Thursday, May 22, 2014

Book Review: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green



Title: The Fault In Our Stars
Author: John Green
Series/Novel: Novel
Genre: Young Adult, Romance
Pages: 313
Publisher: Dutton Books
Year Published: 2012
First Line: “Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over Andover, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death.”

“Despite the tumor-shrinking medical 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 brilliantly explores the funny, thrilling and tragic business of being alive and in love.”

My Rating: 4/5

First off a huge apology for not writing any of these in a while. It’s been a crazy past few months so, this is the first one in over a month.
Now down to the point, the book. This book was brought to me by my sister who begged me to read it. I agreed, because hello John Green, you sir are amazing! And I’ve seen so many things about this book recently. And may I say that it is a keeper.
This book explores what it is to live, and to want more from life. The characters are unusual but they capture your heart. Although I will admit that till the end of this book I would have rated this book a 3.5. It was ok as far as cancer books I’ve read but by the end, I realized it was more than just a cancer book.
This book explores far more than I can explain. Love, death, life, and youth. The idea of what it is to cease to exist. It’s a scary thing for young people to think about but something that caught my eye. John Green that was a risky move, one that certainly paid off with me.

Thanks for reading,
Love,

Sidny xoxo

Spoiler: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

As explained above, it’s been a while but I’m so happy to be back. This book took a while to read, but was well worth the time. It made me question many things. What it is to be terminal mostly. There is a lot to think about as a young person. But mainly it made me think that I should explore this world while I’m still on it. The characters in this book captured my heart and as things in this book started to develop so did my feelings for the characters.
Speaking of which….
♥Characters♥
♥Hazel: In the beginning of the book I remember reading that Hazel’s parents think she’s depressed and for a while there I was with them. But then I realized that Hazel just realizes something that most people never will. That we are all just terminal. We have a limited time on earth, and because of her cancer she has less time then the most of us. So she had to figure it out sooner. She fell for Augustus so easily that it kind of bothered me but in the end I believe what they had was true love. Especially when you stick with someone through everything the way they did.
♥Augustus:  He was possibly more in love with Hazel than she was with him. I don’t know if I’m supposed to measure true love, but I did so there! He used his wish for her even though he knew he had cancer, gave up his treatment and managed to get a selfish prick of an author to read her eulogy, not exactly a textbook romance. But it felt more realistic that way. Because in life there are few if any textbook romances. I cried when he died, I knew it was gonna happen but a girl can dream right?
♥Isaac: I feel bad that he got dumped by his girlfriend and all, but seriously he gets to live a normal life span at least. Maybe blind, but still live it. He was a good friend to Gus and the eulogy he wrote and read with Hazel was perfect. To the point that I hope one of my friends will do the same. Wow that was more depressing than intended, but maybe someone else will understand me. Anyone out there?
♥Peter Van Houten: He is the main reason people don’t drink. They don’t want to turn into him. He’s a mean drunk, probably just thinking he’s being honest. In the end he sort of comes around. The saddest thing about this man is the fact that his daughter died so young. That broke my heart.

♥Moments to Remember♥
♥Pg. 17
“’You’re like a millennial Natalie Portman. Like V for Vendetta Natalie Portman.
‘Never seen it,’ I said.
‘Really?’ he asked. ‘Pixie-haired gorgeous girl dislikes authority and can’t help but fall for a boy she knows is trouble. It’s your autobiography, so far as I can tell.’
His every syllable flirt. Honestly, he kind of turned me on. I didn’t even know the guys could turn me on- not, like, in real life.”

♥Pg. 24
“I told Augustus the broad outline of my miracle diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer when I was thirteen. (I didn’t tell him that the diagnosis came three months after I got my first period. Like: Congratulations! You’re a woman. Now die.) It was, we were told, incurable.”

♥Pg. 118
“’God,’ he said. ‘I should’ve just paid for it myself. Should’ve just taken you straight from the Funky Bones to Amsterdam.’
‘But then I would’ve had a probably fatal episode of deoxygenation in Amsterdam, and my body would have been shipped home in the cargo hold of an airplane,’ I said.
‘Well, yeah,’ he said. ‘But before that, my grand romantic gesture would have gotten me laid.’”

♥Pg. 124
“Desperately Lonely Swing Set Needs Loving Home
One swing set, well worn but structurally sound, seeks new home. Make memories with your kid or kids so that someday he or she or they will look into the backyard and feel the ache of sentimentality as desperately as I did this afternoon. It’s all fragile and fleeting, dear reader, but with this swing set, your child(ren) will be introduced to the ups and downs of humans life gently and safely, and may also learn the most important lesson of all: No matter how hard you kick, no matter how high you get, you can’t go all the way around.”

♥Pg. 202
“’That’s what we should do, Hazel Grace: We should team up and be this disabled vigilante duo roaring through the world, righting wrongs, defending the weak, protecting the endangered.’
Although it was his dream and not mine, I indulged it. He’d indulged mine, after all. ‘Our fearlessness shall be our secret weapon.’ I said.
‘The tales of our exploits will survive as long as the human voice itself.’ he said.
‘And after that, when the robots recall the human absurdities of sacrifice and compassion, they will remember us.’
‘They will robot-laugh at our courageous folly,’ he said. ‘But something in their iron robot hearts with yearn to have lived and died as we did: on the hero’s errand.’”

♥Pg.  310
“I’m a good person but a shitty writer. You’re a shitty person but a good writer. We’d make a good team.”

♥Final Line: “I do.”


Thanks for reading,
Love,

Sidny xoxo