"The Faults in Our Stars" by John Green

The Faults in Our Stars, by John Green, is a book following Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16-year-old cancer survivor who meets the charming, witty and dashingly handsome Augustus Waters at her cancer support group. This book, which I have previously read, is consistently one of my favorite books of all time, refreshed in my mind as being a wonderful, powerful, charming, emotional book every time I read it. I read this book for book clubs, and one of the questions my club had before we started reading was, "What keeps the character motivated?" I thought this question was really important to the plot of the The Faults in Our Stars. Many of the characters are driven by each other, and mutual want of respect and love, in this book.

For instance, Hazel is driven by Gus to do more with her life. Hazel has a fine life before she met Gus, but Gus helped her live more. Augustus introduces the idea to her that she can go to Amsterdam to visit their favorite author, Van Houten, the author of An Imperial Affliction, a fictional book in the world of TFiOS. Gus introduces a new, exciting sort of energy into Hazel's life, someone who has been living for so long prepared to die, and energy that makes her want to live. I think this is also cause for Hazel not wanting to get too close to Gus, as she thinks that she'll just break his heart by dying, and that their time together, the new energy he brought to her life, will just go to waste. However, overall in the book, I think Gus motivates Hazel to do more with her life than she could have imagined to do otherwise.

The parents in this book are also driven by love for their children. The parents of these teenagers with cancer want to make their kid's live as good as possible, and they help them in so many amazing ways. Hazel's mom, for instance, almost organizes all of the trip to Amsterdam to make her daughter happy. Knowing that her daughter may die at any time also motivates Hazel's mother to take good care of Hazel, and try hard to make her daughter's life better. She wants her to go to cancer support groups to help Hazel with any problems she's having, she supports Hazel in her relationship with Gus, a near stranger, and goes to Amsterdam with Hazel just so Hazel can meet one of her favorite authors.

I think that in this book, the characters are also motivated by their wanting to have made an impact on people's lives. They want to be remembered, as all humans do. So many of the characters in this book are given such short strings on life, because of cancer, they want to make sure they are remembered for something other than cancer. Hazel and Gus often talking about philosophy, I think, is an ode to this, as they want to discover something more about the world. They want to know that they weren't just defined by their cancer, but by something else, something important, something that changed people. Gus, especially, has this want, as he comes into people's lives, such as Isaac, or Hazel, and just tries his best to make them better. As Gus says, "The marks humans leaves are too often scars." Gus doesn't just want to be a 'grenade' that left scars in people lives. He wants people to live as much as he wants to live, and he wants people to know that he wanted them to live. I think in the end, everyone wants that, but as people who were told from the beginning, "You will most likely die", to have that terrible weight on your chest most of your life, they want to know that people remember them not just as, "The girl with cancer."

This book tackles with so many issues, so many, deep, basic human wants and emotions, it's really hard to talk about only one of them. I'm sure I could write hundreds of essays on the different themes in The Faults in Our Stars. The characters in this book are one of my favorite parts of it, which is one of the reasons I chose to respond this question. They're so strong, so inspiring, and so lovin
g. Each one of them made whoever they touched a better person. They're each are so motivated to help others, and to help each other. The book deals with mortality and sacrifice and so many more issues in a relatable, unique, funny, heartbreaking way. The characters in this book are almost doomed from the moment we meet them. These characters, however, these amazing, strong characters, are able to do so much more good in the world. They're not just angry (Though they are a little angry,), they're curious, intellectual, understanding, and compassionate. None of them ever gave up, and I think that's pretty great.

Update 2: The Faults in Our Stars

**Spoilers!!**

I'm basically done with The Faults in Our Stars, or FiOS, but I thought I may as well extend these responses until I've used all the content I can and responded to it until basically the end of the year, because for some reason I just don't want to charge my Nook and start the Curse Workers series again.
Sigh.

Okay, so first of all, I would like to say that even when I first read this book, from the moment they left for Amsterdam and Gus and Hazel's mom were acting fishy, I knew that he was going to get cancer.
And die.

Oh, this still gives me a lot of emotions, but anyhow, I've not technically read this part of the book yet. So back to where I am, which is-- actually wait, yes, I'm right past the eulogy Hazel tells Gus at his pre-funeral. So, Gus, is, unfortunately, dead.

