Book Review: Was The Fault in Our Stars Good or Was I 14?
I’ve been having this internal debate over if John Green is a good author or he just knew the write audience to target: emotional teenage girls.
My temporary neighborhood has dozens of free libraries, and I’ve taken to perusuing them every couple of days in case something magical pops up.
Truthfully, I don’t use these libraries to find new books, but more so to find things I’ve already read.
Luckily, the book gods must’ve known I was in desperate need of a comfort read because the comfort read of all comfort reads was waiting for me in a small blue wooden cabinet.
I read the Fault in Our Stars in 2014 when I was 14 and made it my whole personality.
Since my dad is a painter, I had free access to different paint constantly, and had painted a paint chalkboard onto my wall that year. And instead of drawing cute pictures, I thought it was so Tumblr of me to write all my favorite Fault in Our Stars quotes on it. I was obsessed.
Now, rereading it 10 years (gasp) later, I’m happy to report that it’s just as good as I remember.
The downside of reading your favorite books from your teenage years is realizing how bad and cringey the book actually is. But to my surprise, I’m having the opposite reaction to this book.
Review
John Green truly wrote one of the best love stories of our time, and I’ll die on that hill.
Hazel and Augustus’s love story was the perfect mixture of cringey teenage first love and epic romance. I think he really captured the kind of all in love that young people experience for the first time.
Some authors struggle to write romance without making it unrealistic and nauseating to read. Green somehow captured it perfectly. There were some moments where I was thinking “god this is so gushy and ridiculous” but the reality is that a first love is quite literally that.
Green’s writing is also just so fantastic. He really captured the essence of a sarcastic teenaged girl perfectly. Some parts had me thinking Hazel is so arrogant, but Green really curated her character perfectly.
I typically hate reading female characters written by men, but I think it’s safe to say John Green might’ve written the most accurate female character in the world.
Hazel clearly had flaws, but what 16 year old dying girl wouldn’t? When I was 16 I had too many flaws to count, and I didn’t have cancer.
Hazel’s whole perspective is that she doesn’t want to sugarcoat things. She’s dying and the world is unfair and she knows that. She won’t bullshit you so don’t bullshit her.
Green illustrated this well through her relationship with Augustus. Their relationship was cheesy and sappy, yet there was no bullshit. They were honest and serious to each other.
I also like how introspective Hazel is. She has so much depth like the way she talks and recites poetry.
I feel like he mixed beautiful, fugitive language really well with simple phrasing and dialogue. Some sentences would sound so lyrical and poetic while others were straight thoughts from hazels mind. I loved this.
I loved the friendship between Gus, Isaac, and Hazel. I think Isaac and Hazel’s friendship was very special because it was very no bullshit. I didn’t remember the friendship, but after reading it I realized how important Isaac’s character is.
He represents the other side of cancer-related relationships. We see how gutted Hazel is as Gus’s girlfriend, but we also get to see how friendships are affected by cancer.
Overall, this book was just as good as I remembered and everyone should reread it. 5/5
