The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Published by: Dutton
Books ®
Summery:
[From Inside Flap]
Despite the
tumor-shrinking miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been
anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a
gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid
Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.
Insightful, bold,
irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning-author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking
work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of
being alive and in love.
Introduction:
Many people know John Green through either his books or the
YouTube channel, Vlogbrothers, he has with his brother Hank. I first heard
about him on a book-tube channel when that person reviewed The Fault in Our Stars. I then watched one of the Vlogbrothers’
videos because this book-tuber mentioned that the author had a channel on
YouTube. I didn’t think much of it after that. But then many more book
reviewers were saying amazing things about this book, and after seeing one in
particular from CassJayTuck (who is my favorite book-tuber), I convinced myself
that I would buy it. Well, I didn’t get it for a long time after that. I was
afraid that all the hype was just because John Green has many loyal followers
on YouTube. I started to watch the vlogbrothers videos, just to see what kind
of person this John Green was, and I soon became quite a fan. I quickly
subscribed to many of John and Hank’s channels. They seem like really awesome
guys. They’re funny, smart, and never dull. And that is what finally convinced
me to by The Fault in Our Stars.
Characters:
Hazel Lancaster is 16 and living with terminal cancer and has
to have a continuous flow of oxygen to her lungs. The story starts with her at
Cancer Support Group, which meets at a church. She meets Augustus there, who
came because his friend, Isaac, brought him. Augustus previously lost his leg
to cancer, but is now cancer free. He’s good-looking, buff, and athletic, even
though he has a prosthetic leg, and he’s immediately interested in Hazel. At
first, she fights her growing feelings for him. Since she’s dying of cancer,
she doesn’t want to get close to him, but then wind up hurting him later when
she dies. Augustus changes her mind about that, finally, because he is this
wonderfully perfect guy, who does some amazing things for Hazel just because he
loves her.
I do have a few problems with these two however. Both of
these characters are in their mid-teens, but neither of them spoke like
teenagers would. Most of their “witty banter” seemed really forced and plotted
out way too much. None of it seemed to flow naturally like real conversations
do. Then, the personalities of these characters were very, very bland, and they
just seemed very much like crafted people cut out of plain cardboard. I could
never feel a connection with either Hazel or Augustus; it was so easy to
remember that they were just story characters. There was very little believability
in their personalities. The characters that I could identify with, however,
were Hazel’s parents, who were both very natural and believable. It was easy to
feel for Hazel’s father when he cried, or to understand why Hazel’s mother would
do anything for her daughter. The love was easy to feel there. Isaac, Augustus’
friend, was also easier to believe in. The poor guy, he went through some hard
things, and seemed to handle it more like a teenager would.
My Thoughts:
Because I consider myself a fan of John Green, I really
wanted to like this book a lot, and feel the extreme emotions that I’ve heard
that other people experienced whilst reading it. A really enjoyable thing about
it was when I opened up the book and started reading, because I could instantly
tell it was a John Green book! The narration was so him, even though the book
is told from Hazel’s point of view. John Green’s voice is very distinct. Watch
a number of his videos and then read one of his books and you’ll be able to
understand what I’m talking about. A lot of authors struggle with having a
distinct “voice” in their narration and their words come across as sounding
robotic and bland. Not so with John Green! He is a very good writer. Unfortunately,
his characters didn’t meet my expectations and fell short of seeming real. I
wanted to like this book so much because I like the author so much. I kept
reading it and telling myself, “Hey, it’s John Green! He’s awesome! His book
HAS to be awesome too.” But it wasn’t. No matter how much I wanted to like this
book, get invested in the characters, and cry at the end (like I’ve heard so
many people have), I couldn’t. I feel terrible about that. I wanted to love
this book so bad! However, because it’s John Green, I’m planning on getting
another of his books and giving it a chance. Maybe this just wasn’t the book
for me. It is very different from the books I normally read, since there’re no
fantasy elements in it at all. I don’t usually read contemporary fiction, so
maybe I just need to read more, and get used to them. My preference is for books
that are fantastical. I mean, I live a contemporary life, why would I want to
read about someone else’s contemporary life? That’s just personal preference,
and has nothing to do with my opinion of the book’s or the characters’ quality.
Warnings:
There’s some language in this book, and there’s a brief, but
not really descriptive sex scene, as well. What else do you expect from a Young
Adult novel? Other than that, there isn’t any violence. It is a book about
people with cancer, so some death is also to be expected. (I don’t think I
would consider that a spoiler alert, I mean, considering the book’s content,
would anyone expect anything else?)
My Age Rating: 14
and up. I think it’s quite appropriate for the age group it’s marketed for.
~Cya!
