Thursday, January 2, 2014

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (spoiler alert!)

And so the curse of expectations has ensnared another book. I wanted to love this book... I had high expectations. I'm finding it harder and harder to find books that wow me. As a bibliophile, I choose my books based upon how many stars Goodreads users give a book, and how many raters it has. If it is rated under an average of 3.8 and/or has a high rating but very few raters, I won't read it. At the time that I decided I wanted to read this book, it had an average rating of 4.5 stars from 448,042 people. That being said, this book should have been AMAZING... and at first, it was... but alas, it ends up getting 3.75 stars.

I started out rating this as five stars from the first few paragraphs. I love intelligent characters. I love writers who write eloquently. I love Young Adult (YA) books that don't dumb down the writing. I love a book that makes me giggle (admittedly hard to do considering I have a dry sense of humor). This book has all of that. So why only 3.75 stars?

First, I am not a YA... perhaps that makes my critique point of view unfair (maybe if I had read this book at the impressionable age of nineteen I would have fallen head over heels in love with it). I think what ruined it is Van Houten. I realize that this is the author's intent; we are not supposed to like Van Houten as he is quite a douche (quoting the book). However, I also think the author's intent is to make him somewhat likeable by the end. Well, I failed to like him. I found him creepy as hell sneaking into Hazel's car. I also felt like there really wasn't much to the plot: two kids with cancer spend a fleeting few moments together, then jointly endure disappointment, and then the inevitable happens when one of them dies (this is where the 'I cried my eyes out' comments on Goodreads come in). I did not, in fact, cry my eyes out. Also, the aftermath of Augustus's departure was severely lacking in eloquence, emotion, and content.

I had hoped this would be the next greatest book on my list, but no such luck. The search continues.




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2 comments:

  1. MarissaJanuary 6, 2014 at 10:34 AM

    I feel like a better human for feeling the same way as you. I was so prepared to cry my eyes out, and then "eh." Maybe it's because it's YA; maybe it's because we've read so many dystopian teen books; maybe it's because everyone and their brother feels a need for a plot twist, but I was not shocked by any of this. Gus' character deserved more. I felt like you, where more of this story could have been developed and more character development. While I appreciate a quick read, I also feel like it is nice to expand on characters as well. ALSO I get the whole Make A Wish thing (though, I know this is a different company or whatever) and I'm not discrediting that they could have gone over to Amsterdam, but the rest of it? BS. I didn't buy it because we have been set up to know this guy is a douche. I so wanted this book to be a 4.5 or more, but no. I doubt I will be seeing this one in the theaters too. I keep saying this, but I think I just need to read adult books again. Apparently "The Book Thief" is YA and I didn't know that until after I made the purchase. Here's to hoping it's better.

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  2. Ali DJanuary 6, 2014 at 10:43 AM

    I won't be seeing this in the theater either. Plus, you won't like the casting for Hazel. ;-)

    I think Life After Life is an adult book (the one I am reading now). But, so far I don't like it. I also tried to read The Casual Vacancy and hated it (and stopped reading). And the adult book A Contortionist's Handbook? Awful. I still haven't finished The Poisonwood Bible, either.

    So, I wish you luck on your adult book journey, I hope it goes better than mine has recently!

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