The Fault In Our Stars by John Green : A Review

 

BOOK TITLE: The Fault in Our Stars

ISBN: 9781101569177, 9780143567592, 9780141345635.

 

AUTHOR: John Green

GENRE: Romance

NUMBER OF PAGES: 198

FORMAT: e-book

SERIES / STANDALONE: Standalone

REVIEW BY: Dhivya Balaji

HOW I GOT THIS BOOK: Wanted to read the book to see what made this so popular.

REVIEW:

          It is very difficult to write a good review of a not so popular book, because it necessitates some sort of defensive tone in support of the book. But what is more difficult is writing an unflattering review of a widely popular book. In going with the tide, we could easily praise what is being praised, and leave it at that. But in keeping with a principle of this blog, there comes a time when the popularity clashes with the quality. And there is the risk of generating negative feedback, which an honest reviewer should not worry about.

          So this book is one such classic example. ‘The Fault in Our Stars’, one of the most popular books of recent times is touted to be a heart wrenching saga. So this requires me to give a heartfelt review for the same. And what is more, this review will be in the rhetorical style as praise for the author who has chosen, for reasons of his own, to fill his writing space with rhetoric and ambiguous sentences.

          Misled by popular reviews I was drawn towards the ‘modern classic’, and to say that the book was a disappointment would be an overstatement which can be rather phrased as this book did not belong to a genre I favoured and therefore did not serve to be an all too engrossing read for my literary tastes. Whew, there! You would by now have got a drift of the average sentence in this book.

          Not to be insensitive, this is a really good book that has a good theme, about surviving cancer patients and the pain of loss. But there might be places where the author falters. And mildly fails to deliver his point. And there are moments when the reader is unsure whether or not the author knows what he is talking about. And it is difficult to understand and wholly appreciate a book which idolises and which is centred on another book.

          There are books which maintain the suspense until the penultimate page, and there are books which tell you what to expect in the first few pages. TFIOS is one such book. But where the story engrosses is the suspense on where the stuff promised in the first few pages happens. This is a difficult feat to pull off in a first person narrative. Gladly, this book does that. Sadly, this book does that. (And no, this is not a typographical error).

          There are a maximum of two twists in this tale of love and sacrifice. The real interesting bit comes in the description of Amsterdam, which is the result of the author spending two years there, (by his own admission). And the impending fear of death makes sure that people who hate sadness will not read the book and people who like good endings will find a right punch in the gut to read this.

          Given, this is a realistic tale, that does not hide the realities of life and does not glorify cancer or hide the more unsavoury details of the disease. But since the author had decided to write a realist book that does not sound defeatist, he must have completed what he started. But midway, the author seems to be confused about including other sub tales and distracts the readers with love that is bittersweet and has no chances of uniting ever.

          Midway through the book, it seems as if the author has second thoughts and wants to disillusion every positive thought ever had. And too much idolisation of another author crashes around the reader’s ears as the author is portrayed as someone unfit to write. Only later does the author decide to explain this behaviour. (No surprises there!)

          All in all, this book seems to be a leap from one bank of a river to another where the author had second thoughts mid-leap. I would have personally liked the author to write either a more realistic book or a more romantic-fantasy book. This strange cocktail seems to have attained a steady fan base but they are not sure if they like it because of the poignant scenes, or the bittersweet live grenade romance.

PLUS: The realistic tone, lead character, proper description of the disease.

MINUS: Uncertain characters, impending doom of sadness, waste of well written characters

VERDICT: Over rated book fit for a one time read. But the layman reader (not belonging to the fan base) will not be sure what makes so many people cry.

RATING: 3/5

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American writer of young adult fiction and a YouTube vlogger and educator. He won the 2006 Printz Award for his debut novel, Looking for Alaska, and reached number one on a New York Times Best Seller list with The Fault in Our Stars in January 2012. Green was born in Indianapolis to Mike and Sydney Green and his family moved three weeks after he was born to Orlando, Florida. He attended Indian Springs School, a boarding and day school outside of Birmingham, Alabama and graduated from Kenyon College in 2000 with a double major in English and Religious Studies. Green's first novel, Looking for Alaska, was published by Dutton Children's Books in 2005. It is a school story and teen romance largely inspired by his experiences at Indian Springs. For it he won the annual Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association, recognizing the year's "best book written for teens, based entirely on its literary merit". Green's second novel, An Abundance of Katherines (Dutton, 2006) was a runner-up for the Printz Award and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Green's third novel, Paper Towns, was released on October 16, 2008. It debuted at Number 5 on the New York Times bestseller list for children's books,

EDITIONS AVAILABLE: Paperback, E-book, Kindle

PRICE: Rs. 199

BOOK LINKS: http://www.amazon.in/dp/0141345659/?tag=googinhydr1865-21