Book Review: “The Fault in Our Stars”

Wow, my friends told me I had to read this book, “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green so I downloaded the Kindle version about a week ago.  And damn them, they were right!

They insisted I give it a chance, particularly after I wrote this post awhile back about me becoming a YA Enthusiast reader.   I’m glad I caved in to their peer pressure.

Warning: There are spoilers below!  Don’t read any more if you haven’t read this piece of literature but want to do so…

Even though I had more piled onto my work plate than usual this week, I found myself sneaking pages and chapters of “The Fault in Our Stars” every chance I could get…. at a traffic light, on my lunch break, during my daughter’s piano lesson and even sitting on the toilet longer than I needed to or should have been.  That’s how I deem this a good book.

But it’s not so much a fantastic story because of the cancer elements or that we don’t see the main character truly suffer.  To be frank, the book is simply extremely well written.  It is sad and poetic and funny and harsh and realistic.  Just when I found myself about to tear up and perhaps bawl, I was soon-after laughing at something incredibly funny the character did or said.

NOW that is excellent writing skills and also so much about what real life is like…. sad one moment, then experiencing a moment of joy the next.

I bookmarked several quotes that I want to go back and read later as I’m still trying to gather my thoughts.  I love this young, strong girl Hazel.  I wish I could put her thoughts into my own head at times.  She is so wise.

I agreed so much about what Hazel and Augustus said – about funerals being for the living, about how most people want to leave a ‘mark’ on this world, that they need to feel like they did something great or meant something to someone else.  I struggle with this as well.  I even hope my writing will make a difference to someone.

Like several characters in the book, I definitely struggle in many ways with beliefs on the afterlife and heaven.  I could relate to those passages about how Gus believes in “something with a capital S” but wasn’t clear on what that something was.  I also could relate to what Hazel said, thinking at the funeral that it was just earth and that Gus wasn’t hovering over her after his death, even though she wished he was.

Does anyone really know?  Perhaps I should read that “Heaven is for Real” book next?  But anyway, I digress….

What wonderful characters and conversations this YA book had.   I can see why they wanted to make it into a film but I have not yet seen the movie.  I’m not sure I should.  Will it live up to my expectations?  Sadly, most books to films don’t for me.

Did I predict some parts of the book?  Yes!  I had a sneaky suspicion that Gus was going to leave the world before Hazel did.  I wasn’t surprised about that or about their union in Amsterdam.  I was so happy for both of them.

Was I shocked by some scenes in the story?  Yes!  I was most surprised by the parts with Van Houten, especially him being at the funeral and later showing up to scare Hazel in her car.  I also had no clue about his daughter and her cancer story…. I didn’t see that coming at all.  What a crazy, memorable person he was/is!

The video game playing scenes among Isaac, Hazel and Gus in the basement were priceless…they always made me laugh and I don’t even play video games.  I would love to see a sequel made about Isaac, about what became of him.

Ahh, I really liked this book and I will be thinking about it for days and weeks now.  That is the ‘mark’ of a good writer.  Well done Mr. John Green. As an aspiring writer, I envy you and your beautiful work of art.  But I promise not to hunt you down for a sequel request about Isaac though.  I’m much too boring and plain to be like Hazel or Gus…  🙂