The Fault in Our Stars (Review)

I did a buddy review with Megan over at  The Book Babe you can check out her awesome review of the book here.


Book: The Fault in Our Stars
Author: John Green
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 313
Source: Purchased

Blurb:

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

 

My Rating:

3.5

 

I expected this book to be so much better than it was. The hype is what killed it for me. I went into it expecting some life changing book and it just didn't live up to it. I liked this book. I didn't hate it or love it but I was left disappointed and mostly unsatisfied. I'm not saying the book wasn't beautiful because at parts it truly was. And then others just sort of fell flat.

 

Hazel at times was a good character but for the most part she seemed to be in a different universe. I'm sure she was meant to be a very likeable, strong character but at times her character just fell flat. Augustus on the other hand was extremely charming and charismatic. He wanted to leave a mark in the world and was always living his life to his fullest.

 

There were parts of this book that made me laugh and I admit that I cried at a few parts. There are moments where the romance is absolutely swoon worthy and others where the book just infuriates you to point where you want to smack some sense into the characters.

 

I had some issues with the way things were done in this novel as well. Hazel's parents just let her go to the house of some boy she's known for less than 2 hours. Which is strange since her mother hovers over her constantly whenever she's at home so why is she so lenient all of a sudden? And another thing is in the beginning of the novel her mother pushes her to get out of the house and make friends but when she does her mother complains that she's never home and makes it seem like Hazel is just doing it on purpose even though her mother told her to.

 

This book had me really excited but turned out to be a major let down for me. It was alright but not the wonderful novel that everybody made it out to be. This book is a tear-jerker there is no doubt about that but I believe that it could have been done in a way that would have brought out the full potential that this novel could have had.