The Fault In Our Stars is a pretty good book. I’ve reread it two or three times already. But honestly, it’s not as good as it’s cracked up to be. Everyone who told me to read it said it was outstanding and amazing! I took their words with a grain of salt, but I was still excited to read it. And frankly, I was kind of disappointed. Sure, Augustus had a cool, quirky personality, and Hazel’s cynical sarcasm and insights added depth to the story, but it didn’t seem to stick out from the crowd, at least in my opinion.
Augustus and Hazel’s relationship was pretty typical. Of course, Hazel has cancer and so did Augusts, but it developed like every typical romance in a story. It was good, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that the way it was executed was pretty generic. Also, Augustus’s character didn’t really show much depth. He was mostly shown as a funny Prince Charming, the guy of every girl’s dreams. He didn’t actually show any kind of weakness until his cancer came back. Before that, he was basically the perfect character, which is never a good thing in a book. Perfect characters aren’t very relatable.
One thing that I was annoyed with was Augustus’s death. It just came out of the blue. We knew about Hazel’s inevitable early death, but Augustus was supposed to be NEC! It was completely random, and random deaths are not good deaths. I usually miss some hints at foreshadowing in a story on the first time around-that’s part of the reason I love rereading books-but when I reread this story, there was barely anything on Augustus’s death, nothing that I didn’t notice on the first time through. I don’t know…his death just seemed kind of rushed.
The ending was not satisfying! This one isn’t specific to The Fault In Our Stars-I’ve noticed that this happens in every single John Green book. I liked his writing style after finishing The Fault In Our Stars, so I gave his other books a whirl. EVERY ONE HAD AN ABRUPT ENDING. I’d turn the page, see the acknowledgements and think, Wait…the book just ended? What?! For The Fault In Our Stars, the ending wasn’t bad…it just didn’t seem final enough. I liked how Augustus wrote a eulogy for Hazel before he died…but the last sentence just was not good enough to end a book. Honestly, I feel like the ending should have had some more finality, like Hazel finally coming to terms with Augustus’s death, or realize how people really can’t help falling in love with people who are grenades. It could have been ended infinitely better with a final insight on death or something, like how Hazel started the story. Just not, “I do, Augustus. I do.”
So yeah…I’m not saying I could do better than John Green, because his writing was pretty good. But in short, The Fault In Our Stars was a good book, but it definitely doesn’t deserve all the hype and praise that it received.
Iced Tea With Vinegar 