters in the movie more like real teenagers - with teenager-y feelings and reactions. It just didn't come off to me that way in the book. The book seemed to focus more on the 'wise-beyond-their-years' trait than them just being intelligent teens.

 

One part I wished they hadn't changed was details after Augustus's cancer comes back. While reading the book, I thought Augustus' death was fairly abrupt. Like, he was sick for a couple of chapters, they just have his pre-funeral, then the next chapter says he died. In the movie, a lot of the details leading up his death were taken out making it even more abrupt. It seems that the movie focused more on the love story rather than the characters' inevitable death. This makes it slightly easier and less heartbreaking to watch but still, I would have liked those details kept in. Particularly, Hazel's hunt for Gus' letter. I dunno, it felt like she had a better closure in the book than in the movie where Van Houten just hands her the letter. Also the book ends with, Hazel saying "I do" in answer to Gus' letter, doesn't it? I liked those last words better rather than, "Okay."

 

I have to say that the cast were each perfect for their roles. Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort were the perfect Hazel and Augstus. Shailene though, holy crap beans, can she act. She made Hazel for me. The way she portrayed certain things like excitement over going to Amsterdam, yelling at Van Houten (both times), crying over Gus' death was just amazing. She was just perfect in the role. Especially during Augustus' pre-funeral. If there was a time at all when I almost cried in the movie, it was then. Ansel Elgort was also the epitome of Augustus. He was the perfect blend of sweet, cute, and funny. When he was semi-freaking out during on the plane, he was adorable. I wanted to hug him. Nat Wolff was good too. Between him and Augustus, they carried the humor throughout the film during just the right times. Shout outs also to Laura Dern and Sam Trammell as Hazel's parents. I thought they needed more screen time just because I liked them that much.

 

The movie itself was visually beautiful. Each scene was picture perfect. Especially the restaurant date. Although they weren't seated outside by the river as in the book, the restaurant décor was stunning and gave off a beautifully, magical effect that complemented the idea of them drinking bottled stars. I also loved that the movie both opened and closed with Hazel gazing at the stars. I don't remember the actual fault in our stars line in the movie though. I could have missed it though - bad theater etiquette and all. Also, I loved the text bubbles. They were a feature that could have been awkward but were really fun and quirky.

 

If you haven't seen this movie yet, I definitely recommend it. It's worth the exorbitant amount of money that movie tickets go for these days and you won't regret it. Warning though, if you're prone to tears (like my cousin is, apparently) bring tissues. But if you're like me, try not to laugh too obviously at the girls crying ugly tears all over the place. I know I'm really awful - I'm sorry; it takes a lot to get me to cry over a book or a movie.

 

By the way, did you catch John Green's cameo? I must have missed it but I also didn't know when to look. Anyway, what were your thoughts on the movie? Like, dislike, better than the book?

Top Ten Tuesday #5: Top Ten Books I've Read This Year

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/meme created by The Broke and the Bookish.

Lists, lists, lists. Before I start listing, I want to apologize for not blogging a lot recently. I'm currently in the middle of redoing my room so my blogging space is an absolute mess and everything is everywhere. I can't think in this madness! But my new closet is put together and semi-organized now. I just need to clean... a lot. Enough about that though. I've only read 23 books so far this year which make me horribly behind on my 70 book challenge for the year. Most of them I've talked about in previous blogs and slightly less than half of them consisted of me marathoning through all the Percy Jackson books. But without, further ado:

Top Ten Books I've Read This Year

(in the order that I read them)

 

1. Champion by Marie Lu - This was my favorite of the Legend Trilogy. After Allegiant, I was kind of afraid that this would follow the same disappointing path but I was wrong. I really liked how this ended. I won't go into details because that would involve spoilers but I really liked it.

 

2. Skyraiders by Brandon Mull - I've never a Brandon Mull book before but I got this as an ARC from work so I figured I'd read it. Skyraiders is a middle grade book set in an alternate universe. It starts out with Cole and his friends going trick-or-treating. One of the houses they go to has completely set up a haunted house attraction. Once inside however, Cole's friends get kidnapped by slave collectors from another world and whisked into a portal. Cole, who only barely escaped getting taken himself, goes after them to a world called the Outskirts. The Outskirts is made up of five kingdoms all set within a realm somewhere between reality and imagination. It's up to Cole and a mysterious girl, Mira, to save his friends and find a way home - if that's even possible. I really liked the world building in this even though I thought it was a little on the lengthy side for no real reason.

 

3. Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu - I've definitely mentioned this book before but I really enjoyed it. It's the perfect mix of hope, melancholy, and childhood innocence.

