Photo Credit: Wikipedia
First off, I KNOW you guys didn’t believe my whole thing yesterday about going to the World Cup. Come on. I work weekends. I don’t have anything remotely resembling a rich family or girlfriend/wife. So where the heck would I get the thousands of dollars I’d need to be traveling for two months? The lottery? No.
Back to this post. You guys might have forgotten that I decided to tackle all the books on this list when it was first released in February. This will be the fourth book I read from the list since then and the seventh book I’ve read from it overall. But enough with the pleasantries, you guys probably want to know what I thought of the book.
Fault in Our Stars
I know I don’t need to waste time telling you guys what the book is about because who hasn’t read this book, so I’m not. Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters meet at their cancer Support Group and everything that follows is nothing short of wonderful.
My Thoughts
I’m writing the rest of this under the impression that you’ve read the book, if not, this is your warning to turn your eyes away from the screen. Well, this book has a huge amount of hype going right now. For me, I think it was able to live up to it. Let me tell you the million and one things that I liked about it. LOVED Hazel and Augustus as characters, as a couple, as thinkers, basically everything about them. Loved Hazel’s approach to everything. Loved how they both could quote An Imperial Affliction like no tomorrow. Excuse the language, but I loved how amidst everything that was going on between her and Augustus and her illness, Hazel was able to call Peter Van Houten on his shit. Yes, of course it’s later revealed that he had a daughter who died of cancer at the so very young age of eight, and Hazel changed it up a bit from constantly yelling at him.
I realize my thoughts are just spilling out at random, but that’s okay. I thought it was seriously fantastic that Augustus Waters called her Hazel Grace throughout the entire book even though at the very start she told him just Hazel. And I thought it was great to see that Hazel rarely broke down for any reason during the book. I’m thinking when she lay in her backyard in front of the swing set and of course after Augustus died. Both times guess who ultimately cheered her up, Gus.
Lastly, you all are probably wondering if I cried even though I’ve mentioned that I’m a notorious cryer when reading books. Yes. Just once, at the very end as Hazel is reading what Gus sent Van Houten before he died. This was the line that got me for some reason. I was at 98% on my Kindle.
“-I was wondering if you could write a eulogy for Hazel. I’ve got notes and everything, but if you could just make it into a coherent whole or whatever?”
He was dying and he knew it, and he STILL couldn’t stop thinking about Hazel. I mean, seriously, how freaking great is that? So yes, I cried the whole time as Hazel read what Gus so eloquently wrote to Van Houten about her.
You guys may or may not remember that I rank all the books I read. The books from the Amazon list rank as follows: Anne Frank is #1, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is #22, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is unranked, and this one comes in at #13 just behind The Hunger Games on my list.
Now if only I could find a girl who’s read this book, then maybe I might go see the movie.
Oh, and tell me Hazel Grace Lancaster isn’t the greatest name in the history of ever.
Dude. Not cool. I’m already too gullible for my own good.
And yes, Hazel’s name is pretty freakin awesome.
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You knew. I just checked a flight from here to Sao Paulo…$4000! Like I have anything like that working two days a week. Not to mention game tickets and then a flight to Europe. And then staying in different countries for two months. Yeah…no. We’re talking more money than I’ve probably made in my life.
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Me too. But seriously…. I need to not believe people. I’m too trusting, dang it, and it gets me in trouble. Or it gives other people another opportunity to laugh at me.
And what’s with all the lying lately??
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Oh be quiet. YOU KNEW! So I’m not laughing at you even if you did leave three comments on that post.
Well this one was planned a long time ago. I was always going to write it. The other one I just thought of the night before and wrote it. Don’t you dare call me a liar, Writerly Amy. I’ll revoke your nickname.
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I didn’t call you a liar. As you so poetically put it a while ago… Everybody lies. That doesn’t make you a liar. I’m just curious why you’re doing posts like that.
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Come on. Would you rather me be serious all the time?
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No. Definitely not. I’ve just never thought to do a post like that. Maybe I’ll try it sometime. Hmm… Thinking of the possibilities.
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Well now I won’t believe it. So good job.
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You never know! Maybe I’m an awesome liar.
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Not a chance. I know you all too well by now.
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Haha!!! Or do you??? 😛
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I know you through your many stories. 🙂
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That’s very true. My stories probably broadcast who I am better than anything else. Speaking of which… You haven’t asked for one in a while.
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Exactly. Tell me one.
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Okay. This one happened a couple years ago, when I first started working as a PT. I was working in a hospital at the time, treating primarily people with neurological injuries and those in the ICUs.
One of the occupational therapists and I were going to see a patient who’d had a traumatic brain injury. That changes people dramatically. We walk in and try to get him to participate with therapy, but he was being difficult. I don’t remember what insult he threw at the OT, but he looked at me and said, “Damn, you’re ugly!”
I had to hold back my laugh. But I let loose when we left. Hahaha!!! And I wore scrubs everyday, not the most flattering attire, so I couldn’t argue too much. Too funny…
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Hmm. I literally tell myself something eerily similar everyday in the bathroom mirror. My hair is crazy long and every time I tell myself to get a haircut, I then tell myself that no one cares about my appearance. Haha. Cause it’s true. Not even I do. I go to the gym everyday looking like I just got out of bed.
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Don’t say that about yourself!!
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Eh. I do all the time.
