2.5 stars. It's not that I can't see what Mr Green is doing here, it's just that the really interesting part of the book is the last four chapters. I pushed through and finished it as the author had been recommended but perhaps I picked the wrong book.

Colin is a drip - a complete wimp who is needy, self-involved and emotionally retarded. His saving grace is that he's quite clever but that gets dull really quickly since he never uses his intelligence for anything useful. I've met people like this in real life - they bore me there and they bore me on the page. Lindsey was a reasonable character and I actually liked Hassan. Otherwise not much happens in this book since 90% of it takes place in Colin's head - I mentioned that he bored me, right?

Style wise, John Green's prose is flawless. He has a lot of clever stuff in here and I like the wry humour. I will try some of his other books based on that. He's clearly a talented writer.

Can I recommend this to anyone? Not really, unless you want to spend four or five hours of your life in the head of an emotionally maladjusted boy who really doesn't consider the feelings of others and is obsessed with being clever. Also if you don't mind not much happening. If that's your bag, go for it, otherwise no, I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is not Green's best work.