"The Fault In Our Stars"
John Green, 2012
Dutton Books, 318 pgs.
At first when I picked up this book, I
was all about it. I fell in love with the quotes that exploded on Tumblr and
Pinterest when this book first came out last year. I'm a quote whore, (You can
thank my mom for this.) But I digress, I've also heard a lot of good things
from a few of my friends about how hard they cried at the ending (somebody
dies, FYI) and it was the best Y/A fiction that has come out in recent years.
It also had a reserve list about ten deep at the library. Needless to say, this
was a hot book that I shouldn't pass up.
But I was dead wrong. (Too soon?)
This book is basically "Hipster Kids with Cancer: The Book." We center on Hazel Grace, a 16 year old teenager who has had Thyroid cancer, with aggressive colonies in her lungs. Her parents believe her to be clinically depressed and decide to make her go to a Support Group in "The Literal Heart of Jesus" (A.K.A a church basement, but they're teens, you know?) There she meets a brooding, mysterious, tall, dark, handsome, type named Augustus Waters. Who spends his time acting nonchalant, cocky and ponders existentialism to the point of hilarity. They eventually fall into teenager-y love but they both decide they have Romeo and Juliet Syndrome (I love you so much that I don't want you to be hurt when I'm dead, so I'm just going to be incredibly sad and forlorn about it the entire goddamn book.) They end up sharing a passion for an author named Van Houten and this Catcher-in-the-Rye-but-with-cancer-esque masterpiece "An Imperial Affliction". The fictional novel ends on a cliffhanger which they SO TOTALLY CANNOT OMG GET OVA, and they decide to go track down Van Houten together by the Magical Powers of the Genies (Think: Make a Wish Foundation) They trek off on a whirlwind adventure to Amsterdam. Sadness/melodrama ensues.
I tried really hard to enjoy this book,
really, I did. But the kids really try hard to be smarter than they actually
are. This does work for them since they’re dealing with a stressful and serious
subject such as their own mortality. I don't blame Green for writing the
characters with this deep sense of trying to figure it all out. I give him
props for mixing the dread and heaviness of having a terminal illness with the
emotional, irrational, hormonal time that is adolescence and it works well in
some scenes (see pp. 121-125 the swing set.) but it loses its natural flow
after “Night of the Broken Trophies.” (pp. 62) after that, it feels choppy and
unwarranted in places (see pp. 204-208 the Venn diagram.)
Another problem I had with this book was the characters. I found them incredibly annoying and lacking quite a bit of complexity-which is sad because he could have gone SO FAR with this topic. Maybe it's because the characters need to be a bit simpler and straightforward in YA Fiction but I suggest he give his audience something better than a kid who puts unlit cigarettes in his mouth because “It's a metaphor.” (pp. 20, at this point I almost put the book down.) And a main female character that fears oblivion quotes 2 famous poets but obsesses to the point of biblophilia mockery over the lack of ending in her favorite novel. Especially when he decides to enlighten teenagers with explanations of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (pp. 212) Pompeii (pp.220) and Philippa Foot's Thought Experiment (pp. 286). As well as peppering in as many uses of the word “hamartia” as he could fit into one novel (I counted 9, maybe more.)
Things that I actually enjoyed? Ehhhh....Well, it's a very quotable book. There are some really good, kinda romantic and sorta deep quotes that I highlighted because I thought they were well written. Speaking of, some of the scenes in Amsterdam and a few more towards the end of the book; He really did capture moments with such simple description and powerful emotion without being too over the top or going over the heads of a young audience. (Chapter Twenty pp. 253-260.) Only scene where my eyes moistened a bit, and pp.201-204 Otto Frank scene.)
All in all, if I was 14 or 15 again, I think my nerdy, intelligent, hopeless romantic self would have enjoyed this book. Maybe because I'm 25 and I am broken by spirit crushing events that caused me to be an incredibly cynical bitch. Maybe the cringe inducing fact that I kept thinking some of the scenes were melodramatic and terrible because I did those same gestures in middle/high school and thought I was the fucking COOLEST most badass person EVER. Because 15 year old me would have been so smitten with a dude who kept unlit cigarettes in his mouth because it was a metaphor. And I am embarrassed by this.
You really shouldn't be turned off by this book if you have teens of your own, I recommend it if you can suspend disbelief and get over the fact that these kids are just that. Kids with cancer. Or if you would like to read a “smart” Y/A novel that tackles with death and the precious beauty of life. Then you should turn around and give your kid some Bukowski and a handle of whiskey. Because man, they'll be halfway there.
Another problem I had with this book was the characters. I found them incredibly annoying and lacking quite a bit of complexity-which is sad because he could have gone SO FAR with this topic. Maybe it's because the characters need to be a bit simpler and straightforward in YA Fiction but I suggest he give his audience something better than a kid who puts unlit cigarettes in his mouth because “It's a metaphor.” (pp. 20, at this point I almost put the book down.) And a main female character that fears oblivion quotes 2 famous poets but obsesses to the point of biblophilia mockery over the lack of ending in her favorite novel. Especially when he decides to enlighten teenagers with explanations of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (pp. 212) Pompeii (pp.220) and Philippa Foot's Thought Experiment (pp. 286). As well as peppering in as many uses of the word “hamartia” as he could fit into one novel (I counted 9, maybe more.)
Things that I actually enjoyed? Ehhhh....Well, it's a very quotable book. There are some really good, kinda romantic and sorta deep quotes that I highlighted because I thought they were well written. Speaking of, some of the scenes in Amsterdam and a few more towards the end of the book; He really did capture moments with such simple description and powerful emotion without being too over the top or going over the heads of a young audience. (Chapter Twenty pp. 253-260.) Only scene where my eyes moistened a bit, and pp.201-204 Otto Frank scene.)
All in all, if I was 14 or 15 again, I think my nerdy, intelligent, hopeless romantic self would have enjoyed this book. Maybe because I'm 25 and I am broken by spirit crushing events that caused me to be an incredibly cynical bitch. Maybe the cringe inducing fact that I kept thinking some of the scenes were melodramatic and terrible because I did those same gestures in middle/high school and thought I was the fucking COOLEST most badass person EVER. Because 15 year old me would have been so smitten with a dude who kept unlit cigarettes in his mouth because it was a metaphor. And I am embarrassed by this.
You really shouldn't be turned off by this book if you have teens of your own, I recommend it if you can suspend disbelief and get over the fact that these kids are just that. Kids with cancer. Or if you would like to read a “smart” Y/A novel that tackles with death and the precious beauty of life. Then you should turn around and give your kid some Bukowski and a handle of whiskey. Because man, they'll be halfway there.
Book Haiku
Two kids with cancer
Finding love in Amsterdam
Predictable ending
