Book vs. Movie: The Host by Stephenie Meyer

The Host, the Book:

Publisher's Description:

Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy that takes over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. But Wanderer, the invading "soul" who occupies Melanie's body, finds its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Soon Wanderer and Melanie-reluctant allies-set off to search for the man they both love. Featuring one of the most unusual love triangles in literature, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel about the persistence of love and the essence of what it means to be human.

____________________________________

«

The Host, the Movie:

What I liked: Let’s start with the positives first since there is actually very little I liked

• The plot stays true to the novel (considering the thing I liked the best about The Host, the novel was the story, as opposed to say… the writing, I’m glad this remained the same). 
• The plot remains the same pacing when it comes to major plot events. Remember how there are like three separate climaxes to the story? They’re all in the movie too. 
• Parts of the movie are laugh out loud funny. Some of the lines are delivered tongue-in-cheek, as if even the actors can’t believe they have to say them. 
• Jeb is excellently cast. Just fantastic. He almost makes up for all the other terrible actors. 
• The desert scenes look fantastic… until they get into the caves and you realize you’re staring at a plaster set reminiscent of bad displays at Disney’s Epcot. 
• The eyes of humans with a Host are awesome. 

What I didn't like: Where to start… where to start. Oh right, the biggest problem: the actors are horrendous. I’m pretty sure Meyer and co. pick actors based on physical resemblance to characters alone and completely ignore acting capabilities. Also:

• The entire beginning of the movie is overly clinical to the point where it just looks super fake The super shiny silver modes of transportation that the Seekers use which look CGI’ed 
• The voiceovers where Mel is resisting her host. They alternatively made me want to shudder or laugh… they’re just so bad. Not enough sincerity. 
• Mel’s occasional southern accent
• The movie had serious pacing issues. Because it doesn’t move as fast as the books read a lot of the franticness of the situation is completely lost on screen. Instead the entire plot becomes very slow and overly dramatic/sentimental 
• Have I mentioned how bad the actors are? 

Overall: Redbox it if you want a good laugh. I went with two friends, one who had never read the book and another who had. The one who read the book has self-admitted “very low expectations” and liked it. The one who hadn’t read the book couldn’t fathom how that movie made it to the screen. So take it for what it’s worth, my recommendation is spend your $10 on buying the e-book rather than a movie ticket. It’s a fast read.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Publisher's Description:

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours 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 tumours 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

_________________________________________

«««««

I really shouldn't write a review right after I've finished the book. But I really want to. A book hasn't made me cry since the end of Harry Potter. I don't even know where to start with this one. When I first picked it up I had heard so many good things about it that I thought it couldn't live up to the hype. I didn't want to like the book, I was fairly sure I would hate it. Surprise: I'm not a fan of Perks, and I really expected this to be Perks 2.0... but it wasn't.

The characters are wonderful. They're developed and strange and real and flawed. The plot is so strange, parts of it are so surreal and parts of are it so trivially "cancer plot points" that it makes you stop and think, maybe this is what it's like. Maybe this is what Hazel and Augustus are dealing with. Some things stay so unapologetically normal and predictable, while some things are wild and out of control and the strangest part is how they all come together without your permission.

John Green does an excellent job of keeping the teenagers teenagers, and the parents parents, the doctors doctors and the strage recluse the strange recluse. His language is powerful but accessible, sometimes quirky. I was often uncomfortable with his vocabulary (or maybe, Augustus's vocabulary) but that was part of what gave the book life. The Fault in Our Stars is not what you want it to be. It's not perfect, it is it's own story. But it is wonderful.

Find The Fault in Our Stars on Goodreads.

Book Review: Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Publisher's Summary:

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand. 

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby wants—and needs—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.

_________________________________________

«««

I had to give Beautiful Disaster 3 stars because (like so many other readers, it seems) I was torn between giving it 5 and giving it none. I had a real love-hate relationship with this book.

5 stars for: the chemistry, and the heartbreak, and the muscles, and the cursing, and the sex appeal, and a lead female who has to be tutor-ed instead of being the one doing the tutoring, and for it not being fantasy, and for it not being set in high school.

0 stars for: the entire second half of the book, for dramatic plot point after dramatic plot point that seem completely unnecessary and unrealistic, for dragging the book on way too long, for unnecessary fights, for the worst epilogue in the history of epilogues (straight cheese guys) for allowing men and women to think it's okay to be absolutely off their rocker cray when having sex and mostly to

PAIRING A GUY WHO SLEEPS WITH EVERY GIRL IN TOWN WITH A GIRL WHO IS A VIRGIN.

Because you know, OHEMGEE, women can't have sex or they're whores. Or "sorority bitches" as they're referred to in the book. (As a sorority bitch myself who would rather read than jump into bed with some muscle-y guy, why all the hate?)

The book kind of sucks from a literary perspective but major props to Jamie McGuire for writing a book where I hated most of the characters and yet I could not put it down. Not for a second. Not to walk from the elliptical to my car. Not to walk from my car to the house. I did nothing until I finished that book. So 5 stars for that.

Summary: Not a bad trashy read, grab it on the beach, don't get too invested or offended by the characters and enjoy the sexual tension.