Mollie rated the book 11 on a scale of 1 - 10. I would give it a strong 9.
Basic premise: Hazel is a teenager with cancer. It's stage 4 thyroid cancer. Her life is centered around being sick. She attends a college class, and with her mother's insistence, she goes to cancer support group. She meets Augustus Waters (Gus) there and he immediately is smitten by her.
Hazel and Gus become involved, as friends and kind of boyfriend/girlfriend although that develops more throughout the story. Gus' cancer is in remission although he lost a leg to it. There's also a great friend Issac who has a rare form of cancer that claims his eyes (Isaac = eyes sick).
There's a strong subplot about a book called An Imperial Affliction that matters the world to Hazel.
I wasn't as into the thought of the book because dying teenagers aren't my cup of tea but this was about something else. It really was about understanding the universal terror of death and not leaving an imprint on the world.
It wasn't a sob-fest, both Mollie and I teared up but neither of us cried. It opened conversation and I really liked how it presented illness. Hazel and Gus both have had enough sickness and lost enough friends to the disease to have a wonderfully jaundiced view point about it.
These are not Love Story cancer patients.
I told Mollie to pick the next book we're going to read. Should be interesting.
Saw a preview for the movie the other day and got a little teary (I do that at previews). I kept it in mind as a possible 'to read book' and after this recommendation from y'all, it might just happen. Good luck with the next share.
ReplyDeleteI can see why Mollie rated this book so high. I didn't realize this was the book.
ReplyDeleteI remember the review of it on DA and now there's a movie which will probably be along the lines of Love Story and WILL make you cry, I bet.
I know death happens, is a part of living, but I've reached the time of life where it sort of looms over me; it'll happen soon enough for me so I'll stick to my HEAs.
But I'm glad Mollie is stretching her mind.
I was thinking about this and thought that there were a few other things I should have said.
ReplyDeleteMollie was really into the romance in the book and she's not a romance kind of girl so that was cool. She liked the tragedy and I think that she liked how the love was played out honestly. Hazel and Gus love each other but it's with the awareness that loving each other has only one ending and it's disaster.
Hazel will not live past her teenage years. She knows this. And she's hyper aware that she wants to leave as little damage as possible. Knowing that her parents will have to live through her death, as will Gus and any friends, it breaks her heart.
Gus, on the other hand, wants to make an imprint on the world and be remembered. It's a nice difference between the two and explored in a cool way.
Also, death isn't romantic. Nor is being sick. I like how they cut through the bullshit of the noble battle and the etherial patient.
I'm reading a book now called Fix You by Beck Anderson. The prologue deals with a wife suffering through her beloved dying. It's not radically indepth, but just enough that my eyes felt damp. The rest of the book, beginning with chapter one, is how she regains her life and a new love. It's also an older woman/younger man story. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI guess my point is that it's not necessarily the story per se, but the writing, the voice. I'm in a reading slump, lost count of how many books I've started and put back down, but this one caught my attention.
And so, contrary to my original post, I will probably give The Fault in Our Stars a try. Because everybody and every book needs a chance. ♥