Book : The Fault in our stars
Author : John Green
My Rating: * * (2/5)
I do not know if the oh so conspicuous NY bestseller thingy had something to do with the weird sense of reading a very mediocre novel that i felt post reading. Plus, recently the adopted screenplay came in the form of a movie and that ultimately motivated me to pick this up from the stands. Generally I do not go with this genre as I always feel that I have already read so many of these prototypes and it would be only sheer good luck to find something new from it. But then why people are going so crazy over a possible "A Walk to Remember" rip off? I was sure it was not more than that. Oh hell, let's find out, I thought.
So, this one is about a girl Hazel Grace who is a cancer survivor and still needs to be looked after by her super-caring mother and moves around dragging oxygen cylinders in a cart. She is the one narrating and probably her style, wit and weirdness are the highs of the novel. In one of her Support Group sessions she meets this blue-eyed boy "Gus" and starts liking him as basically he is just too hot. Not charismatic or anything, but just hot. He is also a survivor and has long one of his legs in the process but apparently is NEC (No evidence of cancer) for several months. Going forward, ahh..whats the damn point. We know this shit right. We remember this familiar walk of life, don't we?
Yes Yes, they fall in love. Both want to avoid each other so as to bear them the pain of separation as both are very fragile and the cancer can relapse anytime. But then love is not something you can manage and make it dance on your whims and fancies. It has it's own destiny. And in time we do realize that these smallest of moments spent with those we love stay forever, even if we don't, even if they don't. And we are ready at any point of time to trade a long luxurious lunatic life with this ephemeral love affair. Oh yes, we can live with the memories all right. But dear Mr. Green, this is not something new dude, we know this. Perhaps even the people of Mesopotamia knew this shit.
The author introduces the a new angle of this elusive author and his one-time hit book to possibly bring something novel. It sounds interesting at the first place and then you expect that this has something to do with this story. You start to imagine all the interpolations possible but end up really disappointed. Yes Yes, there is some wit scattered here and there but it's not much. Not enough to impress or anything. Plus, there are certain sections in the novel which are just flow-breakers. The description of two people playing a video-game would hardly interest even an all time gamer when he is trying to read a book staying away from gaming. Ahh, ironies of life.
The characters are also kind off weird and not the kind people would fall for. Very mediocre sorts of writing I would say. Overrated to be precise. The style has no unique feature or signature about it. Just another novel with a "bestseller" tag. Probably a result of good marketing. Surely not good writing.
At the end, after reading this, it feels that there was some fault in my stars that i picked it up!
Author : John Green
My Rating: * * (2/5)
I do not know if the oh so conspicuous NY bestseller thingy had something to do with the weird sense of reading a very mediocre novel that i felt post reading. Plus, recently the adopted screenplay came in the form of a movie and that ultimately motivated me to pick this up from the stands. Generally I do not go with this genre as I always feel that I have already read so many of these prototypes and it would be only sheer good luck to find something new from it. But then why people are going so crazy over a possible "A Walk to Remember" rip off? I was sure it was not more than that. Oh hell, let's find out, I thought.
So, this one is about a girl Hazel Grace who is a cancer survivor and still needs to be looked after by her super-caring mother and moves around dragging oxygen cylinders in a cart. She is the one narrating and probably her style, wit and weirdness are the highs of the novel. In one of her Support Group sessions she meets this blue-eyed boy "Gus" and starts liking him as basically he is just too hot. Not charismatic or anything, but just hot. He is also a survivor and has long one of his legs in the process but apparently is NEC (No evidence of cancer) for several months. Going forward, ahh..whats the damn point. We know this shit right. We remember this familiar walk of life, don't we?
Yes Yes, they fall in love. Both want to avoid each other so as to bear them the pain of separation as both are very fragile and the cancer can relapse anytime. But then love is not something you can manage and make it dance on your whims and fancies. It has it's own destiny. And in time we do realize that these smallest of moments spent with those we love stay forever, even if we don't, even if they don't. And we are ready at any point of time to trade a long luxurious lunatic life with this ephemeral love affair. Oh yes, we can live with the memories all right. But dear Mr. Green, this is not something new dude, we know this. Perhaps even the people of Mesopotamia knew this shit.
The author introduces the a new angle of this elusive author and his one-time hit book to possibly bring something novel. It sounds interesting at the first place and then you expect that this has something to do with this story. You start to imagine all the interpolations possible but end up really disappointed. Yes Yes, there is some wit scattered here and there but it's not much. Not enough to impress or anything. Plus, there are certain sections in the novel which are just flow-breakers. The description of two people playing a video-game would hardly interest even an all time gamer when he is trying to read a book staying away from gaming. Ahh, ironies of life.
The characters are also kind off weird and not the kind people would fall for. Very mediocre sorts of writing I would say. Overrated to be precise. The style has no unique feature or signature about it. Just another novel with a "bestseller" tag. Probably a result of good marketing. Surely not good writing.
At the end, after reading this, it feels that there was some fault in my stars that i picked it up!
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