{Movie} Review: The Fault in Our Stars

We all delight in seeing our favorite books brought to life on the big screen.  We cringe at casting.  We scoff at release dates.  All the while, we're gearing up to see if the director's vision lives up to the world we've conceived in our own imaginations.  Sometimes it does...and sometimes it doesn't.  We could lament the movies that don't measure up, or we could return to the books for a re-read, possibly with a slightly different mind-set.  All's fair when it comes to artistic vision, right?





Today, I'm featuring the following movie:

Title: The Fault in Our Stars
Director: Josh Boone
Stars: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, Laura Dern, Sam Trammell, Willem Dafoe
Release date: June 6, 2014
Based on: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Hazel and Augustus are two teenagers who share an acerbic wit, a disdain for the conventional, and a love that sweeps them on a journey. Their relationship is all the more miraculous, given that Hazel's other constant companion is an oxygen tank, Gus jokes about his prosthetic leg, and they meet and fall in love at a cancer support group.

Okay, my friends. Most of you have read the book, so none of this will be new to you. But just in case you're the one person on my friends list who hasn't read the book or seen the movie yet, there will be loads of spoilers from here on out. So, ya know, if that kind of thing bothers you, you should probably stop reading here. Okay? Okay.

I went with my sister on Saturday to see TFiOS because we'd listened to the book together at some point last year and we both loved it. I've since listened to it several more times, and each time, I think I found a new favorite part. So, obviously, I was a little worried that this movie wouldn't hold a candle to the book from which it was adapted. But it did. It so did. Mendy even thought so, and she's pretty freakin' hard to please. She's also maybe a bit cold and unfeeling, as she didn't shed a single tear during the whole dang movie, while I was a hot, embarrassing mess. OR, when she ran from the theater the second the credits started rolling, it could have been because her fake eyelashes were floating down her cheeks on rivers of TFiOS-inspired tears. I guess we'll never know, since in my haste to follow her, I managed to drop my phone somewhere in the row in front of us and the lights hadn't come up yet.

The general consensus afterward, though, was that it was a beautiful, heartbreaking movie, and it was one hell of a nearly-true to the book adaptation. The feels were all there. The pivotal moments remained. The witty dialogue, for which John Green is known, was there in spades. There was only one scene I remember being cut, and it was the one where Augustus is arguing with his mother to go to Amsterdam. And I totally get why that was eliminated because it really added to the sting of finding out Gus was sick on that bench with Hazel Grace. I'm sure there were other scenes missing, but as I said, the pivotal moments made it, and that's crucial to any adaptation, but especially this one. TFiOS fans can get downright rabid in their vehemence that this film adaptation remain as true to the book as possible. As a fan myself, I think the movie was pretty damn close to the book I've loved more each time I read it.

Like so many others, I was nervous about the casting. Brother and sister in one movie, only to be cast as lovers in another. That might not have been such an issue, had the release of both movies not been scheduled so close together. Honestly, I still can't speak to that because I haven't seen Divergent yet, but after seeing them in TFiOS, it's obvious they have chemistry. But I think that chemistry could also be conveyed in a sibling bond, the way they joke and jab at each other in this movie. I think Ansel Elgort is the perfect Augustus Waters. I'm still not sure Shailene Woodley was the Hazel Grace Lancaster I had pictured in my head, but she was well-cast nonetheless. And Nat Wolff as Isaac...so adorable. When he's breaking the trophies in Gus' room after Monica breaks up with him because she's too chicken sh!t to see him through his surgery, he is so acutely Isaac in that moment. I never would have envisioned Willem Dafoe as Peter Van Houten, but it worked. And I still despised his character as much in the movie as I did the first time I read the book. I understand him to an extent, but that doesn't mean I have to like him, not after he treated Hazel Grace -- his biggest fan -- so atrociously.

The funny thing about this movie is that all the parts that I thought would be my favorite scenes -- Hazel leaving the Venn diagram for Gus, Gus telling Hazel that he is in love with her, the kiss in the Anne Frank house, the egging of Monica's car -- none of those compared to the scenes that just generally showed the chemistry between these two characters. Like, when Gus is blatantly staring at Hazel from across the circle at the group therapy session. It was silly, it was cute, and it was kind of swoony in a juvenile sort of way. And it wasn't the kiss in the Anne Frank house that I found so delightful...it was the two sick kids climbing all those stairs, trying for some semblance of normal in the face of what Van Houten had just done to them. So many beautiful moments...I honestly don't know if I could pick a favorite anymore.

I'm an ugly crier. I shouldn't have seen this in the theater. But the rest of the audience looked as puffy and swollen as I did, so who cares, right? Except that everyone outside could pinpoint exactly who had just come from seeing TFiOS. Still, when my older sister asked if I'd read the book, would I recommend it because she was thinking of buddy reading it with her neighbor and then going to see the movie, I told her I absolutely would, even though she "hates sad crap" and doesn't like sad movies. (How am I the only sister who isn't emotionally stunted?) Because it's not just about the sad, emotional bits. It's about all the feels. All that snappy dialogue and those beautiful moments. It's about dealing with life, pain, and death, and coming through it. So, yes, I highly recommend it.

