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

Book Review: Looking For Alaska by John Green

 

Title: Looking For Alaska

Author: John Green

Pages: 221

Publisher: SPEAK

Year Published: 2005

“Before. Miles ‘Pudge’ Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the ‘Great Perhaps’ (Fracious Rabelais, poet) even more. He heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event onto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

After. Nothing is ever the same.”

My Rating: 5/5

One of my friends is a huge fan of John Green, and I decided she has a pretty good taste in books and we agree in most things, so I might as well give one of his books a try. And was a ever rewarded. This novel is fantastic! Not only is John Green a fun and playful author, his writing is also memorable and thought provoking author. Although a shorter book this story is full of meaning and importance, I’d say particularly to teens. It’s about finding who you’re going to be, but in funny, awkward sort of way. I will warn anyone who is interested in this particular novel by John Green, that it includes adult topics, such as: sex, death, drinking/ alcohol consumption (feeling like a grown up!), smoking and also uses a fair amount of “adult language”.

Finally for the thanks section. First, a big thank you to my friend, reassuringsmile (Click if you'd like to view her blog), for suggesting this book.

Secondly,

THANK YOU JOHN GREEN FOR SHOWING NORMAL TEENAGERS FINDING THEMSELVES WITHOUT BEING TOO SERIOUS, JUST SERIOUS ENOUGH.

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny ♥♪♫

 

Spoiler: Looking For Alaska by John Green

This book was interesting, not only in the subject matter, but also in the way it’s written. I really liked that it was split in two sections: Before and After, but they also had the days counting up to and leading away from the climax which made the perfect amount of suspense for me.

The theme was difficult to think about. Dealing with death is never easy for anyone, never mind if you’re a teenager or 75, death isn’t easy to think about, but this book forces us to. Not only does one of the main characters die, but this main character has trouble dealing with death before hand and the beforehand death actually causes her death. It’s horribly sad, but death is a part of the world we live in and we have to learn to deal with it.

I did enjoy the pranks that happen throughout the book, it kind of fills out how I figured this boarding school would be in my mind. After all it’s filled with hormonally challenged teenagers; they have to get into some mischief. Speaking of mischief, there is a lot of smoking in this book considering that it was published in 2005. I’d think that it was published earlier; by the way that Pudge, Colonel and all the other characters seem to smoke constantly. Odd. And then there is the drinking factor. Or alcohol consumption if you prefer. Either way, there are a few times in the book where everyone is drunk, and it is a part of our world, but drinking helped kill Alaska. If she hadn’t been drunk, or as drunk as the police officer tells Colonel and Pudge she was, there is a chance she would still be alive. Lastly religion plays a huge role and we see this through Mr. Hyde. This book doesn’t force religion on you, actually it taught me how religion is important even if you aren’t religious. It’s more deciding about who you are and what you believe, or what you want to believe.

Characters:

Pudge: I think it’s pretty ridiculous that Pudge reads biographies for the last words. It’s kind of ironic isn’t it that he will never really get to know Alaska’s last words. Sad, but ironic, would be the proper way to put that I do believe. I feel for him that he feel in love with a girl and as he got his chance it was yanked away from him but maybe it was better that way. My favorite part with Pudge in this whole book is at the end when he’s writing his final paper for Mr. Hyde. It’s touching, but not fake. I can see a teenage boy writing it, making it real for me.

Colonel: So he smokes too much and he drinks too much, but don’t we all do a little something too much? Whether it is eating, or gossiping, we all have our faults and it’s good that Colonel puts his out in the open. He is who he is and I’m proud that in the beginning he doesn’t try to change for his present girlfriend, Sara. After all if Sara did care about him wouldn’t she accept him the way he was. He is definitely the master of pranks and I felt for him especially when Alaska died. I think he was closest to her after all the pranks they had planned together.  When I read that he was crying and screaming out, I felt his pain as if it were my own. Amazing writing!

Alaska: She is wild and impulsive. Many girls want to be the same way, but when we see where it got her and realize that although she looked perfect and acted the way some of us may want to ask she was far from perfect. She blamed herself for something she probably couldn’t have helped. She didn’t kill her mom, her mom died and she was to young to know to call 911, this isn’t that odd in all honesty. I don’t know even as a teen if I would go into shock or be able to function as I should. I can hope I would but none of us really do. I hate that she died, but I think it teaches the other characters to live for what they have.

Takumi: I just like his rapping, there’s not much else I wanna mention about him. Nice rhyme man, nice rhymes.

Lara: I couldn’t help but laugh at her and Pudge’s sexual fail (see page number in Moments to Remember below). I guess if you really didn’t know that would be embarrassing. But I was depressed that she didn’t confront Pudge, she waited. I would have just gone berserk.

Mr. Hyde: An interesting teacher for certain, and when he kicks out Pudge at the beginning, I imagine that most of the teens who read this book hated this guy, but we see him differently through out the book. And eventually I think I began to see him as a caring man, who wants to help his students become who they are meant to be.

The Eagle: He really cares about the student, he’s a hard a**, but he cares.

Moments to Remember (Some quotes contain curses/adult language and content):

♥Pg. 29

“‘Do you care to smell?’ He asked, holding the shoes toward me. ‘Because I went ahead and smelled them, and yes, I am sure. If there’s one thing I know, it’s when I’ve just stepped in another man’s piss.’”

♥Pg. 36

“‘AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!’ he screamed.

 ‘So that’s Sara.’ I said.

 ‘Yes.’

 ‘She seems nice.’”

♥Pg. 78

“‘It’s not because I want to make out with her.’

 ‘Hold on.’ He grabbed a pencil and scrawled excitedly at the paper as if he’d just made a mathematical breakthrough and then looked back up at me. ‘I just did some calculations, and I’ve been able to determine that you’re full of shit.’”

♥Pg. 83

“‘Poor Pudge. Oh, poor poor Pudge. Do you want me to climb into bed with you and cuddle?’

 ‘Well, if you’re offering—‘

 ‘NO! UP! NOW!’”

♥Pg. 91

“Alaska decided to help Dolores with dinner. She said it was sexist to leave the cooking to the women, but better to have good sexist food than crappy boy-prepared food.”

♥Pg. 98

“‘You guys are like an old married couple.’ Alaska smiled. ‘In a creepy way.’

 ‘You don’t know the half of it,’ the Colonel said. ‘You should see this kid try to crawl into bed with me at night.’”

♥Pg. 127

Funniest sexual fail ever!

♥Pg. 191

“‘Let me ask you a question, Pudge. When you’re old and gray and your grandchildren are sitting on your knee and look up at you and say ‘Grandpappy, who gave you your first blow job?’ do you want to have to tell them it was some girl you spent the rest of high school ignoring? No!’ He smiled. ‘You want to say, ‘My dear friend Lara Buterskaya. Lovely girl. Prettier than your grandma by a wide margin.’’ I laughed. So yeah, okay. I had to talk to Lara.”

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo