This week's Pick is a psychedelically-hyped
novel by the fantastically-popular John Green.
And as it turns out, it was exactly what I
expected.
Writers often like to write what they know,
and John Green is no exception. In The Fault
in Our Stars, like every other John Green
novel, the author writes exactly what he knows:
namely, himself. His characters are hyper-intelligent,
irreverent, fast-talking, irony-loving guys
and gals, who just happen to sound like every
other character in every other one of John
Green's books.
The difference, in this novel, is that Hazel
and Augustus are cancer patients. But don't
worry. In spite of their pain, their pontifications
are always perfectly erudite—and deep, without
coming to any real conclusions.
Also present in this novel is the characteristic
road trip, and a whole lot of biting humor
that, though it definitely had me laughing
at times, never let me forget that what I
was reading was a cancer book.
I've enjoyed John Green in the past, quirks
and all, and still consider him to be one
of the best in the YA field. But this book
just didn't do it for me. Perhaps because
it's what I've come to expect from John Green,
with the added problem of cancer, which ended
up just feeling exploitative.
