Must be signed in and friends with that member to view that page.

From the Bookshelf of The Reading Challenge Group…

The Fault in Our Stars

John Green

Start date: March 1, 2014

Finish date: March 31, 2014

Discussion: Group Read Archive 2014-16

Why we're reading this: YA/Genre Group Read - March 2014
[close] YA/Genre Group Read - March 2014

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 139 topics — 2,834 comments total

Group Read Archive 2014-16

Genre Group Read (Humour) - December 2016 - You Are Not So Smart
By Allison , Quest Hound · 11 posts · 30 views

last updated Dec 28, 2016 04:05PM

Alternate Group Read (Classics) - December 2016 - Mansfield Park
By Allison , Quest Hound · 5 posts · 18 views

last updated Dec 04, 2016 09:34AM

showing 10 of 35 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jul 04, 2014 A B rated it it was ok

Shelves: never-read-again, pretentious-crap

Dang. That's the first Manic Pixie Dream Boy I have encountered in a book.

I cannot figure out why this book is so popular and highly rated. Perhaps it's guilt for disliking a book about kids with cancer? A scene that takes place at one of the most somber places on the planet is so disrespectful and cruel that I cannot understand why John Green, his editors, or his publishers permitted it to go to print. Perhaps it was ignorance or perhaps it was deliberate; if it was the latter, allow me to give Dang. That's the first Manic Pixie Dream Boy I have encountered in a book.

I cannot figure out why this book is so popular and highly rated. Perhaps it's guilt for disliking a book about kids with cancer? A scene that takes place at one of the most somber places on the planet is so disrespectful and cruel that I cannot understand why John Green, his editors, or his publishers permitted it to go to print. Perhaps it was ignorance or perhaps it was deliberate; if it was the latter, allow me to give them a big FUCK YOU right here (pardon my language).

So, take perpetually snarky Hazel, a teenage girl with thyroid cancer that's devastated her lungs. Make her attend a cancer support group. Make sure she mocks it as much as possible. Have her get cranky with her parents for - gasp - being sad that she's sick. Now throw in the obligatory Cute Boy who rescues her with witty dialogue, but let's give it a twist - make him a MPDB and have cancer, too!

Hazel and Gus have pseudo-intellectual conversations that sound narrated right out of late 1990s teen drams on the WB. Who cares? The only parts that I feel the book got right were Hazel and Gus's parents' grief, and the wretched unfairness that cancer brings to a minor character named Isaac. That's why I can hold my nose and give the book 2 stars instead of 1.

I have been to the (view spoiler) and found it to be a devastating but important experience. As I was reading that scene in the book, I remembered that the most emotional part of the visit was (view spoiler). Then I turned a page and found that's right when Hazel and Gus decide to kiss. What a horrific, inappropriate, monstrous thing to do. The only physical affection appropriate would have been a brief hug or perhaps discreetly holding hands strictly as a sign of comfort to handle the emotional intensity of such a place. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 27, 2013 Melissapalmer404 rated it it was amazing

Book #10 Read in 2013
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (YA)

I knew this was a cancer book. I knew it would be an emotional read. What I didn't know was that I would love Hazel and Gus so much. These two were great characters. The pair meet at a cancer support group. Havel has cancer. Gus had cancer and lost a leg to it. The two connect at first through Issac, in the support group and Gus's friend. Issac is going blind from his cancer. Gus and Hazel have an immediate connection and they fall in ...more

Like · see review

Dec 04, 2012 Amity rated it it was amazing

Shelves: at-the-present

I was literally crying in the last chapters. John Green you are a genius. This book made me laugh, smile, and think of love at the beginning. The last part is just sad and I needed to cry. John Green is very much like the writer within his book. He left me wanting more. He left me wanting to know what happened to Hazel, Isaac, Monica, Hazel's family, the writer's assistant, the writer. Everyone. ...more

1 like · Like · see review