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I’m not going to deny that I do this occasionally, as well, Wordsmith, but we really shouldn’t. It only breaks us down, it doesn’t build us up. And there’s enough in this world that does that already, so why should we add to it?
Jeez, listen to me. I’m getting philosophical in my old age.
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Oh please. I’m not a girl.
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I didn’t say you were. Jeez. I’d tell anybody that. Including guys. And I have.
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Bodybuilder over here. I don’t care about my face. My legs more than anything.
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Bahahahahaha!!!!! Not your arms, too??
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Nope. They just grow and grow. My legs don’t.
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Well, that’s a bummer. For a bodybuilder.
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Indeed.
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I just read this too! I read it on the plane to Fiji, which was a horrible idea because I cried for the second half of the book. I thought it was amazing that Augustus was able to deal with his imminent death so calmly, and that he put Hazel first. HOWEVER (because I love to be the devil’s advocate), I think it was a bit unrealistic that people so young, who knew each other for such a short period of time, had such a phenomenal love. I do not believe that’s realistic. I think that infatuation can happen that quick, especially in teenagers. I really liked that Hazel learned about love and how love influences loved ones in times of tragedy, but I would have found this story so much more believable if they had been in their twenties or thirties. But, then again I am not a romantic.
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Well of course. It’s fiction. Doesn’t have to be 100% real. No one wants to read fiction that could be any random person’s actual life. At least I don’t.
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True.. I was expecting a brilliant debate about this topic, but I guess I’m going to have to be disappointed.
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No debate. People don’t fly across the world to know what happens after a book ends. And Gus literally doesn’t exist. And the timetable for everything is wildly short. The only thing I’ll say is that it’s unfair to say that teenagers can’t be in love. I know like 99% care only about physical appearance, but to say they can’t wouldn’t be correct in my eyes.
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Haha I guess maybe 1 out of a million are but I’ve never seen it
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But yeah I see your point! I rescind my negative comments
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Which means I win.
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I picked it out from a bookstore at random and instantly fell in love with the story. Definitely a must-read. Good Post.
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I read it. Loved it. Cried the last 100 pages. My vision was so blurry I couldn’t finish. I read it in one sitting. Couldn’t put it down. I agree with everything about this book from your post 🙂
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I cried the last ten and you cried the last 100? Stop being a girl. Haha
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Yup sure did. It was such a brilliant read. It’s the first time in a long time the characters in a book felt real to me.
And no, I will not haha.
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They were real in the fictional sense of the word. Hazel, yes. She could be a real person right now. Gus, not so much. He was too perfect. Maybe we disagree, but that’s what I think.
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Yeah I think we can disagree. I thought Gus felt just as real. Perhaps having that second chance at life which made him appreciate everything. The part that got me in both the novel and movie was when he called her stranded at the gas station. I don’t know why, but that’s when my tears really started flowing.
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I obviously haven’t seen it yet. Sooo let’s not mention it again. Kay? Thanks. Hahaha
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Thanks for the review. I have been meaning to read the book, but was wondering if it would live up to its hype. Great review!
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It’s a great book. And it’s only the fourth YA book I’ve ever read. I may get some of his other ones. Maybe.
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I read the book and I will go see the movie… maybe tomorrow! Generally I’m worried that the movie will suck compared to the book but I hear good things about this one!
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Hm. I tend to think that great books transition well on to screen. It’s the bad ones that usually don’t. So I’m sure it’s pretty good. Probably great.
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I think my biggest problem with books to movies is with casting….there are characters I love in the books but I don’t feel like the actor was the right choice for them. I end up liking most of the movies I see that have been made from books I’ve read…I just love the books more.
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Well Shailene Woodley is pretty great. I read the book with her as Hazel.
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I read the book quite a long time ago, but from the preview I have seen I think she is the perfect Hazel Grace Lancaster.
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I don’t know anyone else cast so I can’t form an opinion until after I see it. If I do.
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I haven’t read the book yet, but all my friends are urging me to. I did, though, go and see the midnight premier (which wasn’t at midnight!). It was really good but sad. (The entire theater was hysteric and I had no idea what was going on, due to my lack of reading the book.)
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You should read it. That’s all.
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[…] other quick example. I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I thought it was a great book, but it doesn’t mean I’m suddenly going to […]
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I’m so glad you enjoyed it. You’ve probably seen the movie by now but it definitely lives up to the book. I’m really happy you thought it lived up to expectations but I read it about a year ago and now that everyone is talking about it, it doesn’t seem as good due to all their exaggerations. I only have one problem; it should definitely come before ‘The Hunger Games’ 🙂
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No. At no point during or after reading it did I think it was better. There was no “I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute.” moment. Or any of the other things that were great in The Hunger Games. The best part of The Fault in Our Stars was the last four or five pages.
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It might not have “I volunteer!” But it had “I do, Augustus. I do.” And the best part may have been the last four or five pages but those four or five pages made me feel things that a) I didn’t even know I was capable of feeling and b) ‘The Hunger Games’ could never make me feel
So, I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree
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[…] first Harry Potter book, I thought it was pretty good, but I wasn’t moved by anything. I read The Fault in Our Stars, an even better book, but I wasn’t moved by it. And of course I’ve read Anne Frank. […]
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[…] have this book ranked #14 on my list of the best books I’ve ever read. Here’s the post I wrote about it earlier this […]
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