The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (2012)
This book hardly needs talking about. Certainly no summary is needed. Despite the hype and the accolades, I’m still not sure I understand the appeal here. Like every other John Green book there are overly intellectual characters pondering the universe and trying to find meaning in it. Because these characters both have cancer there is also the inevitable pall of death hanging over the novel.
The story is interesting in its own way. There is a fun thread about loving, truly loving a book. There is romance. There are grand gestures. There are also unconvincingly intellectual teens who are shockingly self-aware (which, I feel, is likely not a side effect of dying no matter how literary a book it might make).
I’m just not sure why all of that added up to making this book a huge phenomenon. Maybe that’s my fault. Maybe it’s because the hospital scenes and the illness hit too close to home. Maybe it’s because I really hated that Isaac is blind for most of the novel but is never shown learning to use a cane or travel on his own.
This book sells itself and you’ve probably already read it. If you have, maybe you can explain the appeal to me.
Miss Print 