The Fault In Our Stars - Movie Review

  

          As the lights in the theatre faded to black and the opening scene for ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ began to run, I bit my lip. This was it. Like most people my age, I have had a deep love for the John Green novel ever since I had first read it. The book destroyed me, drowning me in tears as I read the last chapters. It had definitely left a lasting impression. I had been waiting for this movie for a long time. It meant something to me. It meant something to most every other teenager I knew. And that was why it was so important they got this right.

           Movie adaptations on the whole make me quite nervous. There are so many things that they can get wrong. I know I have to make exceptions -it must be difficult to fit every single page into the film - but the more they cut and paste and change, the lower my opinion plummets. I just get so angry paying to see a movie-adaptation of a book I loved so much and finding how unrecognizable it has become.

    

        Even if they do somehow manage to leave the plot line in its original form, I am still ridiculously hard to please. The setting and the characters have to be just so, otherwise the book will be ruined for me for a long time after. Seeing a movie-adaptation always manages to erase the idea of the characters that exists in my head and replace it with whatever brand-name ill-fitted actors that the director has chosen to sell more tickets. One single movie can change my whole perspective on the book, to the point where I can’t even remember what the character’s used to look like to me. When I read Harry Potter, it is Daniel Radcliffe I see, not the scruffy bespectacled kid that I had one been able to conjure up in my mind.

  

          However, with all that to consider, ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ was perfect. It was beautifully shot; cleverly cast and did not miss a single scene. It was a wonderfully weird sensation to realise that the version of the book they had created was almost identical to the version of the book I had initially imagined at home. And after a deep discussion with a few other die-hard John Green fans it turned out that it was a close fit to their imaginations as well.

 When it was first announced, I had been apprehensive about the casting of soft-faced blonde, Ansel Elgort, for the part of Gus. But as I slipped easily into the first scenes of the movie, I realised that no other actor could have fit into the role quite as well. Elgort’s Gus was funny and charming and a sweet sort of handsome that he managed to show both on the inside and the out. It may just have been because I did not associate Elgort with any other movie but I really believed in his portrayal of Gus. I think that belief is one of the main reasons why my mascara was dripping off of the bottom of my face by the time the lights came up at the end of the show.

Even without having read the book, ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ is an enjoyably romantic film to watch. The story is made perfectly clear for those with no previous experience and the scenes are wonderfully romantic with only a subtle layer of cheese to satisfy the audience. The powerful emotions contained within ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ have been translated almost perfectly from book to movie. Though I cried more when reading the book, the movie still felt like a strong personal experience.

If you haven’t read or seen ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ yet, I do recommend that you read it first. As closely as the film reflects the book, I still think that the book tells a more emotionally compelling story and proves to be a more satisfying experience overall.

That said, ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ is easily one of the best movie adaptations that I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. There was much concern surrounding the ridiculous expectations of the fans of the book, but ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ somehow managed to skyrocket way above its impossible hype and into a whole new galaxy of goodness. Despite my apprehension, I loved this movie almost as much as the book.

With gorgeous cinematography and a wonderfully selected cast of characters ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ is a movie-adaptation that will simultaneously wreck you emotionally and warm you to the core. Without a doubt, if you were a fan of the book you’re going to love this.

Okay? Okay.

The Rainbow List of Must-Reads: Red

      Hello and welcome to my very first post on my brand new blog! I'm really excited to start this new project and I have a lot of plans for it in the future. If you haven't guessed already this is a book blog - a place where I can rant, rave and celebrate about books! I've decided for my first seven posts to go with a bit of a theme. 

This is the Rainbow List of Must-Reads: a list of a few of my favourite books in rainbow order. Starting off the list we have our red book with a red cover:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon

Kicking off my Rainbow list of Must-Reads we have ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’, Mark Haddon’s eloquent yet quirky insight into the mind of Christopher – a peculiar 15 year old boy with a love for the colour red. ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ is as clever and thought-provoking as they come and offers up a reading experience like no other. The book is narrated by Christopher himself as he attempts to uncover the truth behind the tragic death of his neighbour, Mrs Shears’, dog, unravelling a much larger story in the process.

It becomes quickly apparent when reading this book that Christopher is not your usual teenage boy; he has a complicated relationship with emotions and is unable to identify facial expressions other than happy and sad; he calms himself in difficult situations by effortlessly carrying out colossal maths equations in his head; and he absolutely refuses to eat anything yellow or brown under any circumstances. After combining these strange behavioural quirks with Christopher’s peculiar way of recounting events, it quickly becomes clear to the reader that Christopher has some form of autism-like disability.

I first learned about the book from my sister when I was six years old – though did not actually read it until I was ten. When I asked my eldest sister what her book was about she gave me a funny smile and said:

     “It’s about a boy with autism, I think,”

     “What’s autism?”

        My sister thought for a while before answering: “It’s like… If I told you to stay off the grass, you’d just do it. But if I told a boy with autism to stay off the grass, you’d have to tell him when and why and for how long,”

This was a perfectly acceptable answer to my young mind and the explanation has stuck with me for all these years since.  Even before I had absorbed the story first-hand, the book had left a lasting impression on me, leaving me with a better understanding of autism and those affected by it.

Though Mark Haddon never specified Christopher’s condition, ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ was able to explain mental disabilities to my sister in a way that was so simple that she could then go on to teach a six year old child. The reason I loved ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’ is because I have never before found a book that has allowed me to look so clearly through the eyes of someone with such a difficult mental-disability. It has let me see into a world where things aren’t so clear and simple and shown the mentally disabled in a much more relatable light.

It’s the kind of book I want everyone to read, and one I take great pleasure in lending out. When I first picked the book off the shelf I ate it up within a few days and begged my Sister to let me borrow her copy as well.

For all these reasons, ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ will always have a warm spot in both my library and my heart.

You can find out more about Mark Haddon and his other books by going to this website.