The pre-funeral is one of my favorite moments in the book, pretty much because of the eulogy. The eulogy shows how someone who always know that death is always impending on their lives, and that they are forever bonded with the dark thing that is death, because they almost experienced it, views the world. Hazel is shown to see the world, or at least after she met Gus, as many infinities. I believe this is because a moment is not valued by the amount of time it takes up, or by the money it took. It's by all the beautiful and wonderful things that happened in these moments that are infinite, because they change us as people and shape us forever.

These moments that Hazel spent with Gus, they obviously weren't chronologically infinite (that is almost definitely not the correct use of that word). But Hazel knows that their little infinity, their little moments that made Hazel more happy, that made Hazel want to live more, that made Hazel love more, was one of her favorite infinities, favorite memories, favorite feelings, and was one of the 'biggest' infinities in her life, one that changed it for the better.

This scene made me want to live my life to the fullest. I would love to find some dashing Augustus Waters to bring me to Amsterdam and change my life and outlook on this said topic, but I most likely will not. I have to make my own little infinities to make my life as good as possible, and have to try to like the infinities I already have.

Also, John Green is an amazing human being.

Update: The Faults in Our Stars

I recently began reading, The Faults in Our Stars by John Green (cough cough I am a huge nerdfighter.) ANYWAYS

This is by far one of my favorite books, ever. I have previously read this book, this amazing, deep, philosophical, emotional, touching book, and now I am reading it again for book clubs.

One thing I initially notice about reading TFiOS, as I'm rereading it, is that Hazel doesn't attempt to do very much with her life until Gus shows up. I mean, Hazel has the urge to do things, and wants and desires like everyone else, but I feel like Gus is really the one that enables her, makes her want to do these things that seem ridiculous and impossible beforehand, like meeting the author of An Imperial Affliction and going to Amsterdam.

One reason I think this is is because Hazel is more physically weighed down than Gus is, due to her oxygen tank, so it's a more constant reminder of how she will always be held back by cancer, and how cancer will be forever affecting her life. Gus, though cancer still obviously affected him in huge ways, Gus probably will sometimes forget that he has an amputated leg more than Hazel will forget that she has to drag around a metal tank with her all day.

NOT THAT I'M TRYING TO DISCREDIT amputees. That is, if possible, the exact opposite of what I'm trying to convey. I'm just pointing out, with Gus' dreamer and optimist personality, it's most likely more easy for him to forget his troubles than Hazel is, who has a more serious and down to earth personality, especially since he doesn't have as much trouble as Hazel, let's say, walking up stairs because of a tank he has to carry around.

Gah, this is just a mess. I feel like I'm offending everyone.

"Other Words for Love" by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal

**Spoilers!**

Other Words for Love, by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal, follows Ari, who after earning an inheritance from her Uncle, attends a prestigious Manhattan prep school. She encounters glamorous and rich new people, and even gets Leigh, her new friend. With Leigh comes her enchanting cousins, Delsin and Blake. While Delsin is a smooth, slightly creepy ladies man, Blake is a warm hearted and undeniably handsome. He charms Ari until she falls for him. After blissful weeks of going out, Ari is suddenly broken-up with by Blake-- and left in a heart-broken trance. Why? Ari risked everything for Blake? Was Ari wrong all along about Blake?

This book was kind of good. 

Great way to start a review.

 One thing I don't like is that the blurb is that at the end it says: "were their feelings true love... or something else?" Which immediately makes me think what? What else besides love? It leaves and open topic and readers questioning which blurbs are supposed to do, but in a stupid way. Anyways, after reading the book, you immediately know that it was love, not lust, or something more animal in desire than love that brought Blake and Ari together. 

Ari's struggle with the breakup is justified slightly by how Blake was her 'first love' and everything, I do think Ari was too obsessed with him.  I get it that she thought he was amazing and she really thought he was perfect, but every 'normal girl' (as Ari often says she is) knows that no boy is 'forever', and that you have to get over it. Ari literally could have changed the course of her life because one guy dumped her. She almost became a stay-at-home slouch who would be obsessed with Blake forever. Why would a smart girl like Ari fall so easily into that slump?

