Recently I finished reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. This book is absolutely fabulous and you should read it if you have the chance. I've been hearing for a while that this book is really good so I finally decided to read it. It didn't hurt that the movie is coming out soon and I love all the actors in the movie. Anyway, I read about half of the book last night between midnight and 3am. You know the book is good when you start crying just because you have a sense of what's coming. It reminded me of when I stayed up until 5am reading The Hunger Games or spent an entire day with the latest Harry Potter book, after standing in line for the midnight release.
I am one of those people that believe that one should read the book before seeing the movie adaptation, so I wanted to read The Fault in Our Stars before June. However I recall when The Hunger Games and Harry Potter last came out. I was really excited because I had grown up with these characters and I could not wait to see them explode on the screen. There were people in the theater, however, that had never read the books and were only seeing the movie.
The thought that somebody didn't know these characters and was just seeing the move because it "looked cool" absolutely disgusted me. These people were not as invested in the story as I was. They didn't understand the poetic nature of the plot lines. None of those people had read the books, so they weren't picturing exactly how the set should look in their minds. They are a blank slate waiting to be drawn on.
I used to think that the only people worse than not reading the books before seeing the movie are the people that only read the book because the movie is coming out. Those people that just a week before the movie comes out are seen walking around with the book whose cover is the movie adaptation version (those are the WORST). Those people who just days before the movie come out finally get on the bandwagon talking about how it's the BEST BOOK EVER!! and won't shut up about it.
Those people upset me because I've had weeks, months and even years preparing for some movies. I had read the last two Lord of the Rings books before either movie came out. I was years ahead of the curve, so to see someone read it days before the movie came out upset me. It upset me because they felt like they were the biggest fans of the books series. Like it was their series, but it wasn't. It was my series. They hadn't stayed up really late night after night because they couldn't put the book down. They didn't have to wait for weeks on end waiting for the next book in the trilogy to come out. Yet, I would hear time and time again that they "could NOT be more excited".
But then it hit me. I'm one of those people when it came to The Fault in Our Stars. Sure I had heard of the book before the movie was even started, but I didn't read it then. I only started reading it because I really like the main actress in the movie. Now that I'm finished with the book, I could NOT be more excited for the movie to come out.
I will always be one of those people that believes someone should read the book before the movie comes out, but at least now I know that everybody is taken on a different journey when it comes to books and my journey is not the same as someone who read this book ages ago. It's not my fault that I loved the book and am now really pumped for the movie, nor is it the fault of the Hunger Games fan who just really likes the plot.
But really, everyone needs to read The Fault in Our Stars.
