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emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Child death
Minor: Alcoholism
dark
funny
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Terminal illness, Vomit, Medical content, Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol
emotional
funny
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is devastating, unflinching, and STUNNING. Also, Peter Van Houten is a douche but I loved his interactions with Hazel and Augustus. And in this story, no one is beyond forgiveness.
The fact that the writing is so irreverent and funny does not dull the heartbreak when it comes (and you know it's coming). In fact, if anything I was more devastated that these fast-talking, mocking, sarcastic, life-affirming kids weren't going to be ok. I fell in love with them, their stories and relationships, and it broke me a little to keep reading.
Overridingly, I was left hoping that this is how everyone talks about illness and death. Head-on, with a dark humour; basically the same way we talk about everything. Words have so much power, and the power in this story and these characters is incredible.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, Grief
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Alcohol
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“There will come a time when all of us are dead. All of us. There will come a time when there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone ever existed or that our species ever did anything. There will be no one left to remember Aristotle or Cleopatra, let alone you. Everything that we did and built and wrote and thought and discovered will be forgotten and all of this will have been for naught. Maybe that time is coming soon and maybe it is millions of years away, but even if we survive the collapse of our sun, we will not survive forever. There was time before organisms experienced consciousness, and there will be time after. And if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that’s what everyone else does.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Medical content
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Alcohol
emotional
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Beautiful book, the author is amazing. Warning: you will cry
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Vomit
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This is the first book that I am writing a review of.
For almost a year now, it has sat on my bookshelf gathering dust and hoping for someone to read it but I was in a reading slump and could not, for the life of me, pick this or any other book up for that matter. That was until yesterday evening when I thought of just sitting down to read and I picked it up.
Now, I want to read it again and again and again and again and again and again until I have this book's words flowing through my veins into my bloodstream and be a part of who I am as a person.
This is a book that caught me by surprise because although I did watch John Green's videos on YouTube, I never expected him to be so good at writing fiction.
It is a book that got me out of my reading slump, I want to read so much more now. After so many years of not feeling the drive to read for the pleasure of it, I feel like I have found myself again.
It is a book that challenged my views on life, it made me feel more alive than I have ever felt. It made me mourn characters I hadn't known for more than 2 days and it made me love every second of it.
It is so strange that we feel the most alive in face of death and despair rather than the happy and joyous.
To be honest, I wasn't bawling my eyes out or anything but I teared up at different places in the book and a year or two might have slid down my cheeks. It is a beautiful book, one that I want everyone to read and yet I don't wish to recommend it to people because there something so fundamentally human in this that to recommend it to someone who I know won't read it would be a disservice to this beautiful book.
I have loved every second of reading this book.
What I loved the most about this book is that it isn't about some one achieving a great deal of things or doing something extremely noble just to be a hero, it is simply a book of ordinary people, of the beauty in said ordinary people.
Perhaps the only other book that has made me feel so seen yet so insignificant in the grand scheme of things would be: On earth, we're briefly gorgeous.
I could go on and on about this book but as I wrap up this already very long review, I simply want to add the very first thought I had while reading this book: "How the heck is a grown man writing a better teenage girl than most of the revered authors???" Because honestly, Hazel feels so real and so close to home that I just fall in love with her and her story even more.
If you haven't read it yet, I would say READ IT FIRST.
PS. It might give you a teeny tiny bit of existential crisis so, that's also fun. But truly, it is very beautiful to read and a true page turner.
For almost a year now, it has sat on my bookshelf gathering dust and hoping for someone to read it but I was in a reading slump and could not, for the life of me, pick this or any other book up for that matter. That was until yesterday evening when I thought of just sitting down to read and I picked it up.
Now, I want to read it again and again and again and again and again and again until I have this book's words flowing through my veins into my bloodstream and be a part of who I am as a person.
This is a book that caught me by surprise because although I did watch John Green's videos on YouTube, I never expected him to be so good at writing fiction.
It is a book that got me out of my reading slump, I want to read so much more now. After so many years of not feeling the drive to read for the pleasure of it, I feel like I have found myself again.
It is a book that challenged my views on life, it made me feel more alive than I have ever felt. It made me mourn characters I hadn't known for more than 2 days and it made me love every second of it.
It is so strange that we feel the most alive in face of death and despair rather than the happy and joyous.
To be honest, I wasn't bawling my eyes out or anything but I teared up at different places in the book and a year or two might have slid down my cheeks. It is a beautiful book, one that I want everyone to read and yet I don't wish to recommend it to people because there something so fundamentally human in this that to recommend it to someone who I know won't read it would be a disservice to this beautiful book.
I have loved every second of reading this book.
What I loved the most about this book is that it isn't about some one achieving a great deal of things or doing something extremely noble just to be a hero, it is simply a book of ordinary people, of the beauty in said ordinary people.
Perhaps the only other book that has made me feel so seen yet so insignificant in the grand scheme of things would be: On earth, we're briefly gorgeous.
I could go on and on about this book but as I wrap up this already very long review, I simply want to add the very first thought I had while reading this book: "How the heck is a grown man writing a better teenage girl than most of the revered authors???" Because honestly, Hazel feels so real and so close to home that I just fall in love with her and her story even more.
If you haven't read it yet, I would say READ IT FIRST.
PS. It might give you a teeny tiny bit of existential crisis so, that's also fun. But truly, it is very beautiful to read and a true page turner.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism
Minor: Vomit
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I loved this book so much
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Terminal illness
Moderate: Alcoholism
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Alcoholism