This novel is about Hazel, who is suffering from thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs. At her cancer support group, she meets a boy named Augustus, who is in remission from osteosarcoma in his leg. The two get to know each other as they help their mutual friend Isaac deal with the loss of his vision from his own cancer diagnosis, and they eventually begin dating. Their big adventure through the novel is traveling to Amsterdam to meet the eccentric author of a book that Hazel has come to love dearly. While the plot is fairly simple, it is an engaging read about how these teenagers deal with how to live life and enjoy it when struggling with a likely terminal cancer diagnosis.
I really enjoyed the book and found it to be an engaging read (though it did take me a little while to get into it). It's not overly challenging, and the author has a unique voice. It also deals with the sad, real-life issues our students tend to like reading about. I worry that it will not be as popular with boys as it is, at heart, a love story, and that students may have trouble connecting with the characters. There is also a fair amount of profanity that seems a bit gratuitous (as compared, for example, to the profanity in If I Stay). Of the books I've read, it's probably not the best choice, though it's not terrible. I would certainly encourage students to read it!
I just finished "The Fault In our Stars" and - except for the sometimes precocious, overly clever [think sitcom laugh track] dialogue, and the profanity, as Ms. Handley mentioned - it's a good story. It's also a profoundly sad story. It is a really beautiful love story between two unlikely characters, sick teenagers, Hazel-Grace and Gus. The families of each are also presented in a rather unflinching light, which is refreshing. This is not a sentimental, sick-kid story. The protagonists both have pitiless approach to their illnesses which is also weirdly refreshing but difficult. The story contains an interesting allusion to the disembodied eyes of T. J. Eckleburg, a motif in "The Great Gatsby," which tends to drive students crazy, as well as a kind of meta-analysis on a reader's relationship to fiction (by way of the van Houten novel), which is how readers tend to think of fictional characters as "real." Both of these threads are interesting but might be lost on the student who is only interested in a straight forward reading of the plot. Arguably the most controversial part of the story might be Gus's attempt to lose his virginity before he dies, which is not vulgar at all but could make some parents uncomfortable. On balance, I'd give the book a thumbs up!
This novel is about Hazel, who is suffering from thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs. At her cancer support group, she meets a boy named Augustus, who is in remission from osteosarcoma in his leg. The two get to know each other as they help their mutual friend Isaac deal with the loss of his vision from his own cancer diagnosis, and they eventually begin dating. Their big adventure through the novel is traveling to Amsterdam to meet the eccentric author of a book that Hazel has come to love dearly. While the plot is fairly simple, it is an engaging read about how these teenagers deal with how to live life and enjoy it when struggling with a likely terminal cancer diagnosis.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the book and found it to be an engaging read (though it did take me a little while to get into it). It's not overly challenging, and the author has a unique voice. It also deals with the sad, real-life issues our students tend to like reading about. I worry that it will not be as popular with boys as it is, at heart, a love story, and that students may have trouble connecting with the characters. There is also a fair amount of profanity that seems a bit gratuitous (as compared, for example, to the profanity in If I Stay). Of the books I've read, it's probably not the best choice, though it's not terrible. I would certainly encourage students to read it!
I just finished "The Fault In our Stars" and - except for the sometimes precocious, overly clever [think sitcom laugh track] dialogue, and the profanity, as Ms. Handley mentioned - it's a good story. It's also a profoundly sad story. It is a really beautiful love story between two unlikely characters, sick teenagers, Hazel-Grace and Gus. The families of each are also presented in a rather unflinching light, which is refreshing. This is not a sentimental, sick-kid story. The protagonists both have pitiless approach to their illnesses which is also weirdly refreshing but difficult. The story contains an interesting allusion to the disembodied eyes of T. J. Eckleburg, a motif in "The Great Gatsby," which tends to drive students crazy, as well as a kind of meta-analysis on a reader's relationship to fiction (by way of the van Houten novel), which is how readers tend to think of fictional characters as "real." Both of these threads are interesting but might be lost on the student who is only interested in a straight forward reading of the plot. Arguably the most controversial part of the story might be Gus's attempt to lose his virginity before he dies, which is not vulgar at all but could make some parents uncomfortable. On balance, I'd give the book a thumbs up!
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