The Fault in Our Stars

I read and I cried and enjoyed the afternoon it took to read this book. Unlike other emotionally evocative reads, I doubt this will be of those books that will last in my consciousness.
I gave the book three stars, because I think the novel accomplished its goal of communicating the emotions surrounding the lives and deaths of young people.

This book has been a real runaway success, and, as it's now been giving the Hollywood treatment with a big screen adaptation due out this summer I decided it was time to read the book before the movie's imminent release at which point any plot twists may become talking points online or on television.

This book doesn't pull any punches, from its dust cover description it's clear that if lighthearted is your bag then this may not be for you. It is the story of Hazel, a 17 year old girl living with terminal cancer which she knows one day will end her life. At a cancer support group meeting she is introduced to Augustus, a boy who is now cancer free and who she is instantly drawn to. This book is their love story and it's beautifully written and very emotional.

Hazel's character is lovely to read through the eyes of as she is a very strong character, she's intelligent and witty and very mature. Her attraction to Gus builds throughout the book and is a real draw throughout. It was one of those books which I seemed to read in a flash and literally could have enjoyed it for another few hundred pages.

Other reviews you'll have read of this book will have mentioned its tearjerker status and it certainly is but I don't want to dwell on that too much as it is perhaps the less surprising aspect of the book instead I found it a very thought provoking book, especially in its final chapter reminding us that we don't need to be the loudest or most talented person to always make the most impact on the world. Sometimes those who observe make the most profound of discoveries which change the world.

I cannot wait to see the movie, I am confident it will be an enormous success but I am very glad I took time to enjoy the book first and get to know Hazel & Gus in my own head first because as we all know from the debacle that was My Sisters Keeper books of this nature do not always translate well to film.

First and foremost, I'd like to say that John Green didn't write just another cancer book. The Fault in Our Stars is so much more than that, because Hazel and Augustus (the two main characters) are more than just two kids with cancer.

The Fault in Our Stars was simply beautiful. I don't often use that word to describe a book, but after reading the final sentences, I couldn't think of a better word to describe it. John Green has written something special—a story that feels absolutely true, that strikes you with the beauty and honesty of the prose, that will make you laugh and cry and leave you feeling like you experienced Hazel's story yourself. Like her memories are really yours.

I can't recommend this book enough. It instantly became one of my favorites, and it's one I'm sure I'll re-read in the future.

The Fault in Our Stars more than deserves its long run on the New York Times bestseller list. John Green has written something truly spectacular.

2nd read: 17th Nov 2013
Omg la. Read this in 5 hours flat and got my heart torn into pieces again. Kept crying and I couldn't fall asleep after that - despite it being 3:30 in the morning when I finished. Just so...... omg no words.

1st read: 7th May 2012
Almost got me crying. The only reason I didn't bawl was because I was on the train and yup. Plot was okay, but the style of writing moved me. Favourite quote was on of the the last lines said by Gus: You don't get to chooseif you get hurt in this world, but you do have some say in who hurts you.

I thought this was a science fiction book. I found it either as a best young adult books of 20xx or as something that was recommended for me. I knew two things: the best young adult books are sci-fi/fantasy and I read pretty much sci-fi/fantasy exclusively. Also, the title has the word “Stars” in it. Therefor it was completely logical for me to think that this was a sci-fi/fantasy book. I was wrong. If you're wondering if you should read this, keep that fact in mind.

This story is about two characters: Hazel and Gus. The rest are just window dressing and paper cut-outs. Hazel's parents were of paper cut-out variety, but there was just enough of them to be real people. Dad cries at everything; mom hovers over her dying daughter. If I had a kid with cancer, I could see myself acting like both of those at the same time. Gus's parents were less fleshed out, but I understand the reasons for that. Gus's parents are just window dressing, but I understand why within the story and why within Hazel's narration. I wish that Isaac had been fleshed out a bit more. His situation is tragic and the one that terrifies me when I think of “the worst thing that could happen.”

Hazel and Gus are kind of throwbacks to '90s teen television dramas in a way that is very nice. I love it when kids use words that I have to look up. They have very grown up conversations with each other and the people around them. They're very into introspection.

Spoiler
The wish fulfillment scene is one of the main reasons that I'm not particularly interested in meeting famous people (for varying definitions of “famous”). They are actual people and not in fact the idealized constructs that I have in my head based on my enjoyment of their work. Worse, they're artists.

My experience has been that many artists let every emotion they feel out at the moment they feel it, which is un-nerving and irritating to those of us that pick and choose their expressions to fit the moment. Or they're just weird in some sort of unidentifiable way. I once met an author that I admired, although not to the same level as Hazel or Gus. I was really looking forward to the event sure that he was going to be a great guy. His books were marred forever because he was such an asshole.He did the “real person artist” thing: he spoke his opinion forcefully and was short to the point of rudeness at times. To make matters worse he eventually went on to alienate a good number of his fans by shitting on the genre he was “famous” for. I still enjoy the books and continue buying them (he's been relegated to paperback status where he once occupied my coveted hardback list) but the phrase “what an asshole” now pops into my head frequently when I think about them. I, and they, would have been better off leaving the authors as figments of our imaginations rather than real people.

David Foster Wallace ligt nog altijd op mijn maag. Ik vond er niets aan, maar dat was duidelijk verkeerd want ik wist er niet genoeg van af en ik oordeelde alleen op hoe het op mij overkwam in plaats van erover na te denken en de context te kennen, en nu voel ik mij nerveus als ik een boek lees, en durf ik bijna niet te zeggen of ik het goed of slecht vind.