If you've read the book, I think you'll love this movie. If you haven't read the book, you're going to hate John Green as so many have already complained, but then you'll read the book and you'll love him again. And you'll probably still love the movie. Or not. But either way, you'll remember this experience and know it's always better to have read the book first. But even reading the book first in this case can't save you from all the feels.

GIF it to me straight:

Were you a fan of the book? Have you seen the movie? How do you think it fares as an adaptation?

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Labels: adaptations, all the feels, all the swoons, favorites, john green, movie reviews, movies, must-read, must-see, the fault in our stars

{Audiobook} Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Title: The Fault in Our Stars
Author: John Green
Series: stand-alone
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Publication Date: January 10, 2012
Source: purchased
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

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.

Somebody needs to smack me around for taking my sweet time getting to this book.  Especially since I've had a signed copy on my shelf for ages.  I guess even I was tired of waiting on me to get around to reading it, though, 'cause I ended up listening to the audio instead.  I don't think there's a word for how far from being a mistake that decision was.

“What a slut time is. She screws everybody.”

Kate Rudd perfectly executed the narration of the verbose Hazel Grace and the loquacious Augustus Waters.  Her portrayal of these two unbelievably poignant characters still has me pondering the book, days after finishing it.  Every bit of the dialogue felt as if I were listening in on a real conversation between two real people, the wit and dry humor perfectly reflected in their sarcasm and clever banter.  Rudd's intonation was such that every emotion could be felt through the headphones as if it were my own.  I am not a cryer, and I'm not sure if I would have cried reading this novel to myself, but Rudd's interpretation of this book managed to bring me to tears.  And not just a few, either...no I was ugly crying, sobbing at my desk at work like someone had just run over my childhood dog.  (Luckily, I share my office with my sister, and she understood...I even got her to listen to it!)

I don't know what I can really say about this novel that hasn't already been said.  But, maybe I should mention that this is my first John Green novel, so I had zero expectations going into it, other than having been warned that I would bawl my eyes out.  (Which I did.)  However, I do have experience with novels about cancer and other illnesses.  I really don't want to admit this, but I had a penchant for Lurlene McDaniel's novels when I was a prepubescent youth.  I know, I know.  Looking back now, those novels were kind of really ridiculous.  Regardless, they don't hold a candle to how realistic and genuine and just lovely the story of Hazel and Augustus is.

“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.”

Their story is beautifully sad and even amazingly funny at times, and it is masterfully told without coming off as morose or by making light of the situation these two kids are faced with.  And what endears me to this author further is that the characters are intelligent and clever and sound like real teenagers, not the perceived notion of them.  And Green took chances with these characters.  They are quirky and imperfect.  They're dealing with issues and illnesses that some have never even heard of, and they don't always take things in stride.  But it is the imperfect way in which they handle life's setbacks that make them honest, real, and right.

“You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world...but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.”

This may have been my first John Green book, but it will not be my last.  I finally see what all the fuss is about.  And now I want to read and own every book he's ever written.  Because I can't imagine this book is a fluke.  Or that thousands of people could be that wrong.

“My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.”

Rating: 

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Labels: audiobooks, contemporary, favorites, john green, must-read, penguin, reviews, the fault in our stars, tough subject

Judging a Book By Its Cover #10: A Kid's Perspective on The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Okay, so I totally stole this idea from Sara at Forever 17 Books, who got the idea from an article on Babble called Judging a Book by Its Cover: A 6-year-old Guesses What Classic Novels Are All About.  I just discovered her lovely segment, and I immediately requested forced my own four-year-old daughter Katie to provide me with some of her own cover art artwork and then asked her what she thought the book was about.



This week, Katie gave me her take on the following book:

"I think it's a mystery of finding green things, about things that are green and are lost.  And the girl is going to find green things."  When I asked her why green, she said that the last word was GREEN, duh.

Cover Art

The Fault in Our Stars as envisioned by Katie

Man, my kid cracks me up sometimes.  =)  She picked this one off the shelf and begged to color it next.  But then when I asked her why she didn't finish, she said she was too tired.  Silly girl.  She also wants me to read it next.  I have a signed copy, but I also got the audio really cheap in one of Audible's recent sales, so I will probably listen to it instead so that I can get to it sooner rather than later.  Just as soon as I catch up on my audio reviews. ;0)  I know, I know.  I need to get on that.

Have you read The Fault in Our Stars?  If so, what do you think of Katie's guess at the premise?  Did your little darling create a work of art based on a book this week? If so, be sure to link up with Sara over at Forever 17 Books.

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Labels: contemporary, cover art, john green, judging a book by its cover, katiebug, the fault in our stars, tough subject