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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
This is not a young adult's book. This is an everyone's book. It is beautifully written from the perspective of a teenaged cancer patient. What an awareness I now have of their world. I'll never forget this.
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I thankfully had a completely spoiled-free experience of this book, so I will respect Green's wishes and include no spoilers - even of the tagged variety. (I think they are like Denis the Menace's button or Pandora's box, it is human nature to want to click it - even if we really don't want to!)
The Fault in Our Stars is absolutely Green's best work, and I want to thank him for it. It is witty and funny and sad and angry and true. In Isaac and Hazel and Augustus, an entire group of people are given a voice that many people don't want to hear. So often, when talking about individuals (but especially kids) who are terminally ill, people talk about them being strong and brave and inspiring. It's like what Wliloughby says of Colonel Brandon in [b:Sense and Sensibility|14935|Sense and Sensibility|Jane Austen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309203534s/14935.jpg|2809709], they are the sort of people "who has every body's good word and nobody's notice," but for different reasons. People get uncomfortable when they are around people who are dying. They want them to be an inspiration, then go away. They don't like being confronted on a day to day basis with the REALITY of kids who are dying. Dying kids get angry, they get pitiful, they have dark humor, they get frustrated, they act out. They get tired of being the ones to perpetually comfort everyone else about their own death (and funerals absolutely are for the living), and so, sometimes, they really hurt the people who love them. And. They. Are. Not. Their. Disease/Disability. I particularly loved this scene between Augustus and Hazel:
"So what's your story?" he asked, sitting down net to me at a safe distance.
"I already told you my story. I was diagnosed when --"
"No, not your cancer story. Your story. Interests, hobbies, passions, weird fetishes, etcetera."
I also love just about every interaction between Isaac and Augustus. I would read a whole additional book just about their friendship. These three face things head-on that others want to ignore. They joke about the dying elephant in the room. I have bookmarked no less than 28 pages from which I would LOVE to quote, but I really don't want to spoil the book. Suffice it to say that this book is a window into a world that people do not live in, but die in, and we are allowed to visit. The residents are, in fact, strong and inspiring, but not for the reasons we often attribute these qualities to them. (You can't decide not to have cancer any more than you can decide to not have a baby when the baby is crowning, some things just aren't optional.) They are strong and inspiring because they remain themselves, despite all the expectations we place upon them, how much we try to change them. I leave you with one (highly censored) quote that just spoke straight to my soul, and, I think, sums up the reason I love this book:
"I hate myself I hate myself I hate this I hate this I disgust myself I hate it I hate it just let me fucking die."
According to the conventions of the genre, ______ kept h- sense of humor till the end, did not for a moment waiver in h- courage, and h- spirit soared like an indomitable eagle until the world itself could not contain h- joyous soul.
But this was the truth, a pitiful [person] who desperately wanted not to be pitiful, screaming and crying, poisoned by an infected G-tube that kept h- alive, but not alive enough.
Just a note: I am usually an emotive rather than an intellectual reader - I take things personally. Therefore, I think my reaction to this novel is better understood when I make clear that I have a sibling who has vacillated between "terminal" and "miraculous" for all 26 years of life. As a result, my mother became a child's rights advocate for children with disabilities - which brought me into contact with more children who were terminally ill during my childhood than most people encounter. Likewise, I have, within the last ten years, lost no less than eight family members to cancer, and have two more still living with it.
The Fault in Our Stars is absolutely Green's best work, and I want to thank him for it. It is witty and funny and sad and angry and true. In Isaac and Hazel and Augustus, an entire group of people are given a voice that many people don't want to hear. So often, when talking about individuals (but especially kids) who are terminally ill, people talk about them being strong and brave and inspiring. It's like what Wliloughby says of Colonel Brandon in [b:Sense and Sensibility|14935|Sense and Sensibility|Jane Austen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309203534s/14935.jpg|2809709], they are the sort of people "who has every body's good word and nobody's notice," but for different reasons. People get uncomfortable when they are around people who are dying. They want them to be an inspiration, then go away. They don't like being confronted on a day to day basis with the REALITY of kids who are dying. Dying kids get angry, they get pitiful, they have dark humor, they get frustrated, they act out. They get tired of being the ones to perpetually comfort everyone else about their own death (and funerals absolutely are for the living), and so, sometimes, they really hurt the people who love them. And. They. Are. Not. Their. Disease/Disability. I particularly loved this scene between Augustus and Hazel:
"So what's your story?" he asked, sitting down net to me at a safe distance.
"I already told you my story. I was diagnosed when --"
"No, not your cancer story. Your story. Interests, hobbies, passions, weird fetishes, etcetera."
