Hi all! I sincerely apologize for my long absence. But I'm back with a new theme and a heap of reviews are about to come your way! Firstly, I should mention that I've changed my rating base from out of five stars to out of ten so it allows me to have more range. Anyway, on with the actual review!
I checked out this novel way before the movie because the entire website of Tumblr had been raving on it. And knowing me, I always have to try and join the trend or at least snoop and find out what it's about. But wow the internet blew up about this book and before I knew it, everyone around me was reading it. I was glad I checked it out prior to its massive popularity otherwise I would have looked like a cliche follower if i was caught reading it!
Anyway, the story comes from the point of view of sixteen year old Hazel Grace Lancaster who unfortunately has lung cancer. What I really appreciate about this story is how John Green portrayed her thoughts. She was upfront and honest about everything. It wasn't "I have cancer and that's so sad" it was "I have cancer and let me tell you why that freaking sucks."
She has such a raw emotion to her and the character has such an element on strength throughout the novel with how she deals with her illness. She gets angry, she makes sarcastic jokes, she gives you an insight to cancer that you've never seen before while also not making her story all about it. She doesn't let it consume her in a way. She shows her power over it.
Augustus Waters is a little different. To be honest, he is pretentious as hell. But that is even mentioned in the novel so that's no new fact. But man, it can make him annoying. Yet, his character makes up for it with his witty sense of humor and jokes that actually had me smiling and chuckling on a few occasions.
In regards to the story, it's a heartwarming one. It did come off as a bit too predictable to me in some elements and I'll be honest, (get ready for this) I didn't cry once. Pretty much everyone did and people would tell me that and I would go "Oh my God, same!" but nope. I will admit I teared up on one occasion thanks to line from Hazel's Mom but other than that, no actual tears. I know what you're thinking, do I have a soul? And the answer to that is no, of course not.
Overall, the book did seem slightly overrated to me yet it did feature some moments that I enjoyed and I'm just so thankful that the story did get all that popularity. It brought awareness to cancer and all the people that have to go through the struggles of it and can't live a normal healthy life. While Gus brought happiness to Hazel's character a part of me hopes that people don't continue to take the message away from it that a boy will always be there to help you get through something because it's not true. It makes me so mad when I see young girls writing stories on Wattpad about girls who self harm and then introduce a male character who supposedly 'saves them from their self'. Romanticizing illness whether physical or emotion is not the way to go, remember that folks. But I don't think John Green did that, just to clarify.
I give the book 6 OUT OF 10 STARS as it wasn't my favorite read, but was written well and kept me interested and I RECOMMEND IT to all those out there that love a good romance read!
Till next time,
Meg xx
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