Looking for Alaska: John Green

Well I am sure that you will have heard of John Green, its hard to escape him when The Fault in our Stars seems to be dominating both the book and film world. I fell head over heels in love with TFIOS, I love a book that can make you cry and with this offering I shed bucketfuls! I was a bit sceptical starting Looking For Alaska because I just couldn't imagine how it could live up to my high expectations. Sadly it didn't, it's not that it wasn't good, I really did enjoy it, I just felt that there were moments where it didn't quite reach my high expectations for a John Green book. I felt that characters were alright but not amazing and for me the story line just fell a bit flat.

The book follows the life of Miles aka Pudge who dreams of living the adventurous life of a boarding school pupil. He befriends Chip (The Colonel) and Alaska and they embark on a life of pulling pranks, smoking cigarettes *insert John Green metaphor*, and drinking cheap alcohol whilst trying to avoid the wrath of their headmaster. I really enjoyed the first half of the book as Pudge found his feet and finally found the friends he had dreamt of. I found that as teens the characters were realistic and I found them fascinating and annoying in equal measure. Where I found it fell short of my expectation was the second half of the book, for me it didn't quite hit the mark and when I finished it I felt as though I had been robbed of a good ending. I would just like to add here that I know so many people who preferred Looking For Alaska to TFIOS and this is just my own opinion and I am sure that many people will read it and find it to be absolute John Green perfection.

What I find amazing about John Green is that he writes teen fiction so well that I almost forget that he is a middle aged man with two kids and a wife. To me John Green is the perfect example that you don't have to be a teen to be able to write or appreciate young adult fiction. Looking for Alaska was beautifully written, the compulsory John Green metaphors and good humour dominated the book, making serious situations understandable and relatable.

I can't criticize the writing style as John Green got that absolutely right, for me the story line just wasn't strong enough.

Let me know in a comment what you thought of Looking For Alaska if you have read it!

Eilidh

The Fault In Our Stars: Film Review

I am going to put a SPOILER ALERT here because I just feel as though I can't talk about the film without revealing details so please if you haven't read it or watched the film, first off- where have you been these last few years! Secondly, don't read any further.

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I am a huge fan of John Green, I follow him as a part of the Vlogbrothers and I am slowly making my way through his books, I have TFIOS and Looking for Alaska down so far and I am going to move onto Paper Towns soon. I thought the book of TFIOS was absolutely amazing, it had be sobbing for about half of it and it left me weirdly uplifted but also a bit empty. It was a touching and sensitive take on teens living with cancer, it wasn't all doom and gloom but rather it highlighted their desire to live and experience things despite their illness, John made characters that were flawed rather than simply ill, the cancer didn't define them and I think that was why it was such a beautiful book. It's safe to say that I was pretty damn excited to find out that it was being made into a film.

First off I would like to talk about casting, I had not heard of Shailene Woodley nor Ansel Elgort before hearing they were to play Hazel and Gus, of course I then went onto see them in Divergent but other than that they were new to me. This was perfect because I had no preconceived view of how they should act, to me they were Hazel and Gus. They capture the tone and personalities of the characters and when I look at them I do see 16 year old teens struggling through life- it is a long way from the 'teens' of Gossip Girl and 90210- they are realistic and relatable. Ansel plays the charming, slightly cocky and pretentious Gus perfectly, and dear lord when Gus starts to get ill again I felt that Ansel was able to show the vulnerability and sensitivity that was so important to Gus' character. In the book it says...

'According to the conventions of the genre, Augustus Waters kept his sense of humor till the end, did not for a moment waiver in his courage, and his spirit soared like an indomitable eagle until the world itself could not contain his joyous soul. But this was the truth, a pitiful boy who desperately wanted not to be pitiful, screaming and crying, poisoned by an infected G-tube that kept him alive, but not alive enough.'

...I felt this was captured beautifully in the film, as a cancer story it would have been too easy to let him die peacefully and beautifully and to give the film a Hollywood spin, a complete contrast to the realities of dying, but instead we saw him get weak and  lose control, we saw him get scared and fall apart. John Green created a flawed character and it transferred well to the film. 

Then there was Hazel, Shailene has a beautifully husky voice and she spoke Hazels words so well. I liked that she was dressed down and had minimal make up. The character of Hazel was kept realistic rather than glamourised. I believed every word Hazel said and when Gus died oh did I cry with her. My favorite scenes with her were the eulogy scene where it would have been so easy for her to the whole 'you are not dying' thing that always seems to happen in books/films when a character is dying. Hazels understanding of Gus' circumstance made the story so real, it would have been easy for her to go into denial. 

The character of Isaac was also done brilliantly, he was funny and witty but also strong and scared. He was everything a teenager should be. The scene where they egged the car was brilliant, I did however feel as though in the translation to film some of his character was lost. In the book I loved the scene when Isaac and Hazel were playing the video game, I know that in the film it wouldn't have been a vital plot component and obviously it was not necessary but I did feel that Isaac could have been a bit more present.

Also, I was slightly annoyed that there was no mention of Gus' previous girlfriend, I felt in the book it enriched his character and explained some of his actions. although again, when you are cutting a book into a 2 hour or so film then there are obviously aspects that won't make it. 

I was a bit worried going into the film that the metaphors when spoken would make me wriggle in my seat but actually I felt they worked very well. With the cigarette metaphor there was so much potential for it to be awkward and embarrassing but Ansel spoke it so well and I think that was down to him throwing himself so wholeheartedly into the character of Gus. 

So all in all it was an amazing film, often book to film adaptations are disappointing, but this certainly wasn't. It has an amazing cast and a brilliant soundtrack and it stays very true to the book. But, just as a warning, take tissues- I spent half of the film trying to control my breathing so I didn't break out into full on sobs! 

Let me know in the comments what you think of the film and whether it lived up to your expectations.

Eilidh

A few of my favourite things

Reading and baking- two of my favourite things. The dreaded second year university exams ended in May and since then I have been throwing myself wholeheartedly into my two favourite hobbies. There have been too many books to read and too many sweet things to bake, but slowly I am making my way through the very long list of things I want to do before the summer ends and I am thrown back into essays and course reading.

Blueberry and Raspberry Frangipane tart, Chocolate Brownies, Flapjacks

(can you spot the little nose in the top left hand corner of the flapjacks picture?! This photo was taken just seconds before my dog tried and failed to help himself to them!)

Coffee, yogurt and granola in South Kensington

So in the last week I have made my way through

Thirteen Weddings: Paige Toon

Johnny Be Good: Paige Toon

Baby Be Mine: Paige Toon

Johnny's girl: Paige Toon

Looking for Alaska: John Green 

I picked up Thirteen Weddings on a whim as I saw it making the rounds on Twitter and my curiosity got the better of me. I am so glad I picked it up and since finishing it I have also made my way through the two books and the short story that follows the life of Johnny and Meg. I am also looking forward to making my way through The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson which is a YA book from Paige Toon.

I also finally got round to reading Looking For Alaska by John Green. I read The Fault in our Stars about a year ago and immediately went out and bought all of his other books, I have only just got around to reading them. TFIOS is still my favourite of the two and I am planning on reading Paper Towns soon so I will report back! 

Currently reading: Longbourn by Jo Baker

I am already loving this book, it is Pride and Prejudice from the view of the servants.

Next to read: The Accidental Life of Jessie Jefferson by Paige Toon and Confronting the Classics by Mary Beard

What have I been doing?

X-men

London: V&A Italian Fashion exhibition 

Reading, reading and more reading 

This has just been a little glimpse into what I have been doing over the last week or two, I may do something like this every couple of weeks!

Eilidh