Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Title: The Fault in our Stars
Author: John Green
Publisher: Dutton
Release date: January 10th 2012
Pages: 272
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: Bought
Find out more: Amazon | Goodreads


Goodreads description:

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.

First sentence:

Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, probably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars


Oh. My. God. The Fault in Our Stars is so freaking amazing. There are no words to describe it. I knew I was going to love it, since John Green is one of my favorite authors, and everything about The Fault in Our Stars looked amazing, but wow. It exceeded my higher-than-high expectations. I don't even know what to say - nothing I could write could ever show how truly amazing this book is.


John Green's style is unique, so, so great. He conveys his awesome sense of humor in his writing - you can't not laugh at least once while reading a John Green book. His writing is serious, too, though, emotional, thought-provoking and just plain beautiful. This book is the perfect mixture between literary and entertaining - you want to read it as fast as possible to find out what happens; but at the same time, you want to savor every sentence and never let the book end. John Green can make you laugh, cry and think about the meaning of life all within one page.


Hazel is such a great MC. I was a little worried about John writing from a girl's POV for the first time, but it worked perfectly. Hazel's sense of humor and her way of thinking are unique and interesting. I loved her from the first page on.


And then there's Augustus. Oh, Augustus. Even his name is amazing. When I first read the name Augustus, I thought it was weird and kind of ugly, and now... Augustus Waters has to be the hottest name ever invented. And that's just his name - the actual person is even better. Augustus is unlike anyone I've ever read about - there's no way to describe him, he's just perfect. He's perfect without being perfect, which is the best kind of perfect. Hazel and Augustus are adorable together. The way they treat each other is so sweet, and their bantering is hilarious. 


The plot is tragic - I cried loads while reading The Fault in Our Stars. But it's awesome and crazy and fun, too - I loved everything Hazel and Augustus do together, everything about An Imperial Affliction, just... everything.


I can't even think of anything more to say - The Fault in Our Stars is too perfect for me to adequately express my love for it. My favorite of John's Green books, by far. With quirky, unique and lovable characters, and writing that is somehow hilarious, entertaining, literary, thought-provoking and emotional, all wrapped in one, The Fault in Our Stars is a beautiful portrayal of what it means to be alive. It makes me want to never read any other book, and just reread this one over and over again.


If you've read this book, what did you think?

Review: Looking for Alaska by John Green

Title: Looking for Alaska
Author: John Green
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Pages: 263
Release date: March 3rd 2005
Genre: Contemporary YA
Source: Bought
Find out more: Amazon ; Goodreads

Goodreads description:

Miles Halter is fascinated by famous last words and tired of his safe life at home. He leaves for boarding school to seek what the dying poet Francois Rabelais called the "Great Perhaps." Much awaits Miles at Culver Creek, including Alaska Young. Clever, funny, screwed-up, and dead sexy, Alaska will pull Miles into her labyrinth and catapult him into the Great Perhaps.

First sentence:

The week before I left my family and Florida and the rest of my minor life to go to boarding school in Alabama, my mother insisted on throwing me a going-away party.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Re-reading Looking for Alaska showed me again what an amazing book this is. I love everything about it! John Green is one of my favorite authors, and this one is probably my favorite of his books.

I don't read too many books with male main characters (just because, well, most YA titles have female narrators), but if it's well-done, I really enjoy a male narrative, and there's no question John Green does male main characters well. He made Miles so easy to relate to for me, as a girl, but Miles still has an authentic teenage-boy voice. And Alaska. I just love Alaska. I don't mean Alaska as a person - I'm pretty sure she'd irritate me to no end if I met her in real life - but as a character, she's amazing. She's a mystery, and I'd love to get into her head for a while.

I really like the idea of splitting the novel into two sections, "Before" and "After". This not being the first time I've read Looking for Alaska, I knew what was coming, and dreaded it with every passing day (every day in the book, not in real life). Even when I read this for the first time, I knew something bad was going to happen, and that added so much suspense to the whole story.

I love the whole thing with the last words. It's a crazy but awesome idea. The last words are so interesting to read about, and lots of them are hilarious! That made me want to start looking up famous peope's last words myself... even though I know I never will because I'm lazy. Either way, I really enjoyed that aspect and found myself laughing at so many of the last words and crying later on when... well, I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but if you've read the book you know what I mean.

For me, the entire book is like that - one minute you're laughing and the next you're crying. It's incredible how much Looking for Alaska made me feel, and how it can be so hilarious and tragic and touching and insightful all at the same time. That's probably what I like best about John Green's writing.


***This paragraph contains spoilers!***
The ending - ugh! Yes, it's the perfect way to end the book, and it wouldn't be right to have a real solution, but I just really want to know! Was it an accident or was it suicide?

I don't know what more to say - just wow. If you haven't read this book yet, you should read it immediately - it's one of my favorites. John Green's style is amazing and unique, and it can make you feel so, so much. And it making me feel something is all I really want from a book.

Review: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Goodreads description:

One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, Will Grayson crosses paths with . . . Will Grayson. Two teens with the same name, running in two very different circles, suddenly find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, and culminating in epic turns-of-heart and the most fabulous musical ever to grace the high school stage. Told in alternating voices from two YA superstars, this collaborative novel features a double helping of the heart and humor that have won them both legions of fans.

