The Fault in Our Stars is a worldwide craze right now. With the film version due for release on 6th June 2014, it seems that everybody has either read and re-read the book over and over due to loving it so much or is currently reading John Green’s 2012 novel to get an idea of the story before they go to the cinema.
Guilty as charged, I was indeed one of those latter people.
I am fully aware that this will constitute as me throwing myself under a bus and I honestly do apologise to every fan out there, but TFIOS did not hit me the way I wanted it to.
This is not in any way me saying that Green has written a shoddy book, but largely due to the unbearable fandom TFIOS has, it felt like the story was set up only to fall by the people who love it the most. Regardless however, TFIOS does not disappoint in the story that it tells, which was the main thing that I was concerned about.
Hazel’s story is told by Hazel’s own narration throughout the book, but this way of writing also limits the reader on what the she physically sees. This may have been my ultimate problem with this story. It was indeed highly emotional and raw, but I felt as though (until the very end) not a lot happened. This was because Hazel thought so much, and her physical movements were not accounted for sometimes. As I am used to reading classics and historical fiction, almost always written in the third person point of view, this method of writing was not enough for me. I like to metaphorically stand next to my characters within their story, and experience it with them. This is possibly why TFIOS did not appeal to me in the ways I imagined it to.
Everything else about the book is brilliant. Hazel is a great role model for teenagers, and Augustus (finally!) is a boy that sets a good example for teenage boys, as I find that there are too many ‘bad’ book boyfriends that are encased in this fandom world which teenage girls obsess over and make it their life mission to find themselves their own Edward Cullen or Tobias Eaton. There are also other central characters to the story, like their joint friend and fellow cancer patient Isaac, and Hazel’s friend Kaitlyn, and so the story is not suffocated by a teenage love affair like many Young Adult books. Green is a fantastic story-teller and has a knack for mixing elements of Young Adult fiction with the realism of life itself, which is what sets TFIOS apart from its competition.
The ending of the book is the part I was dreading the most. This is because it is exploited as being ‘the most feels you will ever feel’, to quote in fandom talk. Again, for me, it wasn’t. However, the ending was truly beautiful and fit in perfectly with Hazel and Augustus’ relationship. I could not think of a more suited ending for the novel.
I did not cry at TFIOS, and this is an anomie for me. For anybody that knows me, they understand how much of a sap I truly am. I cry at anything, though I did not cry at this. Instead, I felt powerfully and undeniably sad through the book, which is good. Even when Hazel was happy, I felt sad for knowing that her happiness had an expiry date. This is the true nature of life, but rare that books (especially ones intended for teenagers and younger readers) use this as the basis for their characters and their stories.
John Green certainly deserves the accolades and praise that he receives for this book, and I am very sure that the TFIOS film will bring him much more. I would recommend this book to anyone, much like it was recommended to me in the first place. Just don’t let the pressure of a fandom stop you from reading the book; make your own decisions!