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yaakovakiva 's review for:
The Fault in Our Stars
by John Green
I read [b:Looking for Alaska|99561|Looking for Alaska|John Green|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312503335s/99561.jpg|919292] almost exactly a year ago, after falling in love with The Vlog Brothers, and I loved it. I marveled at it, pondered it, found myself up much too late at night finishing it.
Then, later in the year I started [b:An Abundance of Katherines|49750|An Abundance of Katherines|John Green|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309200918s/49750.jpg|48658], and I haven't finished it. Something didn't click for me, whether it was the main character I tried to like but didn't yet, or the timing (sometimes I start a book in a genre my brain doesn't feel like reading and my brain refuses to like it). It's still sitting on "stalled-in-reading" Goodreads shelf, waiting to be given a real chance.
I pre-ordered TFIOS because I've been amazed, amused, and surprised while John has talked about bringing the book to life, from his research trip(s) (I'm including The Ruins) to his daunting task of signing every pre-ordered copy. It's the first tangible non-ebook I've purchased in roughly two years and I was genuinely worried that reading it would possibly tip the John Green awesome-writer-scale in my brain in the wrong direction.
Then it came in the mail and I read the inside of the book jacket and the book sounded like something completely different from what my un-spoilered brain had imagined and I immediately began to read. I read until it was entirely past my bedtime, and I briefly pondered calling off work the next day just to keep reading. I laughed and genuinely hiccup-sobbed mutliple times before the halfway point. I read sentences that made me put down the book so that I could find some place to write those sentences down so that I would never forget them.
I came home today and immediately picked up where I'd left off and devoured the rest of what will henceforth be referred to as my second favorite book of all-time ONLY because [b:East of Eden|4406|East of Eden|John Steinbeck|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309212913s/4406.jpg|2574991] climbed into my brain and changed my life first, at an early age.
Every word is carefully and perfectly chosen. Every ounce of dialogue is either hilariously charming or heartbreakingly poignant. I've never had a book that gave me so many cumulative laughs, sobs, and audible "ohhhhhh"-sounding hitches in my throat at the end of a scene. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful writing. Better than Alaska, better than a lot of things. The only other author I've read in recent years that gave me this sense of painstaking sentence-crafting was [a:Rothfuss Patrick|5170263|Rothfuss Patrick|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg].
Thank you for this, John, and also know that this is the most energy I've put into a book review in a long time. You did NOT forget to be awesome.
Then, later in the year I started [b:An Abundance of Katherines|49750|An Abundance of Katherines|John Green|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309200918s/49750.jpg|48658], and I haven't finished it. Something didn't click for me, whether it was the main character I tried to like but didn't yet, or the timing (sometimes I start a book in a genre my brain doesn't feel like reading and my brain refuses to like it). It's still sitting on "stalled-in-reading" Goodreads shelf, waiting to be given a real chance.
I pre-ordered TFIOS because I've been amazed, amused, and surprised while John has talked about bringing the book to life, from his research trip(s) (I'm including The Ruins) to his daunting task of signing every pre-ordered copy. It's the first tangible non-ebook I've purchased in roughly two years and I was genuinely worried that reading it would possibly tip the John Green awesome-writer-scale in my brain in the wrong direction.
Then it came in the mail and I read the inside of the book jacket and the book sounded like something completely different from what my un-spoilered brain had imagined and I immediately began to read. I read until it was entirely past my bedtime, and I briefly pondered calling off work the next day just to keep reading. I laughed and genuinely hiccup-sobbed mutliple times before the halfway point. I read sentences that made me put down the book so that I could find some place to write those sentences down so that I would never forget them.
I came home today and immediately picked up where I'd left off and devoured the rest of what will henceforth be referred to as my second favorite book of all-time ONLY because [b:East of Eden|4406|East of Eden|John Steinbeck|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309212913s/4406.jpg|2574991] climbed into my brain and changed my life first, at an early age.
Every word is carefully and perfectly chosen. Every ounce of dialogue is either hilariously charming or heartbreakingly poignant. I've never had a book that gave me so many cumulative laughs, sobs, and audible "ohhhhhh"-sounding hitches in my throat at the end of a scene. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful writing. Better than Alaska, better than a lot of things. The only other author I've read in recent years that gave me this sense of painstaking sentence-crafting was [a:Rothfuss Patrick|5170263|Rothfuss Patrick|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg].
Thank you for this, John, and also know that this is the most energy I've put into a book review in a long time. You did NOT forget to be awesome.