 

4. Forsaken Dreamscape by Lani Lenore - Dark!Peter Pan! I love this trilogy. Lani Lenore needs to be a household name. She's an indie author who I've been following ever since she only did fanfiction. This is the second book in her original retelling of Peter Pan and it's amazing. I can't wait for the third to come out.

 

5. Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan - This is the book that hooked me into the Percy Jackson series. I was a little iffy about The Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters. Initially, I thought they were too kid-ish for me. It's a toss up between this one and The Last Olympian for my favorite of this series. Plus, Nico was introduced in this one. Cute little Nico.

 

6. The House of Hades by Rick Riordan - This book. This. Book. I just can't with the feels all over the place. Tartarus and Nico and Percabeth4Life! (Even though Percy is totally my fictional boyfriend.) Gah! October needs to be now just so I can know what happens next!

 

Out of curiosity, has anyone read the Carter Kane? I'm thinking of reading them but somehow I can't see them living up to Percy.

  

7. Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson - This has to be at least the third time I'm gushing about Tiger Lily here. Anderson's words are just so pretty. If this book were a painting, it would be in the Louvre.

 

8. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - I have mixed feelings about this one but I truly did enjoy it. I thought it was a good story - not entirely worthy of the insane hype that it's caused - but good nonetheless.

 

9. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - I want to hug this book. It's just so cute!

 

10. Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira - As much as this reminded me of Perks of Being a Wallflower, there were some seriously great quotes in here. I took pictures of my favorites before I actually just broke down and bought the book.  

 

 

That's it for now! Have you read any of these? What were your favorite books that you've read so far?

The Fault in Our Stars Review

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Published:  January 14, 2013 (originally published January 2012)
My Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars (I rounded up on GR since you can't do half stars.)
Synopsis from Goodreads: Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumors in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumors tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind. 

I want to start off by saying that this was my first experience reading a John Green novel and I did like this book. I really did. It was touching and emotional and tragic (though it did not make me cry). However, regardless of any of that, I have mixed feelings about it. I really wanted to LOVE this book and give it five stars. It seemed everyone else does and day in and day out at my job and all over the internet people are raving about how beautiful this book is. Still, after finishing it, I just thought it was okay. Not like Hazel and Augustus' "Okay? Okay." kind of way but just okay.

SPOILER!! : I borrowed this book from my cousin and before even starting it I asked her, "Augustus dies doesn't he? No, don't answer that but he does, doesn't he?" She didn't answer but lo and behold, I was right. All I knew before picking up the book was that it was told in Hazel's POV, Augustus was in remission and she was not, and they fall in love. Obviously one of them was going to die and it would be too obvious if it was Hazel and therefore, I predicted how the book would end even before starting it. It read a lot like a Nicholas Sparks novel where you know that by the end someone is going to die tragically you just don't know when. It was predictable and sad for the sake of being sad.

I feel as though John Green was trying to make this book be more than it was. What I mean by that is, it's as if he wanted to imbue life lessons and deep meaning through the book but the approach to achieving that didn't succeed as fully as was intended. By making Hazel and Augustus wise-beyond-their-years characters who spewed metaphors and poetry, they came off as pretentious and sometimes annoying rather than truly wise or remotely realistic. I would have rather had Augustus light the cigarette and just smoke it as a challenge somewhere along the lines of him having beaten death once so he could do it again rather than Augustus walking around pretending to smoke because it's a metaphor. I say this as a non-smoker who fully believes in the vices of smoking and who never has and never will purposefully inhale smoke into my lungs. I think any meaning that could be taken from this book could have been achieved without the pretty SAT vocabulary littered across every page and random allusions to poetry and literature (real or not) shoved in between. Without all the pomp and circumstance, Hazel and Augustus would have seemed more realistic as teenagers and their situation would have become more sincere and authentic.

Again, I want to say that I did like this book. The idea of looking for hope, goodness, love, and happiness in an otherwise hopeless situation and then choosing to live for the good over the bad is a wonderful sentiment and one worthy of a book. I understand that TFiOS is based on the life of Esther Earl though I did not read This Star Won't Go Out. John Green's writing is beautiful even if it is much too heavy on the metaphors. However, I stick by my opinion that the topic and moral of the book could have been conveyed more genuinely had the characters and writing been less pretentious.

I would recommend this to any young adult looking for a quick, sad book to read (because sometimes you just find yourself in the mood for a quick, sad read). However, I would not recommend this to anyone who has had personal experience with cancer or a child's death from cancer. I don't believe the moral is delivered strongly enough to be learned through the overpowering writing.