To be fully honest, I’m not a very big reader. I have only read seven books in my life, four of which were Harry Potter books, two Star Wars novels, and half of All the Devils are Here. I would say that I don’t particularly enjoy reading, to the point that I always want the subtitles turned off for videogames and I specifically choose the poorly done English dub for foreign movies. Many times I feel too lazy to even read comic books. So right now I would caution that I wouldn’t be the best person to get an opinion on a book. Although for me, I would brave any medium if the work deserves attention.
The first few chapters for me felt like torture. At first I was totally distracted by the writing style. I chose to read this book because I am a big fan of John Green and his youtube channels. I started reading the book and the writing was so John Green that I imagined his voice but was distracted a few pages in when he started gushing over some boy named Augustus Waters. “Huh” I said aloud while flipping the pages back to the first page. At the first few chapters, I constantly had to remind myself I was reading a book narrated by a sixteen-year-old girl rather than a thirty-six year old man.
Next I lamented the fact that this was a book for early teens or “tween” as they are called but more specifically for girl tweens. So much of the story was about her swooning over some guy. I felt like I accidentally picked-up a teenage girl’s diary during her Justin Bieber phase. Many times I would say aloud “What am I reading?!” disgusted at the fact that I had mistakenly picked up a teen romance novel.
I also didn’t enjoy all the teen angst at first. So much teen angst that they would put Cloud and Squall with their emo hairdos to shame. But then again, they did have cancer, so they have my permission to be as angsty as they wish. Although, that permission is a cancer perk. I imagined Hazel Grace with the voice of Daria from the Beavis and Butt-head tv series (not the Daria TV show cause her voice was too monotone). But I regrettably imagined Augustus Waters as an obnoxious Zac Efron type who just turned all emo because of cancer.
Also early into the novel, part of the story is dedicated to describe what happens in a video game and a movie I’ve seen in real life. So, in a few chapters, Hazel Grace describes what happens on the screen when they are playing a videogame. A videogame I thought at first I would rather be playing then reading about, but from her description sounded like some mediocre shooter that I wouldn’t give my time of day. In a later chapter she describes what happens in the movie 300. I thought to myself, why are you wasting my reading time on a movie I didn’t like. I would say this killed the pacing but this is a book and not a movie.
I continued through the book despite my constant audible groans and I was very glad I stuck with it. The characters eventually grew on me evolving from some dumb Disney Channel characters to smart, endearing, and thoughtful characters. Especially Augustus Waters, who I eventually grown to really like and I was genuinely happy that he and Hazel Grace got together. Not only were the main leads endearing but all the characters, from Kaitlin (who I imagined with the same voice of Rarity from MLP) to the taxi driver.
I loved how the book is both smart yet down to earth. It periodically quoted science, math, history, and literature, which made me glad I was familiar with the references because I watched CrashCourse, Numberphile, Vsauce etc. Besides that, the book itself was smart enough to be down to earth, sometimes even getting very smart quotes and ideas from everyday popular culture. John Green knew his audience, finding meaning in popular culture but yet at the same time explaining more complex concepts and weaving into a believable world. He wrote in a way that everyone could understand the concepts he’s trying to convey.
Later on in the book I was kind of complaining about how the chapters were getting shorter and shorter. I was gonna make a comment on how John Green got lazy after chapter fourteen. But I realized reading more that it was done on purpose. It was some sort of metaphor of how short life becomes when stricken with cancer on your last days. I found my self wishing that the last few chapters were longer like how one wishes their sick loved one had more days to live. But I didn’t get my wish. “The world is not a wish-granting factory.” The last ten chapters were so, so heart wrenching.
I wasn’t sure at first with this book but it eventually drew me in. This was the kind of story that made me think about it for a few minutes when I finished reading it. With the book still firmly clenched in my hand, I wasn’t sure if I should put it down. I was sad that it ended but glad I read it and I don’t think it should have ended in any other way. This was one of those rare stories that stuck with me even after I finished it. The kind of story that I couldn’t get out of my mind no matter what I did, keeping me up at night or making my showers longer than usual. It’s a tragic tale but still smart enough to not totally envelope you with sadness with some perfectly placed wit and humor. As a person who doesn’t like to read much, this is a must read.
Rich Jammer 