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Loading... The fault in our stars (original 2012; edition 2012)by John Green
Work InformationThe Fault in Our Stars by John Green (2012)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. When I read this back in 2012 I probably would have given this a 5-star rating. But now having analyzed the contents of the book again (this time as an adult), I find a lot of its content to be really problematic and insensitive on many levels. Especially the scene in the Anne Frank House. It's disappointing as someone who was a big fan during John Green's youtube days. I just think there are likely better reads out there if you want to read about a story of teens trying to find love while fighting cancer. A little predictable, a little flat, but still a good read. I didn't dislike it. It just isn't one of my favorites. The two main characters, Hazel and Augustus, aren't all that well- developed. They also seem to be in possession of some fairly advanced vocabulary for kids who are so sick and have missed so much school - at least when they are conversing. But...maybe they've spent a lot of time reading while they've been stuck at home due to their illnesses (more than just that one book Hazel adores) and that could account for the breadth of their personal lexicons. The romance that develops between Hazel and Augustus isn't especially well-developed, either. It just sort of happens...really quickly. I found the novel to be a primarily dialogue driven piece - almost like a script. I would have liked a little more description so I could picture things in my mind more as I was reading. All that considered, though, I still enjoyed the story. It was a fairly quick read. Like I said, it was good - just not one of my favorites. I re-read books sometimes, but I doubt I would read this one again. I'm glad I read it, but once is enough. Is contained inLooking for Alaska / An Abundance of Katherines / Paper Towns / The Fault in Our Stars by John Green Has the adaptationIs abridged inIs parodied inHas as a reference guide/companionHas as a student's study guideAwardsDistinctionsNotable Lists
Sixteen-year-old Hazel, a stage IV thyroid cancer patient, has accepted her terminal diagnosis until a chance meeting with a boy at cancer support group forces her to reexamine her perspective on love, loss, and life. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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I think John Green's books are just not for me. I had previously read Paper Towns and hadn't been a huge fan of it, but I thought I would try this more popular work of his to see if I enjoyed it a bit more. On the one hand, this is a quick and oddly engaging book, but maybe it's engaging in the way a train wreck is -- you can't pull your eyes away even though it's terrible.
I find his writing style so pretentious, with characters who have affectations instead of character traits. (For instance, one girl is so much more sophisticated than the other residents of this town in Indiana that she speaks with a British accent even though she isn't British. Likewise, Augustus pretend-smokes by putting cigarettes in his mouth but not lighting them as "a metaphor.") The characters are primarily all snarky and full of biting quips, and anyone who isn't like that is basically a character that is looked down upon for their earnestness. There's also a pretentious author within the story, which just double downs on the amount of fake high-brow writing in which we have to talk about the representational nature of metaphor and etc. instead of just actually having metaphors and other literary devices to write eloquently.
The story itself is fine and hits on some real emotional resonance at times, but the writing style is just not for me. I do appreciate how the audiobook copy ended with an interview with John Green in which he mentioned the time he worked with young cancer patients and how that influenced the writing of this book. Speaking of the audiobook, I didn't love how rapidly the narrator spoke but otherwise she did a fantastic job of creating a number of distinct voices with different accents and a lot of passion. I think I would have liked this book even less if I had read the print version. I just don't get the hype. ( )