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A review by e_bibliophile
Looking for Alaska / An Abundance of Katherines / Paper Towns / The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
3.0
A not-so-little sneak peek:
• Hazel is 16. She miraculously survived stage 4 thyroid cancer. However, her lungs ceased to function properly so she has to drag along an oxygen tank wherever she goes in order to breathe. She's kind of a loner and because she shows signs of depression, her mom encourages her to attend a support group center.
• Augustus is 17. He had a leg amputated due to bone cancer. He meets Hazel in a support group meeting and they fall in love at the first sight. He's a show-off guy who acts like Don Juan. His obsession is to leave a legacy and be remembered heroically. He stupidly and indirectly supports and promotes smoking while realizing that it causes cancer by putting an unlit cig in his mouth and metaphorically claiming the following:
People, meet Hazel's father:
Seriously, 99% of what this man does is crying, with AND without a reason. He was annoying.
[b:The Fault in Our Stars|11870085|The Fault in Our Stars|John Green|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360206420s/11870085.jpg|16827462] was a fast read (except when I had to stop and look into the dictionary to translate new vocabulary such as: sobriquet, vernacular, etc.)
__________
Dear [a:John Green|1406384|John Green|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1353452301p2/1406384.jpg],
When I look at your picture, all I get is a nerdy vibe which is totally awesome. Your nerdiness leaks from your appearance and it's never a bad thing. I love nerds and nerdiness. But those words? C'mon! They were sincerely unnecessary, unnecessary as in over-the-top-esque. I know TFiOS is your book and all, and your characters were philosophizing most of the time (I don't blame them). But, who on earth uses such words in daily life? Let alone teens? English isn't my first language. Nevertheless, I've encountered Victorian novels with easier vocabulary. THANKS for accessorizing your book with fancy words in an attempt to enrich contemporary literature, BUT NO THANKS I didn't enjoy it when I stopped reading to translate so many words in a YA novel. Even though, I like you, dude. I will read your other books because you sound like a very talented author.
Love,
Eman
__________
Back to the review.. The story made me chuckle. It also made me tear up. I consider those two points as a sign that I like the book. John Green is good with words and dialogues. He didn't bore me and I enjoyed turning the pages in the beginning. However, I lost interest and enthusiasm quicker than I'd anticipated and the flame was dimmed. After reaching half of the book I realized that it falls under the "overrated" category. I pushed myself to hurry up and finish it hoping to read another book before 2014 ends.
JG managed to touch my feelings and made me empathize with those kids, not "sympathize" because generally sick people can't stand pity. I didn't pity Hazel and Augustus, I put myself in their shoes and imagined how would I react If I were in their situations. For an ambiguous reason, I tasted tiny faint bits from [a:J.D. Salinger|819789|J.D. Salinger|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1288777679p2/819789.jpg] and [a:F. Scott Fitzgerald|3190|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1374726364p2/3190.jpg] and it was such an ironical moment of "I knew it!" when I found out that those two are among JG's favorite authors which boosted my faith in my senses.
Many people find it hard to believe how the main characters got so wise at such a little age. I think when you'd faced death several times you must've pondered over and over on the meaning of life. It makes you appreciate how precious life is. Just try to imagine being in a position between hanging on and letting go. Thus, that makes you wiser than normal people of your age who had no threats of death. I'm willing to buy that. Unlike the negative reviewers, I found the characters believable (minus their absurd choice of words sometimes which was like stones, hard to swallow). Their love story is cheesy which makes sense because they ARE teens. They come up with stupid metaphors (such as Augustus's cigarette thingy) and still manage to have deeper thoughts on life.
If there is something to be extracted from this book it would be:
• Cancer sucks and life is so unfair, which is old news.
• Sobriquet means "Nickname" and Vernacular means "Slang". There's more, really, but I didn't keep up.
• Hazel is 16. She miraculously survived stage 4 thyroid cancer. However, her lungs ceased to function properly so she has to drag along an oxygen tank wherever she goes in order to breathe. She's kind of a loner and because she shows signs of depression, her mom encourages her to attend a support group center.
• Augustus is 17. He had a leg amputated due to bone cancer. He meets Hazel in a support group meeting and they fall in love at the first sight. He's a show-off guy who acts like Don Juan. His obsession is to leave a legacy and be remembered heroically. He stupidly and indirectly supports and promotes smoking while realizing that it causes cancer by putting an unlit cig in his mouth and metaphorically claiming the following:
"You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing."Really? I will carry a knife in public and don't give it the power to terrorize passing-by people. Yay I'm a genius! Okay, let's not forget that he's only 17.
People, meet Hazel's father:
Seriously, 99% of what this man does is crying, with AND without a reason. He was annoying.
[b:The Fault in Our Stars|11870085|The Fault in Our Stars|John Green|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360206420s/11870085.jpg|16827462] was a fast read (except when I had to stop and look into the dictionary to translate new vocabulary such as: sobriquet, vernacular, etc.)
__________
Dear [a:John Green|1406384|John Green|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1353452301p2/1406384.jpg],
When I look at your picture, all I get is a nerdy vibe which is totally awesome. Your nerdiness leaks from your appearance and it's never a bad thing. I love nerds and nerdiness. But those words? C'mon! They were sincerely unnecessary, unnecessary as in over-the-top-esque. I know TFiOS is your book and all, and your characters were philosophizing most of the time (I don't blame them). But, who on earth uses such words in daily life? Let alone teens? English isn't my first language. Nevertheless, I've encountered Victorian novels with easier vocabulary. THANKS for accessorizing your book with fancy words in an attempt to enrich contemporary literature, BUT NO THANKS I didn't enjoy it when I stopped reading to translate so many words in a YA novel. Even though, I like you, dude. I will read your other books because you sound like a very talented author.
Love,
Eman
__________
Back to the review.. The story made me chuckle. It also made me tear up. I consider those two points as a sign that I like the book. John Green is good with words and dialogues. He didn't bore me and I enjoyed turning the pages in the beginning. However, I lost interest and enthusiasm quicker than I'd anticipated and the flame was dimmed. After reaching half of the book I realized that it falls under the "overrated" category. I pushed myself to hurry up and finish it hoping to read another book before 2014 ends.
JG managed to touch my feelings and made me empathize with those kids, not "sympathize" because generally sick people can't stand pity. I didn't pity Hazel and Augustus, I put myself in their shoes and imagined how would I react If I were in their situations. For an ambiguous reason, I tasted tiny faint bits from [a:J.D. Salinger|819789|J.D. Salinger|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1288777679p2/819789.jpg] and [a:F. Scott Fitzgerald|3190|F. Scott Fitzgerald|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1374726364p2/3190.jpg] and it was such an ironical moment of "I knew it!" when I found out that those two are among JG's favorite authors which boosted my faith in my senses.
Many people find it hard to believe how the main characters got so wise at such a little age. I think when you'd faced death several times you must've pondered over and over on the meaning of life. It makes you appreciate how precious life is. Just try to imagine being in a position between hanging on and letting go. Thus, that makes you wiser than normal people of your age who had no threats of death. I'm willing to buy that. Unlike the negative reviewers, I found the characters believable (minus their absurd choice of words sometimes which was like stones, hard to swallow). Their love story is cheesy which makes sense because they ARE teens. They come up with stupid metaphors (such as Augustus's cigarette thingy) and still manage to have deeper thoughts on life.
If there is something to be extracted from this book it would be:
• Cancer sucks and life is so unfair, which is old news.
• Sobriquet means "Nickname" and Vernacular means "Slang". There's more, really, but I didn't keep up.