The Fault In Our Stars – Mutual Struggles Unite One Another

Okay, I’ve actually read this book twice now and I don’t know what I had in me to read it again. Maybe I just wanted to approach it from another perspective. A lot of people seem to love it, that it’s the saddest love story they’ve ever read and eventually watched as there’s a movie that came out shortly after,

In summary, I can say that it is a sad story, but not one that made me sob uncontrollably. I’ve read way worse than this.

Anyway, I’ll still share my thoughts so here we go. It’s a story about 16-year old Hazel Grace who lives with thyroid cancer in a late stage that has also spread to her lungs. As a result, she has to lug around an oxygen tank with tubes in her nose to help her breathe.

At one point, Hazel’s cancer almost killed her until an experimental treatment suddenly brought her to a more stable state and she begins to attend a support group. There she meets Augustus Waters, a jocky/nerdy and charismatic (???) guy who has osteosarcoma that resulted in the amputation in one of his legs, so he wears a prosthetic in its place.

Let me just say this, what made me cringe while I read this book. I failed to understand what it is about Gus that girls (and gays) find attractive. Most people named Augustus never use the whole name. He tries to be charming, but I think he over does it, like who says they’re “grand” when someone asks how they are doing? Do you know anyone who talks in that many metaphors as he does? I just can’t help but notice that he and Hazel constantly talk as if they are smarter than they think. I wish my vocabulary was just as impressive.

Also, nobody just randomly walks around with unlit cigarettes between their teeth. Twigs are one thing, but cigarettes? Cigarettes. I got the metaphor, but still, it seemed silly to me.

Anyway, Gus and Hazel eventually bond over by reading each other’s favourite books. Then she meets his friend Isaac who is about to go blind due to his cancer. This is the only part of this book that made me laugh, it was also funny in the movie. Before his surgery, Isaac’s girlfriend dumps him because she apparently can’t handle him becoming blind to beat the cancer, and he’s so upset about it. Gus lets Isaac smash his basketball trophies to feel better. In the movie, I remember him grabbing the largest trophy and was like, “Gus? Cool?” and then smashes it while yelling “ALWAYS!” repeatedly in the background as Gus and Hazel discuss the abrupt ending of the novel she got him to read. It was just hilarious.

But yeah, anyway, it was the personalities of these characters that I wasn’t fond of, cancer or not.

Most of the novel is just some slow corresponding moments of texting and other interactions between them until they are able to go to Amsterdam to meet her favourite author to get closure on what happens to the book’s remaining characters. So much for that because the author turns out to be a drunk jerk. Many people say you shouldn’t meet your heroes because they’ll only crush your heart. I agree a little, but I also disagree as I did meet some of my heroes and they were the nicest people on Earth. That’s why you get to know them prior through like find interviews to watch, etc. but that’s me.

Look, I love a first kiss scene as much as the next reader but it seems disrespectful to do in the Anne Frank House. Not to mention PDA.

I’m sure you know what happens sometime after that, one of them dies. Their cancer basically metastasized before the trip. It’s no wonder there were shouts inside the house before leaving for the trip. Characters die, but I didn’t really feel too sad about this one. After that, the book just drags for a few more chapters until Hazel gets some closure at last.

So yeah, it’s an okay book but I wouldn’t call it a spectacular romance novel that will make you weep until your eyes burn. It’s like they make it to be sad because the main characters have cancer, but it doesn’t make much of a difference in my opinion. If you loved it, hey, good for you. I just found it to be average with some cringe and humour but that’s it.

That being said, I would like to keep an open mind to anything else John Green has written, so maybe there’s other books by him that are even better. This one is just likely his most popular even if it didn’t completely warm my heart.

👽Emily