So I’m going to add my mustard (funny German saying isn’t it? Seinen Senf dazu geben… it just means adding your own opinion when discussing something!) to the humongous pile of reviews for this lovely book.
I do call myself a member of Nerdfighteria so of course I had to pre-order this book as soon as possible. I got it on the day it was released yet, possibly because I live in Germany, most probably because fate decided it doesn’t like me, it wasn’t signed đ„ never mind though, I bought the book because I really like J.G.’s books and because I wanted to read it, signed or not đ
It took me 1 1/2 days to read it but only half a day to completely fall in love with it. So I decided to write a little review for whom it might concern đ
The Plot (spoiler free):
16-year-old cancer patient Hazel is regularly forced to visit a support group at her local church by her parents because they fear that she might be depressed. There she meets Augustus Waters who is accompanying his friend Isaac who is suffering from a rare form of eye cancer. He himself conquered bone cancer in his leg and had to have it amputated but he has been “clear” for a year when he meets Hazel. He is very outgoing and he and Hazel Grace, as he likes to call her, soon become best friends after he invites her to watch “V for Vendetta” at his house. In return she tells him about her favorite book “An Imperial Affliction” by Peter Van Houten, that is like a bible to her.
Throughout the book they get to know each other better and start dating, they go through cancer treatments together and try to find out more about the mysterious Peter Van Houten.
My opinion (SPOILERS!):Â
I absolutely love this book. I think it handles the whole Cancer Issue very well, especially the mentality of the main character Hazel. The relationship between Hazel and Gus seems very realistic and John Green managed to both tell the story from a girls point of view as well as writing a very appealing male character extremely well. Amsterdam sounds very lovely the way it is described and it is also very accurate, I’ve been there quite often myself đ
There are lots of emotional highs and lows, especially the end was very touching (believe me, I was in school when I read the whole Augustus-cancer bit and his death and for me it was really sad but I couldn’t let it show in the middle of the school so I didn’t say anything but on the inside I was breaking up…).
I don’t usually read quotations at the beginning of books and I didn’t with this one so I went through the whole book thinking “Oh I would love to read “An Imperial Affliction” and then when I finished the book I went back to the start and BAM there it was, A whole quote from AIA đ Loved that little detail!
I find it really difficult to voice anything that I didn’t like about the book…Â Nope, I really can’t. So now you’re asking yourself: “This girl seems to really like this book and it does seem quite interesting, shall I read it?”
And the answer is YES, you will not regret it one bit!
Trivia: I loved that this book was dedicated to Esther Earl. I hope they have a decent bookshop up in heaven so that she gets the chance to read it. And if you don’t know who Esther is, research her and be amazed at the fantastic person that she was. This Star Won’t Go Out!
DFTBA
xx
By the way, if you want to have a sneak peek into the book, here is the author John Green, reading the first chapter! Enjoy đ
Lena's Little World 