I also love just about every interaction between Isaac and Augustus. I would read a whole additional book just about their friendship. These three face things head-on that others want to ignore. They joke about the dying elephant in the room. I have bookmarked no less than 28 pages from which I would LOVE to quote, but I really don't want to spoil the book. Suffice it to say that this book is a window into a world that people do not live in, but die in, and we are allowed to visit. The residents are, in fact, strong and inspiring, but not for the reasons we often attribute these qualities to them. (You can't decide not to have cancer any more than you can decide to not have a baby when the baby is crowning, some things just aren't optional.) They are strong and inspiring because they remain themselves, despite all the expectations we place upon them, how much we try to change them. I leave you with one (highly censored) quote that just spoke straight to my soul, and, I think, sums up the reason I love this book:
"I hate myself I hate myself I hate this I hate this I disgust myself I hate it I hate it just let me fucking die."
According to the conventions of the genre, ______ kept h- sense of humor till the end, did not for a moment waiver in h- courage, and h- spirit soared like an indomitable eagle until the world itself could not contain h- joyous soul.
But this was the truth, a pitiful [person] who desperately wanted not to be pitiful, screaming and crying, poisoned by an infected G-tube that kept h- alive, but not alive enough.
Just a note: I am usually an emotive rather than an intellectual reader - I take things personally. Therefore, I think my reaction to this novel is better understood when I make clear that I have a sibling who has vacillated between "terminal" and "miraculous" for all 26 years of life. As a result, my mother became a child's rights advocate for children with disabilities - which brought me into contact with more children who were terminally ill during my childhood than most people encounter. Likewise, I have, within the last ten years, lost no less than eight family members to cancer, and have two more still living with it.
emotional
reflective
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
I like how the main character, Hazel, wasn't really the main character.
The Fault in Our Stars is a sad book, a story of sad characters, living a sad and unfairly short tale and telling it as it is without the intention of eliciting any emotion from you. Yet you can’t help but be sad, and ironically enough, you feel a weird guilt about it because that’s what the two cancer patient characters, Hazel and Augustus, despise in the infinite hopelessness of their situation: People’s sadness and pity for them.
But what else can you do for someone who is terminal and young and no chance of living their lives: Feel bad, pity, sadness, sorrow, compassion.
The writing of John Green is through the voice of teenagers, told in the first person by Hazel Grace. The voice is the teenage voice, using the word “like” a thousand times in places where it hardly belongs, and perhaps that’s part of the book’s charm. Or the reality of teenage speak. In the midst of those ordinary phrases, there are deep thoughts, wordless exchanges and silent moments between those dying and those who love the dying.
There are also some great quotes: “That’s the thing about pain, it needs to be felt.” And of course, the quote about the inventor of champagne: “Come quickly”, he called to his fellow mates, “I’m tasting the stars.”
This is an easy and quick read for the writing but a hard one to swallow for the story or the plot. It is the reality of this world that some of us have a very short time on this beautiful earth while others come and go as swiftly as the wind. It’s unfair, unfair, unfair, yes, but life is still beautiful and good, as Augustus Waters said. I have no intention of watching the movie, and I’m glad I finished the book. It left its scar on me alright. It also made me see that maybe death is not the end of it all. That maybe we can see it as a seamless transition from this world to the other, however untimely the bitch might be at times.
But what else can you do for someone who is terminal and young and no chance of living their lives: Feel bad, pity, sadness, sorrow, compassion.
The writing of John Green is through the voice of teenagers, told in the first person by Hazel Grace. The voice is the teenage voice, using the word “like” a thousand times in places where it hardly belongs, and perhaps that’s part of the book’s charm. Or the reality of teenage speak. In the midst of those ordinary phrases, there are deep thoughts, wordless exchanges and silent moments between those dying and those who love the dying.
There are also some great quotes: “That’s the thing about pain, it needs to be felt.” And of course, the quote about the inventor of champagne: “Come quickly”, he called to his fellow mates, “I’m tasting the stars.”
This is an easy and quick read for the writing but a hard one to swallow for the story or the plot. It is the reality of this world that some of us have a very short time on this beautiful earth while others come and go as swiftly as the wind. It’s unfair, unfair, unfair, yes, but life is still beautiful and good, as Augustus Waters said. I have no intention of watching the movie, and I’m glad I finished the book. It left its scar on me alright. It also made me see that maybe death is not the end of it all. That maybe we can see it as a seamless transition from this world to the other, however untimely the bitch might be at times.
I don't know if I can really write a review on this book. I worry I would tell too much about it.
I will warn you - BRING A BOX OF TISSUES. I cried from "I lit up like a Christmas Tree..." until the end. Okay? Okay.
Such a great book, beautifully written.
I will warn you - BRING A BOX OF TISSUES. I cried from "I lit up like a Christmas Tree..." until the end. Okay? Okay.
Such a great book, beautifully written.
I saw the movie before I read the book. This depressed me beyond belief but it's beautifully written.