Now is Good

 The Book

The book has the more downbeat title of "Before I Die" but with a quote from Heat magazine saying "A book that will make you happy to be alive".
The story is of sixteen year old Tessa who has been diagnosed with leukemia and given a few months left to live. She draws up a Bucket List of many of the things that you would expect to be typical behaviour for a teenager living today - sex, shop-lifting, driving, become famous. Not being a teenager, some of these immediately grated with my programmed social norms!
The author does a very good job through first person narrative of putting you into Tessa's short-term life view and priorities and there is empathy there. I did find myself feeling more sorry for the family and friends that would be left behind, however.


 The most affecting piece for me was where she learns that her boyfriend Adam has been making long term plans behind her back - going to University - and she sets about destroying all her clothes and possessions in a frenzy of anger and frustration. Her father comes in to her room and calls her a monster, as she is leaving nothing intact behind as an object to remind him of her.




The book may help people to seize the moment and take more of a heightened awareness of what goes on around them, but being the negative and depressive person I am, I made the effort and all it highlighted to me was the litter, grafitti, and general run down state of things, so no progress there...



Film site

The Film

Now is Good as a title for the film deflects the downbeat subject matter and focuses on the positive.
If you want to watch this film, you know you are looking for a weepie movie and it doesn't disappoint. It manages to steer clear of mawkishness or wallowing in pity, but the inevitable means it still calls for the tissue box.. mainly in the final five to ten minutes. The final dialogue where all moments in life have been leading to death, with a final shot of Tessa's best friends new born baby, is ultimately depressing but again has the effect of making you decide that you want those moments to count.






The acting by both Paddy Considine, as the supportive but rebelled against father, and Olivia Williams, as the flawed and impractical mother, is brilliant - restrained with an underlying desperation of keeping it together for the sake of their daughter. Casting an American - Dakota Fanning - as the English teen, is somewhat bewildering. The accent is clipped, Queen's english - not how I imagine a young 21st century teen girl speaks these days. I imagine the casting was for international appeal. Jeremy Irvine gives good boyfriend eye candy but showed much more emotional attachment to Joey in War Horse than a dying girl.