8 Rated Books Book Reviews

10 Things I Hate About You, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Title: The Fault in Our Stars

Author: John Green

Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Publication date: January 10 2012
Hardcover: 313 pages

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs… for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

How did I get this book: Bought (pre-ordered it as soon as the author promised to sign all pre-orders of the book).

Why did I read this book: Because it’s John Green, one of my favourite writers.

Review:

10 Things I Hate About You, The Fault in Our Stars

10. I hate that you reminded me that the Internet is a marvelous place but also a very complicated environment for a book reviewer to be. You reminded me that we should be really cautious and aim for full disclosure at all times, because close interaction with authors – on Twitter, on Youtube, on Blogs, on Goodreads – is a reality today. And my own piece of this reality is: I am very biased toward your author. I think he is made of awesomesauce, I follow his blog, his Twitter feed and his channel on youtube. I think he is an Important Person and as such I don’t feel I can be really critic toward his writing. More to the point: I don’t want to. Sometimes, The Fault in Our Stars, I just want to fangirl over a book, no questions asked. Hence this post. 12

9. I hate that you made me love Augustus Waters so, so much. I hate that he was so quirky, and smart and funny and sexy and just so full of life that he overshadowed your own protagonist, Hazel. Even though the book is from her point of view and she is a well-developed and great female character (your author’s best female character to date), the way Augustus was portrayed made me feel like HE was the protagonist. I loved Augustus with the force of a billion supernovas and although I realise this is a good thing, I also wished I had loved Hazel with the same intensity. I hate that because of point number 10, I can’t bring myself to care too much that I loved the male character the most, even as he was not the protagonist.

8. I hate that you are so goddamn well written, so quotable and so full of truth: yours is a story that features several characters with terminal cancer and yet you manage not to be a book about cancer. You are a book about living and about those who stay, and those who go and about the unfairness of it all, about the nature of heroism, about things that matter, about leaving a mark. I hate you because I know that anything else I read in the next few days will simply pale in comparison:

“I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once.”

“I’m in love with you,” he said quietly.

“Augustus,” I said.

“I am,” he said. He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. “I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and I am in love with you.”

“You have a choice in this world, I believe, about how to tell sad stories, and we made the funny choice.”

I could go on but I am afraid I am already starting to tear up again. Which brings me to:

7. I hate that you made me cry (and I am not sure you are aware that not all mascaras are water proof?) so much till I sobbed and gasped for air. But I also laughed really hard. Sometimes I did both at the same time. I guess this just means that your author followed through on his promise to make me feel ALL THE THINGS so perhaps I can’t hold that against you.

6. I hate that yours is a great example of romance in ContempYA. The kind that is smart and slow burning, that is thoughtful and sweet and cute and also hot and sexual and deep. Because of you it will be even more annoying when I read a book with the dreaded Insta-love.

5. I hate how, even though there were moments in which some of your plotting felt contrived and even unbelievable; or that sometimes it was hard not to think of your teenage characters as pretencions and even unrealistically mature, it is impossible for me to think of those as deal-breakers because fundamentally you are a book about deeply relatable, realistic, complex characters going through some real shit.

4. I hate that you reminded me that when I went to Amsterdam, I actually did spend more time in the red light district and visiting a beer factory instead of going to Anne Frank’s House. I KNOW. I was very young then, The Fault in Our Stars.

3. I hate that you have a character in you that made me remember the seminal truth behind reading: that the characters of a book are not alive and do not live on after you close the pages. Except they do, The Fault in Our Stars: they do when they are important to readers, so in a way you also made me remember how important reading can be, and how a reader’s experience of a book is separate from author’s intent. Both of us know and acknowledge how equally important readers’ experiences are. I will remember them – Hazel and Augustus – The Fault in Our Stars, I will, because now there is a scar.

2. I hate that even though you are not perfect, you are probably one of the best books I will read this year and now you have set the bar really high for all other ContempYA I read in 2012.

1. Oh, ok, go on then. I don’t really hate you, The Fault in Our Stars. Not even close. Not even a little bit. Not even at all.

