genre: real life, cancer, humor, sadness (those are genres, right?)
rating: 7/8 tentacles
I don’t know what to say about this book except stupid vague things like “really really good” and “you should read it.”
This is John Green’s first novel told from a female perspective and done so quite successfully, in my opinion. Despite being about kids who have cancer, this book is not one of those melodramatic cancer-fighting-child-hero books. It is understated and sweet and personal. It’s funny. Although Hazel facetiously refers to herself as a professional cancer patient, the disease takes a backseat to her personality, her fears, and her desires. And then there’s Augustus Waters and Peter Van Houten and Amsterdam.
Augustus uses his Cancer Wish take Hazel on a trip to Amsterdam in search of Peter Van Houten, the author of An Imperial Affliction: Hazel’s favorite, but ambiguously concluded novel. It strikes me as sad that someone like Hazel has become fixated on a story that, for her, has ended too soon, when the threat of her own premature end has hung over her head for all the years of her illness. Growing up in hospitals and support groups will have introduced her to other cancer kids who didn’t make it and their mourning parents. Hazel’s entire world is built of stories ended too soon. It’s like her quest to find out what happens after the last page of the book is actually a quest for reassurance that stories don’t really end.
I think it’s safe to say that my reviews are generally full of complaints, but I don’t have a single complaint about this book. The characters are lovely, the writing is of high quality, and the story moves forward consistently. I felt connected to the characters and their lives as I read. I was made to care about them.
I read this book quickly because I was absorbed in the story and wanted to know what happened, but I’d like to read it again, a little more slowly, just to soak in the words.
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