First sentence: When I was little, my dad used to tell me, "Will, you can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose."

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

I love John Green, so I was excepting to enjoy his parts of the novel, but I hadn't read anything by David Levithan before Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and didn't know yet whether I'd like his parts. I immediately fell in love with John Green's Will Grayson. His hilarious, self-deprecating style fit this character perfectly. Will Grayson is awkward in a very relatable way, and I always enjoy those kinds of characters.

It took me longer to start liking David Levithan's Will Grayson, and while I know that's superficial, a main reason for that was the all-lowercase writing. That type of writing already annoys me online, and I didn't think I could take a whole book written like that. David Levithan's Will Grayson was hard to like, for me, and it was hard to relate to his angry, angsty (is that a word?) personality. Later on, though, his character grew on me, and I started to like him more once I understood the point of writing all lowercase. Actually, if I'm completely honest, I didn't really get the point - I thought it was to show how little he cares, with the depression and all. In the back of the book though, there's a conversation between John Green and David Levithan, where David Levithan explains his reason: His Will Grayson sees himself as a lowercase-person, especially since he projects himself mainly online (those are David Levithan's words, just so you know, not mine). That explanation made me appreciate and understand his Will Grayson more. And I started liking him even more once both Will Graysons met.

Anyways, as I expected from John Green, the writing in this novel is amazing. The metaphors are great, the writing is lively, and, I don't know how else to explain it, but his style is just so easy. David Levithan's writing and style matched John Green's perfectly. One of the things I like best about John Green's writing is how much it can make you feel, and David Levithan mastered that, too. This novel is  so hilarious it makes you laugh out loud at parts and so deep and touching it really makes you think at others.

The characters are great, too. All of them are complex and realistic, as well as their relationships. One of my favorite parts of the book was Tiny Cooper. I'm not sure why I enjoyed him so much - I'd imagine him to be obnoxious and kind of annoying if I met him in real life - but as a character he's just genius, and loads of fun to read about. I love how lightly this novel deals with homosexuality - not in a preachy, annoying "Oh my God, I'm gay, what will I do?" way, but in a realistic and honest way - some people are gay, and that's the way it is, so deal with it.

All in all, this is a great read - hilarious but with a touching message of acceptance. The writing and characters are great. I'm already a fan of John Green, and I will definitely read more by David Levithan in the future!

Review: An Abundance of Katherines

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
(Amazon / Goodreads)

Goodreads description:

When it comes to relationships, Colin Singleton’s type is girls named Katherine. And when it comes to girls named Katherine, Colin is always getting dumped. Nineteen times, to be exact.
On a road trip miles from home, this anagram-happy, washed-up child prodigy has ten thousand dollars in his pocket, a bloodthirsty feral hog on his trail, and an overweight, Judge Judy-loving best friend riding shotgun but no Katherines. Colin is on a mission to prove The Theorem of Underlying Katherine Predictability, which he hopes will predict the future of any relationship, avenge Dumpees everywhere, and finally win him the girl.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

There is no doubt that John Green is an amazing writer - almost anyone who has read Looking for Alaska or Paper Towns would agree. What makes him so great, in my opinion, is that he manages to make the reader laugh out loud and cry within a few pages - sometimes even paragraphs. But his second novel, An Abundance of Katherines, has been critiqued several times for not showcasing this talent. Even though I understand where this critique is coming from (the book definitely showed John Green’s distinct sense of humor, but didn’t touch my heart or make me cry like his other novels), I don’t think these reviews do the novel justice. It is, quite simply, a cute and entertaining read, which happens to be extremely well-written.

The characters’ personalities were quirky, distinct, and fun to read about. To me, they are what make this story work, as the plot alone (which I have to admit was pretty predictable) would not have satisfied readers. The way he shows the readers his characters’ personalities is what makes John Green’s writing so special. I especially loved Lindsey and her relationship with Colin. One of my favorite parts of the novel were the cave scenes and the metaphor they provided (Lindsey’s physical hiding-place being the only place she does not have to hide her true personality), which I thought was cleverly crafted.

The novel has been critiqued for not being as serious as Looking for Alaska or Paper Towns, but the summary alone shows the reader that this is supposed to be a light, funny, not completely realistic read. Especially the footnotes and the comments on the math show that the author doesn’t take himself or his book too seriously.

One aspect of the novel I did have a problem with was the point-of-view. I thought the first-person narrator worked very well in the rest of John Green’s writing, while the third-person narrator made this novel lack some of the teenage-authenticity I loved about his other novels (especially Looking for Alaska). However, maybe this sacrifice was necessary to help the author create a certain distance between the protagonist and himself – Colin’s problem of taking himself too seriously wouldn’t have fit John Green’s self-deprecating style of writing.

Even though An Abundance of Katherines is not as emotional or powerful as John Green’s other novels, I’d still recommend it if you’re looking for a quick, funny and entertaining read. If you haven’t read anything by this author yet, though, I’d suggest reading some of his other work first.