Rating: 8- Excellent

Reading Next: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Buy the Book:

Ebook available for kindle US, kindle UK, apple, nook, google, kobo and sony

  1. This is of course, merely a spoof of that great scene in the movie Ten Things I Hate About You with Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger
  2. For a Real Review, check this one out by The Other Ana at Things Mean a Lot

28 Comments

  • Amy @ Turn the Page
    January 17, 2012 at 5:15 am

    You see. Why did you have to write this review!?! I’ve been trying to ignore this book. Because I’ve just read two books about teenagers with cancer and didn’t want to read another one and everyone loves it so much I didn’t want to get bitten by the evil hype machine again.

    But now of course, because of this review (which made my day by the way). I have to. And now Im also annoyed because it makes me really want to do all the way to Foyles in London and spend more money on getting a signed copy.

    😡

  • Heather@ The Flyleaf Review
    January 17, 2012 at 8:39 am

    Yes, yes, and yes! Awesome review. You did the book justice 😀

  • Jade
    January 17, 2012 at 9:16 am

    Damn. That review was awesome. I could write a 10 things I hate about your review/actually I love. I’ve been saving this book because I’m too scared to read it and have it be over. The longer i prolong reading it, the more time I have to pretend all other books are just as good :p

  • Jade
    January 17, 2012 at 9:17 am

    That review was awesome. I could write a 10 things I hate about your review/actually I love. I’ve been saving this book because I’m too scared to read it and have it be over. The longer i prolong reading it, the more time I have to pretend all other books are just as good :p

  • Michelle
    January 17, 2012 at 10:07 am

    Okay, so this is the review that will finally get me to read some John Green. I’ve had this book on my wishlist, which means it looks interesting, ever since I saw This funny dialogue between him and Maureen Johnson. But I wasn’t sure about reading a “cancer book.” Thanks for pointing out that it isn’t.

  • Ana
    January 17, 2012 at 10:34 am

    @Michelle – I am not sure what you mean by a “cancer book” but just thought I should say that although this is not a book about cancer it is still about people with cancer. There is a slight difference there and this is still heart-wrenchingly sad.

  • Katie
    January 17, 2012 at 11:57 am

    Oh for goodness sakes. This is probably one of my favorite reviews I’ve ever read. Creative, funny, thoughtful, and really just lovely. Can’t wait to read TFiOS.

  • Elyssa
    January 17, 2012 at 12:07 pm

    Oh, I had downloaded the sample, but in all honesty, it didn’t grab me from the start. I wasn’t especially drawn to Hazel. And I wasn’t in the mood to read a heartbreaking book where, I think, there would be lots of deaths. But…this review made me consider giving TFIOS another shot.

  • Michelle
    January 17, 2012 at 4:10 pm

    @Ana: Sorry, I was referring to your point no. 8, where you state how wonderful it is that the book isn’t just about cancer, but about living.

    I don’t really have a book example of what I meant, but there are two movies featuring people with cancer that I saw recently. The first, “My Sister’s Keeper,” is a wonderful story about two sisters, and their family, and a boy – the ending was sad but it fit, and all the people felt real.

    The second movie, “50/50,” was about cancer. Every conversation and interaction was so narrow and focused on cancer and how it screws up relationships, etc. even when people love you. I liked the movie well enough, but I never felt close to the characters, or really cared about them until the climax.

    So I guess what I mean is that if a story is going to make me cry, especially with a sad ending, I really need to care about the characters and their journey through life. The story needs to make the tears worth experiencing.

    Anyway, thanks again for the review, and for your reply.

  • Heidi
    January 17, 2012 at 4:17 pm

    Thanks Ana, definitely my favorite review of (ode to?) this book I’ve read thus far. I’d already planned on reading TFIOS, but as someone who hasn’t read any John Green to date, I’ve been finding it hard to rustle up the enthusiasm everyone seems to have. This made me more enthusiastic to read it. =)

  • Rhylee
    January 17, 2012 at 8:48 pm

    Thanks for the great review. I will definitely read this book, but I am not looking forward to sobbing. I will need to remember not to sneakily read this one during class. Tears during civil procedure might produce some strange looks in my direction.

    One note on a 10 thing I hate about you
    “I hate …..the way you cut your hair.” Heath Ledger’s hair was pretty awful in this movie.

  • Amy @ My Friend Amy
    January 17, 2012 at 11:03 pm

    Aw, Ana this review is really cute. I enjoyed many of the same things about this book that you did.

  • Chachic
    January 18, 2012 at 6:13 am

    I just finished reading this and yes, it really did make me FEEL things. I cried too. But we’re okay now, Ana. Okay? Okay.

