From the Bookshelf of Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
*
Challenge Tasks: the Complete List
By Book Riot · 1 post · 5295 views
last updated Dec 16, 2014 09:22AM
Free copy of Proximity Factor this July, no reviews required. Just enjoy.
By S.S. · 1 post · 9 views
By S.S. · 1 post · 9 views
last updated Jul 18, 2024 06:08AM
showing 4 of 4 topics
view all »
Other topics mentioning this book
*
Read Harder Challenge Plans: 2016
By Book Riot · 284 posts · 3115 views
By Book Riot · 284 posts · 3115 views
last updated Dec 19, 2017 10:57AM
Task #15: A one-sitting book
By Book Riot · 129 posts · 1790 views
By Book Riot · 129 posts · 1790 views
last updated Dec 02, 2018 12:06PM
Task 22: Read a book set in the Midwest
By Book Riot · 112 posts · 1455 views
By Book Riot · 112 posts · 1455 views
last updated Sep 10, 2021 11:03PM
What Members Thought
In the best possible way, some books devastate and strip you back to your bones. They make you cry great, shuddering sobs that come from some yawning abyss you don't know is there most of the time.
This was one of those books for me.
It hit close to home for me - the main character, Hazel, started off with thyroid problems (just like me) and then got better (just like me) and one of her favourite, life affirming poems is The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock (just like me).
Reading this book was li ...more
This was one of those books for me.
It hit close to home for me - the main character, Hazel, started off with thyroid problems (just like me) and then got better (just like me) and one of her favourite, life affirming poems is The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock (just like me).
Reading this book was li ...more
I had a lot of reasons to read this book. I love the Green brothers on youtube. This book is soon to be a movie. I wanted to have an opinion in the debate on whether John Green is really the most brilliant YA author of our time or if he is just benefitting from a lot of unearned privilege being a white male in a genre predominantly written by women.
Plus, it amused me to put a hold on a library book and be the 78th in line.
It will surprise no one to know that I cried and cried and cried. And whil ...more
Plus, it amused me to put a hold on a library book and be the 78th in line.
It will surprise no one to know that I cried and cried and cried. And whil ...more
With apologies to John Green, I fell in love with this book slowly, and then all at once. I was skeptical of the book's popularity and prepared to be cynical and hypercritical. I cannot be. The characters are smart, funny, thoughtful, kind, and memorable, and even the secondary characters, even the ones spouting platitudes, are to be loved for their honest humanness. There is a beautiful subplot involving the love of books. Cancer sucks. And this review is entirely incoherent because I am trying
...more
This story was perfectly told, sad but not at all self-pityingly so, it hit me like a ton of bricks. An honest examination of life, death, and their meanings by teenage cancer patients, with a focus on the philosophical. I truly, truly enjoyed it - & got so much out of it, even a new appreciation for literal and metaphorical stars.
This isn't a perfect book, despite all the hype. But even with the things that somewhat annoyed me (pretty unbelievable dialogue, lots of pithy quotes that sound profound but aren't necessarily, characters who come across as identical rather than just wooden, and a general tone of snarkiness), I allowed myself to be snookered. Hook. Line. Sinker.
The book made me laugh and cry. Sometimes at the same time. I knew I was being manipulated as a reader and just didn't care. It was a delightful read. ...more
The book made me laugh and cry. Sometimes at the same time. I knew I was being manipulated as a reader and just didn't care. It was a delightful read. ...more
Had I read this a year ago, it wouldn't have hit me so hard. And had I read it a year ago, I might not have been as frustrated as I am. But I'm torn between the aching experience of the loss of a young family member, and the Unfathomable wit and wisdom that always seem to adorn youth in times of the worst trauma in fiction.
I didn't always connect to the characters, that is, or the wrapping of the end (to be honest, I expected the story to end mid sentence, for we are the writers of any tale as ...more
I didn't always connect to the characters, that is, or the wrapping of the end (to be honest, I expected the story to end mid sentence, for we are the writers of any tale as ...more
Too hard to write this review through my tears. Read it and weep, literally.
If I were a young adult, I would rate this book 4 stars. As an adult who likes to read YA fiction, I can't give it more than a 3. The pretension was a bit much for my tastes. But I work with teenagers, and understand the magnitude of events in this time of their lives. John Green nails it, in that regard. What got me the most was the parent/child relationship, especially in the context of the terminal disease. As a parent, I found it heart wrenching to go through parts of the book.
...more
Intentionally avoided reading this for years because I don’t like crying over books as much as I used to. I worried it would be cheap in its sentimentality. Then a friend gave this to me as a Christmas present and I couldn’t help myself. Whew. I survived, but my reading experience was not without plentiful tissues. I’m still sorting out how to think about the sentimental aspects because—for me at this point in my reading life—thinking about feeling in a reading experience is entirely wrapped up
...more
Really lovely book. I look forward to re-reading. My motto is "Life is hard, and then you die." It's what happens at the comma that makes it a life.
...more
