The Fault in Our Stars.

                 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings."Julius Caesar.

Cassius rejected the popular theory relating to astrology. The fault here is cancer and the film looks at how two teenagers, in particular, Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters deal with their afflictions and the effects it has on their relationships with their parents.

Directed by Josh Boone and produced by Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen. The film is based on the hugely successful book by American writer, John Green. Shailene Woodley (The Secret Life of the American Teenager and The Descendants) stars as Hazel. Ansel Elgort (Carrie, Tommy Ross and Caleb Prior) plays Augustus.

Hazel is 16 and has battled cancer for the past 3 years. It is terminal and in order to breathe she needs to carry around with her an oxygen cylinder. She is encouraged to attend a support group held in the local church, run by Patrick, a cancer survivor. It is at one of these sessions that she meets Augustus, a cancer survivor who has suffered from osteosarcoma and lost a leg, who is there to support his best friend Isaac (Nat Wolff) who is about to go blind.

Gus, as he is affectionately known, takes a fancy to Hazel and the book charts their love affair amidst insurmountable obstacles. Hazel encourages Gus to read her favourite book about a girl called Anna who is dying of cancer and empathises with her. It's An Imperial Affliction by Peter van Houten (Willem Dafoe). Haxel wants assurance that at the end of the book the survivors will find happiness and not mourn for the rest of their days. It is important to her because it mirrors her state of dying and she wants to feel that her own parents will have a life without her once she has gone. Gus encourages contact with the writer and in spite of Hazel's illness the two of them with Mrs Lancaster in tow, fly to Amsterdam hoping for answers.



The experience proves a shock and disappointment for both of them. The writer is a drunkard, rude and callous man. His assistant resigns and she takes the couple to visit Anne Frank's house where the couple show their feelings openly by kissing in public, to the rapturous applause of the spectators. Reassuring to know that love can spring from the depths of despair.
Hazel is an interesting character and is devastated to learn that Gus's cancer has returned. He asks her to prepare an eulogy and invites her to a pre-funeral service with Isaac who eulogises:
"I don't want to see a world without Augustus Waters in it." By this stage, Gus is wheelchair bound and it seems obvious that she will outlive him.

The book tends to portray van Houten more sympathetically. In the film his rudeness and dependency on alcohol is apparent. He is a despicable man but he holds the key to the eulogy for Hazel which is Gus' last gift, moving and yet, sad.

Shailene Woodley as Hazel.

COPYRIGHT 2014. Permission must be obtained from the author before any of this review is reproduced.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Stranger From Lagos by Cyprian Ekwensi

Image
  image courtesy of Google images   Ekwensi was born in Nigeria in 1921. He wrote about the country and people of Nigeria-city life and life in the rural areas. Loko Towns and Other Stories was published in 1966. A Stranger From Lagos was one of the nine stories in that collection.   The writer explores the place of women in society. Lilian is trapped by social conventions. Her fiance treats her like a possession as if he owns her. It is written in third person to allow the writer's thoughts to merge with Lilian's. The protagonist is unable to speak to the stranger in public although it is obvious that there is a strong physical attraction between the two. If Lilian asserts herself she will go against social conventions (for females) and her reputation will be damaged through rife and unhealthy gossip. She will therefore be stigmatised as a loose woman. The story explores her inner conflicts in accepting these "conventions" or flaunting them as well ...
Read more

A Stranger From Lagos by Cyprian Ekwensi Final Part

Image
                                                                    courtesy of Google images Lilian uses her sexuality to liberate as well as attract the opposite sex. Ekwensi uses "wiggled." Lilian had just had her hair done and was wearing very large, loop earrings. This had been done for her lover's benefit. She was conscious of all the eyes watching the two of them. The writer uses the simile: she felt like something projected on a 3D screen for all Onitsha to view. We are told very little about the stranger other than that he was tall and good-looking. We are told he didn't feel embarrassed by all of the attention. He would ruin her reputation...
Read more

A Bit of Singing and Dancing by Susan Hill

Image
Here you'll find 11 varied but intense stories about emotional struggles of ordinary people trying to get to grips with life. For some unfortunates, the adjustment is too great and tragedy is inevitable, something very characteristic of Hill's writing as many of you will already know. A Bit of Singing and Dancing is less dramatic and not quite so tragic. I can stay out here just as long as I like, I can do anything I choose, anything at all, for now I am answerable only to myself. Esme is still coming to terms with her mother's death and her new-found freedom. She is over 50 years of age and has reluctantly been forced into caring for her forthright and domineering bedridden mother for 11 years prior to her death. She had been half-alive satisfying her mother's needs and repressing her own needs and desires. Her mother's death had given her a new lease of life, an unexpected freedom which also attracted fear and bewilderment to someone who had been so sheltered...
Read more