  • Ana
    January 18, 2012 at 6:16 am

    @Chachic

    Okay.

  • heather
    January 18, 2012 at 11:45 am

    This review only solidifies my resolve to go buy this book as soon as I can. But you’re right, Ana – it’s awfully hard to dislike anything by John Green.

  • Holly
    January 18, 2012 at 7:09 pm

    Oh, I adore that movie and I loved this book. Creatively brilliant, awesomesauce review. Brava!

  • The Fault In Our Stars John Green Audiobook Review
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  • trish
    January 25, 2012 at 10:47 am

    I don’t really hate you, The Fault in Our Stars. Not even close. Not even a little bit. Not even at all.

    I love you for this.

  • The Fault In Our Stars by John Green | footnotes
    February 29, 2012 at 12:28 pm

    […] Reading this book felt like getting to peek in at a slice of someone’s life. Once I got to a certain point I forgot I was even reading, forgot there was an author who was not Hazel, forgot these were not real people. It’s hard to write about a sad book in a way that is not overly mushy or builds it up to be something its not, but I can’t help but want to try. It was this review that made me decide to read the book, and I think it sums up my feelings better than this rambling is managing to do. This one too. […]

  • Armchair BEA June 5th: Best of 2012! « Breaking the Binding
    June 4, 2012 at 9:45 pm

    […] read through. But there are no words really, just feelings and I think this image i found in The Book Smugglers review sums it up quite […]

  • Musings in Red
    July 29, 2012 at 10:10 pm

    What an insightful post! 🙂

    I’ve been on the lookout for more book blogs, but I keep coming across flimsy review blogs that only drone on and ooooon about silly YA novels. You know…the dumb ones.

    BUT THIS BOOK….this YA book was different! Green made me laugh and cry. He did indeed make me feel all things! (Which btw, that shot was hilarious!)

    So happy I ran across your site! I will be returning here most often! 🙂

  • Sara
    November 29, 2012 at 11:18 am

    Totally late to this post (just came over from the post about Two Weeks with the Queen, which yes, I have added to my TBR list). But I had to post my full approval of how you managed this review. Gorgeousfunthoughtfulness. I finally read TFIOS (also a fullthroated JG fan) just a month or so ago, and I still haven’t figured out to write about it. I may just post a link to your review instead.

  • Kate C.
    January 30, 2013 at 9:53 am

    Finally gave in to reading this after just holding onto my pre-ordered/signed copy for a year. You are right, everything read after just pales in comparison, including The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, which I read next. This is a great review that tells just enough without telling too much, which I struggled with when I went to review it on my blog.

  • Beth
    February 22, 2013 at 3:42 pm

    Oh I have got to get this book, it seems seriously amazing.
    “I am,” he said. He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. “I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and I am in love with you.”

    That quote alone is just WOW and seriously WOW

  • Tasfia Rahman
    December 30, 2013 at 10:42 am

    Why did you write this review. A month on from finishing this damn book, I just started to stop bursting into tears everytime this stupid book was mentioned. Now I’ve started again.

    The Fault In Our Stars… I took this book out because the title sounded so poetic… no, that’s not the correct word… metaphoric (there Augustus Waters, thanks to you I have started to find metaphors for every damned thing in this bloody unfair universe!)And I started reading it. Honestly, Hazel going on about her cancer bored the life out of me in the first 2 pages. I actually ditched this book for a week. Then I started reading it… and in came Augustus Waters. From the minute that guy opened his beautiful gob I knew this was going to be the best book ever… but it wasn’t. It was the worst. It was the worst because it made me cry SO FRICKING BADLY… I think the rating system is quite wrong here… This isn’t one of the best books I have ever read… IT IS THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ It is not damn near perfection… It IS perfection!

  • shenita
    June 6, 2014 at 7:50 am

    Great review. It’s been a year since I’ve read TFIOS and I oftentimes still think about Gus. He really did outshine Hazel Grace at times but I was OK with that since he’s so awesome. I’m really excited for the movie even though I know it’s going to hurt.

  • Kate
    December 4, 2014 at 8:40 pm

    This book is amazing and beautiful. I love it so much. I have become a hopeless addict to John Green and his writing.

  • Blue Sky Shelf
    March 27, 2015 at 4:34 pm

    […] Courtesy of The Book Smugglers […]

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