Sunday, December 15, 2013

TOW #13 - The Fault In Our Stars Book Review by X. October


The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is about Hazel Grace Lancaster, a three-year stage IV-cancer survivor who meets and falls in love with Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor.

                X. October's book review shows exactly what he thinks of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green to his audience of young readers: not bad but not amazing either. As soon as he starts his review, he establishes credibility by acknowledging that he is a big fan of John Green and is a Nerdfighter* himself, which tells the audience that reviewer that he has a perfectly logical reason behind giving the book three stars out of five. X. October explains carefully that his main problem with John Green's book is that the characters are just not believable, and that the interaction between the main characters, Gus and Hazel, just would not happen between "real, emotional, scared, awkward, virgin teenagers, let alone ones with cancer who have been socially cut off for much of their lives" (X. October 2). The reviewer shows that there are many great elements in the book, but soon admits that the part in the book where a character flirts is "funny and witty and entertaining" but is also "the flirting of an experienced 25 year old" (X. October 2). Another main factor that prevented the reviewer from giving the book perfect five stars was that the main characters all had similar characteristics, same voice, thought pattern and high intelligence level as one person. Namely, John Green. X. October uses repetition at the end of the sentence to emphasize this point: "Hazel is John Green. Augustus is John Green. Hazel's mom and dad are John Green. Isaac is John Green." (X. October 3). The only good part of this is that "the person they are is an interesting person, which is why it's still a good book" but the book is still "just not the OMGOMGBESTBOOKEVER book that the 600+ 5-star reviews imply" (X. October 3). In conclusion, the reviewer believes that overall, The Fault in Our Stars is a great book, but lacks certain elements that can make it better. My Opinion? I believe that I need to read the book myself.


*Nerdfighteria is an internet subculture created by John Green and his brother Hank Green.

No comments:

Post a Comment