One explanation for the possible for this, however, is that Ari was not only enticed by the attractive boy, like Blake, but the lifestyle of his social class in general. They live in high rises, with fancy parties and classy suits, and have cool families and hip moms and go to private schools without needing a scholarship or their dead uncle's inheritance. This glitz and glam life most likely took Ari away from the life of a girl in Queens (or is it Brooklyn?), who has a middle class lifestyle with homely parents and a messed up family life. Also, a little more randomly, I feel like the 1980's setting ending up being less as important as it seemed in the beginning.

This book portrays girls as so weak, and so needy for love if they're not getting it that they will give up all their dreams for a guy. The actions of Ari, even after knowing Blake was just weak and couldn't stand up for himself, were unbelievable. She was lusting after him and crying for a guy who would appear unattractive, I think, to many girls, as he was someone who couldn't hold his ground and make life choices. The book also jumps back and forth around this theme, and shows these two sides with conflicting consistency.

I mean you have Leigh, who, however mistreated by Ari and Blake, was an immature character, and she was scarred by her boyfriends death, yet she didn't understand any of the other characters desire for affection.  The author makes some moments with the characters so relatable, but some moments so awkward that you feel like you have to take a step back from the book to really get what was going on.

I think the relationship between Summer and Ari is very interesting, however, and was one of the more believable and interesting parts of the book. It was a classic 'friends breaking up' type of plot, but that happens in real life all the time, and was relatable. Also, Summer's character, no matter how unbearable, did make the story more interesting for me.

I was about 50/50 with this book, in terms of how much I liked/disliked it. I thought the author kind of spewed out the end and went a little too far into 'the obsession' of Ari with Blake. She made the characters too weak to believe. That bothered me. I like a book with strong characters with believable flaws that I can relate too. I wouldn't whine over a boy for a summer just because he broke up with me. I would probably mostly be angry, as Blake literally ruined Ari's future. 

"It's Not Summer Without You" by Jenny Han

**Spoilers!**

(I also read this book before, and decided to read it again.)


It's Not Summer Without You, by Jenny Han, is about Belly, or Isabel, is in her last year of high school. After her mother's best friend, and one of her best friends, Susannah, died of breast cancer, her life hasn't been the same. Her mother is breaking under the stress as executor of Susannah's will, and doesn't have any grieving time on her own. Belly's brother is far away, off at college, and almost non-existent in their current life. Her secret escape, Susannah's beach house, is now a memory, and Belly is dreading the summer without her time with her brother, mother, Susannah and Susannah's sons, Conrad and Jeremiah. To make matters worse, Conrad, the boy Belly has loved for forever, has broken up with her, and is detached and alone, not even talking to her, and dumping her right when Susannah died, when she needed him the most. But when Belly's told by Jeremiah Conrad is gone, she goes to find him without hesitation, and ends up at the beach house. This is her last chance to save her relationship with Conrad and finally come to terms with the death of the person that brought them all together. 

This book was pretty good, but it wasn't as good as I remember. It was still better than the last book, The Summer I Turned Pretty. The book is well written, like the last book (tip off the hat to Jenny Han). The whole story is well formulated, the characters are believable, the love story is sigh worthy, and it has a nice, neat love triangle to top the story off.

These are also all very basic and well worn tools by authors of YA romance books.

The character set up and development, thought predictable, are very nicely written. It's a very straightforward book in theme and plot, but the little details, as in the last book, make me like it so much. I love, strangely enough, the 'annoyingness' (no better word) of Belly after her breakup with Conrad, and after Susannah's death. She tries to use guilt to get what she wants, and find excuses for what I must say so myself, is terrible behavior. Also I liked how other characters (such as Taylor) react by getting mad at her, and not forgiving her. The holding grudges, obsessing, depression, whining, and just emotions of this book is what makes this a very believable book. The ways the characters interact have a lot to do with this, and it made the book a lot more enjoyable to read, in my opinion.

Many of the themes in this book are really cheesy. The brother love triangle, the way the brothers fight over Belly, the unrealistic things the people will do for love, all things that sometimes ruin a so far romance book for me. Even the classic beach cover with attractive girl with windblown hair is fairly overused. 

