I’m sorry to say that I did not go to a museum this week. Smithy training start next Saturday, back in the Castle, and I’ll be sure to detail a real museum post then. For now however, I will do a book review post I like to call “Metro Reads”.

If any of you have every been on the DC metro during rush hour, you’ll know that the metro is usually silent except for the sound of the wheels rolling along the rails and the conductor/intercom announcing the stops in between. This is because every single person in the car is either reading or listening to music; never talking. (This is also a good way of telling apart the tourists from the locals on the weekend. Are they talking? Yes? Tourist. No? Maybe tourist. Are they reading AND not talking? Definitely Local!) Whether it’s on a kindle, fancy schmancy Ipad, or just a real life book, DC peeps love reading on the train, because sometimes it can take an hour plus to get where you need to be. (My commute to the National Mall is about 35 mins.) The problem with reading on the train (besides motion sickness) is sometimes your book so good that you get incredibly engrossed into the story and then you look up and realize that you have just gone 4 stops past the stop you needed to get off at. (Oops!)

Well, last Friday I received a copy of The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green, and I would definitely not mind missing my stop on the metro in order to keep reading it.

The below review has no spoilers. Feel free to read.

If you don’t know who John Green is, he is a New York Times best selling author of young adult fiction and is also ½ of the vlogbrothers on Youtube (Don’t know about vlogbrothers? Look them up and thank me later). Now I was a fan of their vlogging work before I found out they were both coming to D.C. on their Tour de Nerdfighting to promote John’s latest book, but I had never read anything by him. Naturally after I bought tickets to the event, I went to the library to borrow two of his most notable works, Looking for Alaska and Paper Towns. Both were good (Paper Towns being better in my opinion), but both followed a similar format and pattern that I found to be interesting but not Wow-worthy (I will not reveal the pattern for fear of spoilers, but read the books and comment if you know what I’m talking about). Initially I figured that The Fault in Our Stars (abrv: TFioS) will follow that same pattern and style. Which is fine, many authors do that, ~*cough*~ Sarah Dessen and Nicholas Sparks ~*cough*~, but it doesn’t allow for much growth as a writer nor does it allow for followers to be surprised. TFioS however is both similar and yet very different from other things he has written, which allows it to surpass not just his prior books, but also my expectations.

Basically it’s about a teenage girl named Hazel, who has a terminal cancer but is still alive because of a miracle tumor-shrinking drug, and how she falls in love with a boy named Augustus; also living post cancer. The story is narrated by Hazel, and since she is in-between living and dying, she has spent a lot of time in hospitals pondering more than any teenager should about nonexistence. This fills her point of view (POV) with not only a bunch of philosophical what-is-the-meaning-of-life brain fodder but also a lot of sarcastic teenage humor. It’s very refreshing, because a lot of stories about cancer are just all tragedies. But after reading TFioS I felt many emotions from happy to sad, humorous, thought provoking, romantic, uplifting, hopeful, worry, ...etc. (ALL THE FEELINGS!!!!)

What makes this story great though is the fact that it’s not just another teen romance. The romance story is just a small part of it (about 45% maybe). It’s mainly a story about leaving your mark in the universe and the fear that your life is without a notable accomplishment; told by characters that are honestly truthful when it comes to death and human nature. These are very real fears and questions that have been explored in other literature for ages but are not often written about in the teen read genre (at least from what I’ve read). So while these are not “original themes”, the way it’s explored in TFioS feels new and original.

Prior John Green books also have philosophical thought provoking themes. However, the way he goes about using his characters to deliver his themes is different in TFioS. It’s less about the characters searching tirelessly for their answer in the form of a mystery, and more about searching for answers but then finding out there is no real answer and how they live with that. (“The world is not a wish-granting machine.”)

In my opinion, this is John’s best book so far (Apparently, this took about 10 years to put together. Practice makes perfect I guess!). He writes in a way that leaves you wanting to just keep flipping the pages because you feel like you actually know Hazel. Also the whole story is so honestly romantic and made me cry about 6 tears (That’s like a big deal for me. My Slytherin-y heartstrings were seriously tugged.).

John said that he wanted this book to feel a bit like an epic set in the real modern world. In the end, I do believe he accomplished that and that both Hazel and Augustus made a name for themselves in the universe by loving each other and not from fighting cancer (because they are not the type of people who become their disease). And like most epics, I think we can learn a lot from them about life.

Obviously, I highly recommend TFioS to anyone who enjoys good books and doesn’t have to be anywhere important while reading it. Because you WILL miss your metro stop with this one.

Metro Reads rating: ***** 5/5 stars

P.S. The book-signing event was GREAT and lot of fun. John and Hank are still on tour now so check to see if they’re coming to a town near you and if the event is sold or not. It’s most definitely worth your $5 + book price. 

P.S.S. I will do more Metro Reads Reviews in between my Museum posts so if you have advice and suggestions in regards to my writing about other people's writing and whatever, let me know in comments. (I appreciate all useful feedback.) Also, you may follow me on Goodreads in order to see what else I'm reading. http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5867630-elizabeth

 

P.S.S.S. Be jealous! :p