From the Bookshelf of ~Can't Stop Reading~…

The Fault in Our Stars

John Green

Start date: April 1, 2014

Finish date: May 1, 2014

Discussion: Current Group Reads

Why we're reading this: Regular April group read.
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last updated Nov 25, 2014 02:05PM

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What Members Thought

Jan 12, 2012 Stephanie *Eff your feelings* rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2012, ya

Cancer sucks.

A fact John Greene lays out well in The Fault in our Stars, a story about two teens one terminally ill, Hazel Grace, and another, Augustus Waters who is in remission. Hazel has thyroid cancer which has metastasized into her lungs. All looks as if she is about to die when they try an experimental (and entirely fictional) drug that has only works in about 20% of cancer patients, and she ‘s one of them. It buys her time, the length of which no one knows.

Augustus is a survivor of Osteos Cancer sucks.

A fact John Greene lays out well in The Fault in our Stars, a story about two teens one terminally ill, Hazel Grace, and another, Augustus Waters who is in remission. Hazel has thyroid cancer which has metastasized into her lungs. All looks as if she is about to die when they try an experimental (and entirely fictional) drug that has only works in about 20% of cancer patients, and she ‘s one of them. It buys her time, the length of which no one knows.

Augustus is a survivor of Osteosarcoma , a cancer of the bone and is shy a leg to show for it.

Hazel Grace stays home most of the time. Her parents are her best friends and she reads the same book over and over. Concerned, Hazel’s mother forces her to go to a support group for kids with cancer, to get out and make some friends. Usually, she finds group lame, but this time Augustus Waters is there. He’s “hot”, and blatantly stares her down……..which she doesn’t mind because of the hotness and all. She’s surprised by his attention because of her chipmunk cheeks (medication side effect) and her oxygen tank.

But life often turns on a dime.

Augustus wants to dive right into a romance, but Hazel puts him off a bit. She won’t agree to see him again until he reads An Imperial Affliction , or AIA, her favorite book (my kind of gal). AIA is about a teenage girl with cancer which famously ends mid sentence. It’s widely suspected that that means the girl dies right there in the middle of life, in the middle of a sentence, like we all do I suppose. But Hazel has questions about the rest of the characters in the book. It drives her bat shit, and there was never a sequel. (You can imagine her frustration if you read The Dark Tower series by Stephen King as it was released……very…..s l o w l y). So, the two of them decide they will get some answers even if they have to go to Amsterdam to find the author and torture it out of him!

This is a beautiful book. And you will probably cry……pretty sure. John Greene’s books always suck me in, I’ve read most of them, but this one is his best in my opinion.

In an interview with the author at the end of the audio book, they asked John what he wanted people to get from this book (other than cancer sucks). He said that he wanted people to understand that very sick people are still people, that they are not other, apart from healthy people. We tend to separate from the terminally ill because we don’t believe, or want to believe, that that could ever be us. But at the very bitter end (unless we go quick) it will most definitely be us, and we will still be who we always were……just moving a bit slower.
4.5 stars
...more

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Jan 29, 2014 Polina ♆ rated it really liked it