Reading this book again made me realize that many of the parts of the book that I loved last year made me a little queasy this year, and weren't as creative as I thought before. Though I obviously realized this book wasn't a greatest book ever, and that many plot points had been used before, it was just harder to enjoy when I realized it was glaringly obvious what would happen, not just because I had already read the story.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book, and thought it balanced sappiness and real-life emotions. Jenny Han has a very specific writing type, and has a talent for books such as these, teenager-y romance plots involving summer romances. Her books are a guilty pleasure of mine, and I would be interested in reading the rest of this series.

"Why We Broke Up" by Daniel Handler (Illustrations by Maira Kalman)

**Spoilers!**


Why We Broke Up, by Daniel Handler is the story of young love, and probably more importantly, young heartbreak.

The story follows 'artsy' Min, and jock-ish Ed Slaterton as they go out.

...

That's one of the reasons I didn't exactly like this book.

I mean, the book itself was very well written, and I loved a lot of the beautiful moments in the book. Some of Min's lines from her letters, or her narrations I suppose, were seemingly simple, but entirely gorgeous. Many of these included lines at the ends of portions of the letters, which gave the overall reasons why Min and Ed broke up. I loved the simple-ness of the illustrations as well, because though very well painted/drawn, they were simple pictures of only one or two items. But what they meant in the story and to the characters were the important.

A couple things I didn't like about the story was Min and Ed's relationship, or at least how it began. I think Min, so focused on not being, but still being artsy, and so openly knowing of her and Ed's differences, should have not fallen for Ed as hard as she did. I do understand, that these are teenagers. Us teens to stupid, and crazy things, but still, most people would realize, "Oh, this is a jock who I really have nothing in common with, I mean, he's hot, but really?" Min seemed to dive into this relationship knowing almost nothing about Ed, and then was surprised after only a month of dating, and barely knowing him, and almost always seemingly internally dissatisfied with the relationship, that he had cheated on her.

The relationship itself only really lasted a month too. Would anyone really get that attached to a person they only know as a popular figure in their school in a month?

In response to my comment on top, about how I didn't like the subject of the book, I feel like the book had no deeper meaning, and just kind of left the story there, almost just a pretty picture.

I understand this is a story of young, fast paced, head over heels love, but as a teenager in modern society, I can't imagine people getting this 'in love' (well, not really, but kind of, but not really, you know?) in a month!

I still very much enjoyed this book, however, and it creates a fairly beautiful image of a relationship and people walking into such relationships without really knowing what they're doing.

"Red Glove" by Holly Black (Curse Workers Series #2)

**Spoilers!**

In this continuation of the Curse Workers series by Holly Black, and follows Cassel struggle with not only trying to maintain is normal life at school in this last couple years, but dealing with the discovery of his new Transformative powers. Things get more difficult when Lila joins his school, making it even harder to separate his lives, as well as his confusing feelings for Lila. But a new mystery emerges when Cassel learns that his brother, Phillip, has been murdered, and all they know about the killer is that she's  a woman. A woman with Red Gloves.

I really liked this book as a continuation of the series. The book at many strong points that helped elaborate on the world of the story and the characters, their relationships.

Cassel and his mother's relationship is definitely developed, especially during the exchanges during Phillip's funeral and toward the beginning of the book when Cassel discovers his mother has curse-worked Lila into 'loving' him. Cassel's mother is seemingly trying to help, but at this same time, knowingly not helping Cassel much at all in the long run. Lila's feelings, being produced by emotion working, will fade, so no matter how much Cassel's mother wants or thinks she is helping, she must know this will happen. The mother's character itself is very fickle and irresponsible. I also find it interesting her interactions with the other family, like Barron, and family friends, during many of the scenes involving Phillip's death. She seems obviously melodramatic, but it's clear she does love her children, and almost as though she just doesn't know how to get that message across.

I want to know about why the mother is like this. Maybe she felt bad about attaching to her children while she was bringing them up in such an unstable and corrupted environment, or maybe because of this environment she never had the time to learn how to communicate with her children.

I'm already started with the next book, Black Heart, but I'm very excited to see where this story goes!