Ik had een reeks boeken staan op mijn Kindle waar ik niet meer van wist waarom ik ze erop gezet had, waar ze over gingen, of wat. The Fault in Our Stars was de eerste op de lijst, en ik durfde er bijna niet aan beginnen zonder eerst te gaan lezen wie de auteur is, wat het doelpubliek, wat de rest van de wereld er van vindt en dus met welke instelling ik eraan moest beginnen.

Voor de duidelijkheid: ik heb het niét gedaan. Ik wist dus niet of het science fiction zou zijn (met die “stars” in de titel), of dat het over Shakespeare zou gaan (“the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars”), of het beroemd of populair of obscuur of verguisd was.

Het bleek te gaan over een meisje van zestien met kanker, dat iedereen had opgegeven toen ze dertien was, maar dat blijft leven. En hoe ze verliefd wordt op een jongen van zeventien in haar support group, een ex-basketballer met een geamputeerd been die genezen is van kanker. En over haar favoriete boek, dat ook over een meisje met kanker gaat, en dat in medias res stopt, en dat ze enorm graag zou willen weten hoe het verhaal afloopt.

‘t Is een mooi, ontroerend boek, dat akelig dicht op het been schrijft over kanker en slepende ziekten en wat dat doet met een mens. Dat erin slaagt om zowel erg grappig als romantisch als ontroerend te zijn. “Dit zou Zelie echt eens moeten lezen”, dacht ik. Niet omdat het een kinderboek is, maar omdat het denk ik helemaal iets voor haar zou zijn.

En neen, ‘t is geen literatuur. Maar ik ga er niet over neuten, dat de twee komma vijf hoofdpersonages schrikbarend perfect zijn (alleen de hoofpersonages, gelukkig, er zijn ook andere), dat geen enkel mens écht spreekt zoals zij spreken (in de traditie van Buffy the Vampire Slayer, that is), en dat het licht is op het intrige en het heel hard nadenken: ik vond het een fijn, mooi boekje.

Ik ben tegen mijn gewoonte nu net toch maar gaan kijken op het internet wat het eigenlijk is en wat andere mensen ervan vonden. Blijkt: nummer één bij Amazon en Barnes&Noble zes maand voor het verschenen was, verschrikkelijke internethype wegens sociale media, 4.5 sterren met meer dan 4000 reviews bij Amazon, TIME Magazine's #1 Fiction Book of 2012, Entertainment Weekly Best Fiction Book of 2012, #1 New York Times Bestseller, #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller, New York Times Editor's Choice, Huffington Post Best Books of 2012, tralala. Binnenkort verfilm, ook.

Het is wat het is, vind ik: een mooi jeugdboek. En daar is niets verkeerd mee.

I stopped reading this on the train because I was worried about crying on the way to work. Turns out I would've been okay. That's not a criticism of the book at all, more of my cold black heart. I still think Will Grayson, Will Grayson is my favorite John Green, but this is also excellent, if not quite able to live up to the ecstatic reviews I heard.

I didn't think I was going to enjoy this at first. It was too quippy and Hazel and Augustus seemed too pulled out of “Juno” for me to like it (a problem I have with a lot of tv and movies lately... Books, less so, but sometimes). That went away after about 60 pages. They were still just as smart and clever as they'd been, it just didn't bother me as much anymore. There was so much else going on that I was able to get past the dialogue (something I can't always, so this was good). The story was so sweet and sad and heartfelt and I cried. It's not the best book I've ever read, but it was very good and definitely makes me think about some things differently.

I loved this book. I loved the way the characters navigate a world with little hope and no time but still make a life. I loved how the story capture the ferocity of teenagers.

Truth- I am fairly immersed in the Green brothers universe: books, podcast, YouTube...I put off reading this one because I knew it was about cancer, and I know John is a little melancholy. I thought it would be too deep and sad for me. However, this book was funny and beautiful. Sure, I cried, but I also laughed, and more of the latter.

Whilst this story is funny as well as tear inducing trauma in parts, I feel it was somewhat unrealistic(?). I don't think 16-year olds would be discussing intense philosophical concepts irrespective if having a terminal illness or not. That the characters try to speak about sophisticated ideas, verisimilitude is undermined.

I've just finished reading this book for the third time. It is a quick read but it packs an emotional punch that will leave you feeling so many different ways, even after the story ends. I felt the same emotions reading it over again as I did the first time through. I laughed, then I cried like a baby even though I was prepared for the ending. John Green has a way of making you feel every emotion his characters are feeling in each moment, which is a quality of a great author. I love that the focus of this book is not solely on having cancer, but rather living your life to the fullest in spite of it. It's a very inspiring story and I highly recommend it.

Very YA, with all the angst. But also very sweet and sad. The funny and quirky narrative helps with the moodiness and tragedy that simmer under the surface, waiting to swallow you. The structure was rather simple and somewhat predictable but it's OK. I cried several times. NOT the best book to be reading when your pet is in hospital.

I feared this would be one of those overhyped YA books and read it only because my daughter was reading it, and I figured, why not, we could talk about it after.

To my surprise, it turned out to be really good, touching and funny and sad and everything you would hope it to be. Hazel is a charming and engaging narrator who makes what could be an over sentimental story reasonably grounded.

If I have any minor quibble with the book it's that Hazel's favorite writer, Peter Van Houten was a caricature, out of place in a novel full of believable characters. It was completely unbelievable to me that he'd show up for Gus's funeral Giving Green the benefit of the doubt, there must have been some literary device or point to this that escaped me.

This was an unexpected pleasure. I even teared up a few times when reading, an event which rarely occurs.