Thalia @ Pictures in the Words

I finally got my act together and read this book, just in time for the film’s release. (In fact, one of my best friends from college surprised me at home so we could see the movie together—though I was only halfway done. I finished it ten minutes before we left the house for our showing, hahah.) I have to say, it’s better than I expected it to be. The thing with hyped books like this is that I always convince myself it’ll be terrible—because it’s just too hard to expect it to be wonderful and amazing, and then be disappointed by it. Encountering a disappointing, yet popular, book is one of the worst things in the literary world, and I didn’t want that to happen with this particular novel. Even my sister-in-law told me I would bawl, and that goes beyond just hearing from friends and reviewer-friends that it was great. So I told myself it would be horrible. I mean, I’m not a huge John Green fan, either, so I didn’t have that going for me—but in the end, this book ended up being kind of exactly what I expected (deep in my heart, where my surface, “It’s going to suck” thoughts couldn’t quite reach). A well-written novel that was, indeed, quite emotional, but also trying a little to hard to be witty, a little too hard to be remembered. The philosophy of the teenagers was unbelievable, and the instalove between Gus and Hazel was a little too much for me to ignore. (Seriously, though—people accuse Edward and Bella of getting together too quickly after two hundred pages, but Gus and Hazel are an item after ten and everyone seems to be okay with it?)

So I can’t say I was disappointed, but I’m surprised that it’s gotten as much hype as it has. I guess it was a little like Divergent in that way for me—it was good, and nobody can deny that it was good, but it wasn’t remarkable. It wasn’t amazing. Not for me.

What I Liked: Spoilers!

• The parts of this novel that really talked about Hazel’s cancer and how it affects her truly got to me. Cancer is this big, scary thing that we try to avoid and pretend like it doesn’t exist—until someone we know, someone we love, is hit with it and you can’t hide anymore. Hazel really got to the core of that—she knew that having cancer sucked, but she wasn’t selfish about it. She didn’t ask for favors, and she understood that her parents were going to have a worse time of it after she was gone—when she was gone. The dynamic Hazel shared with her parents was beautiful, and it changed the whole tone of the novel for me. I loved the conversations she had with her family. I loved when she was open and honest about how scared she was. It was Hazel that made me cry, her mom and dad who made me cry, her story that took my breath away. The book ends like the story is somehow over—but Hazel still has cancer, and she always will; her story lives on even when the book doesn’t, and I thought that was pretty amazing. She and the way her thoughts are expressed in Green’s words are what made the story wonderful for me.

What I Didn’t Like:

• I guess I must be one of the few on this planet who didn’t absolutely love Augustus Waters. I know, I know—how the heck did I walk away from this book without adoring him? I guess I just found him irritating. Honestly is nice, but Augustus was aggressively honest, like he didn’t really care whether he made people uncomfortable or bad. Maybe some people think that’s a noble trait to have, but I, personally, don’t think so—I think tact has a place in this world, and Augustus lacked any and all tact. He came off as pushy and trying-too-hard—the only time I liked him was when his cancer came back and he seemed human again, instead of conceited and “philosophical”. I didn’t enjoy his relationship with Hazel, except for how he made her feel—but it could have been anyone, and that’s what was disappointing about this particular love story. I only cared about her, but I didn’t care at all about him. I’m generally a big crybaby, but I didn’t cry over Augustus’ death. I couldn’t, because I’m not sure what was so great about him in this first place.

• Sometimes you read a book and you just know it’s trying to be quoted. There are just lines where you say to yourself, “Yep. The author wanted that to be a quote.” I found those lines littered throughout this novel, and they seemed out of place. Hazel is sixteen years old. I’m not saying someone that age can’t be philosophical about things (part of you has to be in order to deal with cancer at that age), but Hazel and Gus together, making comments about the universe, got to be a little too much sometimes. It didn’t flow as naturally as I would have liked, and those parts felt like an adult trying to write like a kid. It just didn’t work. (I’m not saying the quotes are nice as they are—but they were all a little unrealistic coming from teenagers.)

Overall: It was definitely a good book, and one I would recommend. However, I’d definitely wait for the movie hype to die down before you tackle this book for the first time—and don’t ask anyone what he or she thought of it, or if you know they loved it, don’t ask why. It’s easier to attempt this one when you just have your thoughts and impressions to go off of. (I guess that’s ironic to say at the end of a review I hope you just read, but still.) It’s just better to not have outside voices telling you what to expect to feel. It’ll be a better read overall if you don’t have that pressure. This book is worth reading, but I don’t think it was spectacular, or the greatest thing since Lord of the Rings. It was nice, but that’s all—nothing really memorable or different from other books in the genre. 

(http://thaliasbooks.tumblr.com/post/92100640427/the-fault-in-our-stars-review)