The Fault in Our Stars, Revisited

Courtesy of Better Book Titles

This is long overdue for a proper re-review, even if I never reviewed it in the first place to begin with. There are vague spoilers, although you probably know what they are.

I've always been critical of popular things, and typically avoid them. Especially if they are teenaged things. It just isn't really for me, I've discovered in this roudabout experiment I've undertaken this year. I had always avoided the teen section because I was really not a fan of romance and I was also in middle school at the time and felt a bit alienated from YA. After entering high school I was so busy I didn't have as much time to read...and also didn't know what I should read. Eventually I wanted to reconnect with the book world, and this one seemed so popular and critically acclaimed (though honestly I don't know what made me really want to read it), so I started with it, unofficially beginning my "YA experiment" which has practically ended except for the occasional snarky review or analysis.

Now, as this predated my reviews I didn't really read this critically, and the same goes for Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns, though I can confidently say this was the only one to really make an impact on me. That said, it was not something I was interested in reading again, even in the long run. And I think that's crucial. It had impact, but nothing I really wanted to continue to savor.

What The Fault in Our Stars was rally about to me was what I deemed to be the central theme: the inevitability of death. For me, it wasn't about teenagers or even teenagers with cancer (no offense). In fact, I've argued that they're functionally adults. It's really best if you read it as a life on fast-forward about two people who love each other and death inevitably comes. That line about how her parents knew the same thing would be coming to them? Yeah.

Because the thing is, if it isn't read this way (and I'm in doubt as to whether the majority of fans do), the most common criticisms are absolutely true. The philosophical discussions are not only out of place in teenagers (and I say this as someone who has always been surrounded by "nerds") but most people. Teenagers also don't perfectly fall into relationships like this...as John Green has said multiple times on his website. (Because yet another interesting thing to talk about with TFiOS is how it's Green's book to deal the least with awkward teen relationships and worldviews, and yet it's the most popular.) Chapter 1 had me rolling my eyes because of their instantaneous meeting, but I had never really read a romance novel before so I figured they had to get that part over with instead of building things slowly as they got to know each other (something I find more realistic and relatable).

Hazel and Gus weren't really characters to me. Their relationship did not have anything that made it unique, or anything that gave a reason for the particular two of them to be together. And Gus does fall into many YA/etc boyfriend tropes that I just don't find attractive, and that quite frankly alienate me. Yeah, it's subverted in some ways as he degrades, and I wouldn't want to be in Hazel's position. Honestly, I cried for the last 100 or so pages after the twist, but it wasn't because "oh no poor Gus, I've grown so attached to his character." It was "oh no, what if something like this is in my future?"

It isn't necessarily a story of a relationship for me. Nor one about cancer, or teenagers. So really, I don't belong in its sphere of influence. I think John Green has some good ideas about teenage relationships and teenager stories, but this is the only book that it really came together for me, and it's not even the one about how teenage sexuality is awkward or the one about why you shouldn't think of people as more than people. This one isn't revolutionary. It has some good jokes and musings, avoids the teen boy speak I just don't connect with, and meant something personal to me when I read it. But almost in a superficial way. It wasn't like other books I've loved, where I knew why the theme connected with me. This one just connected with me because it was a very real and painful thing, but something about it just doesn't feel real.