Shelves: filmed-novels, audio-books, young-adult, real-problems, 2014

Caution: This book is a side effect of dying!
Caution #2: Never ever read it in front of other people at least you are ok with other people seeing you crying or something, because... yeah... you will cry at least you're not human and has no feelings which I believe you are not!
The story is really good and I love the characters, but there were some things that I also find annoying. Like didn't they get together way too fast? I know that time is something that is always not enough in this situati Caution: This book is a side effect of dying!
Caution #2: Never ever read it in front of other people at least you are ok with other people seeing you crying or something, because... yeah... you will cry at least you're not human and has no feelings which I believe you are not!
The story is really good and I love the characters, but there were some things that I also find annoying. Like didn't they get together way too fast? I know that time is something that is always not enough in this situation, but still... This is one of those typical situation in which you wanna say "That will never happens in the real life for sure!" But you know what? I will like if it does. Because everyone deserve happiness no matter how little time that person has. So yeah... it doesn't seems so real, but I accept it because I wanna believe that beautiful things like that actually happens.
The only things that I found really annoying was those repeated sentences - as if one or two times wasn't enough for me to remember them. I know that repeating is one of the method to remember something, but really? After the 3ed or 4th time it got really nerving. And this thing with the names - "Just Hazel"... "Hey, just Hazel"; "Hazel that's not Monica" - "Hey, Hazel that's not Monica!" I guess that's some kinda pattern that the author like using, but it felt as if it was there all the time. Sorry, but I'm not exactly fan of repeated sentences and writhing methods that have been used already somewhere in the book. The first thing makes me feel as if I'm so dumb that I apparently can't get the idea from the first and the second repeating so it has to be repeated like another 10 times. And the second one it makes me feel as if every single character has the same sense of humor no matter how old that person is. I got that the teens talking like that, but the parents also? I mean not only one of them say that, which is pretty cool and stuff, but like 3 different parents. Are they what - going together on some weird parenting club which teaching them how to be cool or something? No idea, but I don't really get it...
Aside from this the book is amazing and I think everyone who haven't read it yet - should! Touching! Breaking! Leaving part of itself in the reader! Don't hesitated - just read it!
...more

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Oct 07, 2014 Laura S rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A re-read. I have to say although I still love this book on the re-read I found I wasn't as overwhelmed as the first time and also did not cry, the first time I sobbed myself to sleep! I guess I knew what was to come really. Still amazing though and beautifully written. The humour and wit was really good and I enjoyed the language throughout ...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Gabby rated it really liked it

Shelves: have, young-adult, 2013-reads

So I kind of hate to say it but I really liked this book. It was by no means perfect and I'll probably re read it but it might end up on my favorites shelf. I cannot express just how much I hated "Looking for Alaska" but I feel John Green redeemed himself with this book.

I'm not much of a reviewer so this isn't really a review I guess but I enjoyed The Fault in our Stars very much and I think that if I had to choose one John Green book it would be this one. Granted I haven't read his others but ...more

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May 11, 2012 Nicole rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: july, fiction-read, young-adult, ya-2015, ya-2018, ya-2021, ya-best-of-the-best, favorite-all-time, indiana, read-four-times

Fourth read 2023:
Found even more appreciation and wonder in this amazing story.

Third read 2021:
I don’t recall crying the first two times I read this book. I cried this time. One of my favorite ya books of all time.

First read 2015:
Another surprise. I put this off for a long time figuring it would be another overrated book. It wasn't. John Green, at least in this one, lives up to the hype. Almost as good as Eleanor and Park but not quite. ...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Laura S rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This is a review I have written as part of my uni work so is slightly different to normal:

Book Review of ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ by John Green

I went into the staff room at work to check for any notices and thats when I saw the Boston blue shade of the cover amongst an array of unfamiliar books. My heart skipped a beat as I took in the sight of thousands of pages full of stories and excitement. I have an obsession. The smell of new paperbacks makes me giddy at the knees. The book somehow found ...more

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Aug 10, 2013 Swiftsea rated it really liked it

Shelves: heartfelt

It only took me 4 hours to finish this book today. The moment I picked it up, I could not put it down (excluding the need for occasional pizza slices). In the overall, it was easy to read and pulled a tear tug once or twice.

My rating for this book lies between 3 and 4 stars; but given my strong approval and liking for the characters in the book, I decided to give it a 4 star instead.

This review is to be edited further.

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Oct 19, 2016 Jen rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio-books, 2016

This is a super fast listen, so I'm assuming that it's a fast read. Fast, sad, happy, enjoyable, unfair, sweet, bittersweet, and so much else. I absolutely loved Hazel and Gus. So much. As a mother, this was pretty hard to listen to because it's all about kids fighting cancer. No parent should have to watch their child fight any battle with cancer, much less a losing battle. This was tough and gut-wrenching. That being said, I was left wanting so much more. More life, more story. The narrator wa ...more

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Jan 21, 2012 Olympia rated it it was amazing

This book was beautiful. But be aware it must be read with a box of tissues. Worth every page, a reader will begin and not be able to put this book down until it's finished. ...more

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