Green, John: The Fault in Our Stars
The Fault in Our Stars (2012)
Written by: John Green
Genre: YA/Fiction
Pages: 318 (Hardcover)
Why I Read It: This book has been gaining quite a lot of rave reviews, and because I'd read and enjoyed John Green's Looking for Alaska, I was interested. However, I still had Will Grayson, Will Grayson sitting in my TBR pile waiting for me to rescue it, and I dislike buying a book by an author if I already have an unread title of theirs in the TBR. So I was going to wait. And then my friends started personally recommending The Fault in Our Stars to me, which made it harder to resist. When I found a signed copy in my local Walmart, I knew I had to give in and get it.
The premise: ganked from BN.com: 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 is award-winning author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.
Spoilers, yay or nay?: Yay. I was convinced I knew how the book would end, and I want to talk about that expectation and the twisting thereof and what it means or doesn't mean for the book itself. If you want to avoid spoilers, please feel free to jump to "My Rating." Everyone else, onward.
This book grabbed me from the start. It was the voice that got me. The mix of cynicism, dark humor that's edged with truth. I can't say I know anyone who's terminally ill, but I do know someone who was diagnosed with a completely life-altering and disabling disease at a young age, the kind of age where you expect to have your future in front of you, and it's suddenly ripped away. I've read this friend's LJ for years as she's talked about her condition, how her past was so promising, how she feels her future's a bust, and when she talks about the disease itself, or the treatment, and what it means for her future, her voice and observations are so much like Hazel's that I was rather floored by how well Green got the voice right.
Here's some of the moments that stood out:
Page 24:
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.
Or here, on page 265:
Thinking you won't die is yet another side effect of dying.
And it's not just the way Hazel talks about illness and death either, but her observations about life. This passage from page 33 really stood out to me as a reader/book blogger:
My favorite book, by a wide margin, was An Imperial Affliction, but I didn't like to tell people about it. Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book. And then there are books like An Imperial Affliction, which you can't tell people about, books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like a betrayal.
And then there's the sweet humor, the banter between Augustus and Hazel, like on page 34:
"Cold," he said, pressing a finger to my pale wrist.
"Not cold so much as underoxygenated," I said.
"I love it when you talk medical to me," he said. He stood, and pulled me up with him, and did not let go of my hand until we reached the stairs.
Or Hazel's interactions with her friends, all full with fun remarks that strike true for me, like here on page 95, when Hazel is trying to comfort her friend Kaitlyn after learning of a break-up:
"Sorry about Derek."
"Oh, I got over it, darling. It took me a sleeve of Girl Scout Thin Mints and forty minutes to get over that boy."
Even the ass-hole author, Peter Van Houten, has some good zingers, like on page 112:
Off topic, but: What a slut time is. She screws everybody.
Then there's this wonderful little observation on page 125:
As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.
Three more quotes, and then I promise, I'll get to some kind of review here.
Augustus, on page 157:
"Our city has a rich history, even though many tourists are only wanting to see the Red Light District." He paused. "Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin."
Hazel's dad, page 223:
"You know what I believe? I remember in college I was taking this math class, this really great math class taught by this tiny old woman. She was talking about fast Fourier transforms and she stopped midsentence and said, 'Sometimes it seems the universe wants to be noticed.'
"That's what I believe. I believe the universe wants to be noticed. I think the universe is improbably biased toward consciousness, that it rewards intelligence in part because the universe enjoys its elegance being observed. And who am I, living int he middle of history, to tell the universe that it -- or my observation of it -- is temporary?"
And lastly, Hazel on page 233:
It seemed like forever ago, like we'd had this brief but still infinite forever. Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.
And with that quote, I'll segue into the writing style, because comments like that, the way Green repeats certain ideas at certain times and the particular beats he gives to the manuscript, are reminiscent of Chuck Palahniuk's writing style. Say what you will of his ideas and his stories, but when he gets in a grove, style-wise, it's hard to put down, and I think Green taps into that here. That's a cool thing.
Of course, there is the question of whether or not teens (late teens to early twenties, in this book), can talk so cleverly or profoundly. I know it's a pet peeve of some readers when kids sound like wise adults, but it's never been a peeve to bother me, simply because unless the kid in question is meant as comic relief, I would choose "wise-beyond-years teen" over "acts and thinks and talks her age teen" because the former is far less annoying than the latter, even if the latter is more realistic.
But let's face it: in this case, you've got two kids who are cancer survivors but who are still battling the condition. Augustus relapsed in this book, which shocked the shit out of me, because I was reading all along that Augustus was cured and it would be Hazel who would pass from this mortal coil. Especially after we, as readers, learned how An Imperial Affliction ended. I was convinced, absolutely convinced, that the end of this book would be Hazel just stopping in mid-narrative. I was terrified to peek at the end to confirm this fact. I did not want to know.
Fortunately, it did not end that way. And it had a very, very good ending, so I'm quite pleased in that regard, especially since I was expecting the worst. But going back to teens sounding wise beyond their years, I think Augustus and Hazel should get a pass. While I know for a fact that cancer, like an life-altering disease, is a personal thing and that everyone reacts differently, it makes sense to me that those who are smart are given a new outlook on life, and their speech and attitude would reflect as much. It makes sense that these two kids, who are both quite smart, would want to absorb as much as possible and appreciate life to its fullest before passing. Augustus was already doing this. Hazel was just going through the minimum motions (I loved her addition to bad reality television) until she met him. What she'll do after we don't know, but I'd like to think that maybe she'll be a "Gus" for someone else, romantic strings no need to be attached.
What's so compelling about this book, besides my love affair with the narrative voice, is the characterization and the relationships between the characters. Not just the star-crossed romance between Hazel and Gus, but the relationship Hazel has with her parents and the one she develops with Gus' parents. The friendship she strikes with Isaac. Even her friendship, glimpsed as it is, with Kaitlyn. This is due in no small part to Hazel, who is so easy to embrace, to understand, that her relationships feel so genuine.
And that ending was just lovely. Green gives us enough clues about what the future will hold after Hazel is gone that we don't have to wonder (unlike the characters in An Imperial Affliction, which Hazel so desperately wanted to learn the fate of).
My Rating: Couldn't Put It Down
This was just, simply put, a wonderful book. And as Hazel succinctly puts it, "it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book." (page 33, but obviously, she wasn't referring to the book she stars in!) The voice captivated me from the start, and I'm so glad I didn't wait to give this a shot, because the book is so rewarding to read. I was so terrified of the end of it, because I was convinced I knew not only how the story would go, but exactly HOW the author would end it (I'm curious, for those of you who've read this, did you have that same fear?). I was surprised on all fronts, and I see myself coming back to this book one day to read it again and again.
Fans of John Green should not, by any means, let this book slip through their fingers. And if you haven't had a chance to read John Green yet, this is a fantastically awesome place to start.
Cover Commentary: I like it quite a lot. It works so well, the coloring and the contrast, which easily catches my eye. Of course, the title alone is enough to catch my eye, but still: nicely done.
Next up: This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel