Usually I am not a huge fan of book adaptations, they tend to miss out a lot or not recreate the world or characters in a way which I imagained, although I am one reader out of thousands so I appreciate its impossible to please everyone, but TFIOS did not disappoint me. There were minor details of the book that weren't there that I thought could've been but that could just be me being picky.
If you haven't read the book yet, then one why not? and two please read it before you see the movie. Here's my very quick plot overview without giving away too much. The story is told by Hazel Grace Lancaster, different from your stereotypical romance heroine, she has cancer, its terminal and she has accepted the fact that she is going to die sooner rather than later. Without sounding too cliche her life changes when she meets the charmingly beautiful Augustus Waters at the cancer support group her mum makes her attend, proving herself wrong that something good could come out of it. Hazel at first is determined not to get too attached, but she cannot resist spending more time with Augustus Waters as much as he cannot resist spending more time with her.
This is not simply another love story, it's a story about life and death and all the in-betweens told in a brilliant way that does not deal with cancer in a tragic way.
Now for the movie:
The best thing about the movie for me was that it made me laugh, now this may sound stupid but looking back on the book I remember the tragedy and the hours I spent weeping when I was reading it, and even though I obviously cried during the movie (if you didn't what are you some kind of robot?) I found myself laughing just as much. Just the way in which Hazel sometimes phrases things, the little jokes which hadn't stayed with me like some of the more memorable quotes.
Many things were just how I imagined:
One: Hazel's Mum, played by Laura Dern was pretty much exactly the way I imagined her in the book, from the way she spoke and fussed over Hazel even to her expressions. Although I wasn't disappointed by any of the character portrayls this was one in particular I loved.
Two: The Literal heart of Jesus and Patrick (Mike Birbiglia) Everything about this was in my eyes perfect, from the giant Jesus rug, to the cheesey songs and the circle of kids who all seemed like they were forced to be there in the church basement. I LOVED it.
Three: Peter Van Houten's House, filled with the bags and bags of unopened fanmail as soon as Hazel and Grace stepped through the door, to the bitter man who had no desire to drink nothing but scotch no matter what time of day it was everything I imagined in the book
Four: Hazel and Gus ( Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort) They brought the main characters to life brilliantly and their on screen chemistry was just perfect. Most importantly Ansel Elgort did Gus' smile perfectly I could gush for ages about how much I love the pair of them but it would probably be embarrassing.
Some things that bugged me:
As I mentioned these were very minor things which don't impact the story too much, but as a big fan of the book missed them.
One: They're not supposed to go to the basement. In the movie when Hazel goes to Augutus' house for the first time they go straight down to his room, in the book they don't. This however is important in my perspective as this meant they'd didn't watch V for Vendetta and Gus never told Hazel that she looked like Natalie Portman - proving how beautiful she is.
Two: Hazel's dad didn't cry as much - Okay maybe I'm just picking this out as its very noticeable in the book as he cries at almost every occasion.
Three: Where was Kaitlyn? Hazel's only friend from before her cancer was just removed, which I felt made her seem like a loner forced to socialise by her mum, but it gave more time to Hazel and Gus
Four: Most importantly the film never tells us the fate of the Hamster or the Dutch Tulip Man or Anna's Mum. These questions are answered in the book which I guess encourages you to read it but these are the reasons they even go to Amsterdamn in the first place and why Peter Van Houten visits Hazel after everything.
As a book lover I am often sceptical of movie adaptations, but the Fault in our Stars did not disappoint me, despite a few minor details which obviously did not ruin the movie. As a lover of the book I would not say that I loved this movie if I really didn't, everything about it just worked really really well and I can't wait til I can buy the DVD and watch it over and over again.
