Author : John Green
Publisher : Dutton Books
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.
Okay, I don’t know where to start with this book. I won’t tell the summary of this book (except the blurb from the dust jacket) because, please, it’s The Fault in Our Stars (TFIOS). This book has been hyped since 2012 and I know that it’s probably a little late that I’ve just read it this June. In my defense, I was scared of the hype. So I tried my best to not expect anything.
First of all, I like the setting of TFIOS in term of the neighborhood Hazel and Gus live in. Though I didn’t get to see much of it because they didn’t hang around much outside their house. I also like that Green chose Amsterdam as the ‘romantic getaway’ instead of Paris. So that’s refreshing.
I think Hazel is a lovely person. She has her quirk and often throws sarcasm. She’s also funny and yes I do think that it’s not fair for her to have cancer (but what can I do). Yet, at some point I saw Hazel as John Green. I don’t know why (because obviously I’ve never even met John Green in person) but it feels like this is Green talking to Gus, not Hazel talking to Gus. It seems like despite of Hazel’s lovely traits, she lacks of femininity. Gus is also an amusing character. I like his metaphor of teasing death by putting a cigarette in his mouth without really light it. Although he’s not in my favorite male character list, I can see why girls think of him as their book boyfriend.
I encountered many sophisticated and witty dialogues in this book. Despite the fact that it may sound weird knowing those coming from teenagers, but then again, these teenagers went through things that force them to be mature. They tried their best to not break apart and live their life to the fullest. The way they deal with their illness touch me. While their dialogues entertain me, sometimes I think they talk a lot and Hazel has a lot going on in her head. There are just too much thought and not a lot happened.
I was a bit surprised with the ending. To be honest, I’ve prepared myself for that kind of ending, but it isn’t what I imagined. Most of people who’ve read TFIOS said that they cried when reading the book. But I didn’t and that’s one of the reasons why I don’t give a high rating for this book. Because of expectations, so I’m sorry for that. I’ve tried, but I couldn’t. Nevertheless, TFIOS is one influential book. Whether we like it or not when we meet another YA romance and the characters have cancer, our mind will unconsciously compare that book to TFIOS. TFIOS is just that influential. I didn’t give this book the highest rating; still I recommend this book to anyone who hasn’t read it.
I’m like. Like. I’m like a grenade, Mom. I’m a grenade and at some point I’m going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties, okay?
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