Book Review: The Fault in our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
Contemporary YA
Published: January 10th, 2012
4/5

                Diagnosed with stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumour in her lungs… for now. Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too post-high school, post-friends, and post-normalcy. Even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means) Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. Enter Agustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly, to her interested in Hazel. Being with Agustus is both an unexpected destination and a long needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and healthy, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

                The Fault in our Stars by John Green has been raved about for what seems like eons now. As I’ve grown a bit older from when looking for Alaska was originally released (and that’s the year I first read it) I’ve found some of his other work has left me wanting. I find his characters have been replayed over again. The soft spoken geeky boy just trying to fall in love with the girl of his dreams. What I enjoyed in terms of fiction then and what I enjoy now has greatly changed, HOWEVER, the fault in our stars re-sparked my joy in reading John Green’s work.
                The Fault in our Stars is funny, honest, brutally harsh, and brilliantly heartbreaking. It wasn’t a cliché love story, it wasn’t a cliché anything really. It just was. I could spend time telling you what I’ve liked about the book, however if you’re reading this and you’ve already read it, stop here this review isn’t for you.
                This book review is for all the people who too scared to take the leap, this review is for the people who scoff at the very idea of reading something so trendy and so young. The Fault in our stars is a great work because it can be read by everyone and most everyone will be touched. It’s not a happy story, it will rip out your heartstrings and then stomp on them. This is a story about second chances, appreciating the time you do have and the people that are around you.
               I am a strong believer that people are put into our lives to shape and mold it, to change who we are and to help us grow and see our own potential by pushing us through all the battles of heartbreak, love, sorrow and joy.
                The Fault in our stars isn’t just a story about cancer, or just a story about a boy and a girl. The Fault in our Stars is about accepting what we cannot change, and how we move on from tragedy and grow.

Book Review:Warm Bodies (slight movie review and awesome music within)

Warm Bodies (Warm Bodies #1)
Isaac Marion
Adult romance/horror/humor fiction (how do you even really class this?)
5/5 -There may be spoilers in this review

                R is a young man with an existential crisis—he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades,  but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse…Just dreams.
                After experiencing a teenage boy’s memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward and strangely sweet relationship with the victim’s human girlfriend. Julie is a burst of vibrant color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that R lives in. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole pointless world. Scary, funny and surprisingly poignant, Warm Bodies is about being alive, being dead and the blurry line in between.

 
—-Book Review—-

                I love Zombies; and by that I mean I love Zombie everything. I am a huge fan of Zombie movies, T.V, books, graphic novels, and even video games, just over all I cannot get enough of the whole concept. This book did something for me that no other Zombie anything has been able to do for me before. It took me to a place that I was eagerly awaiting to either see or read at some point. Isaac Marion’s novel gave me an ending, or at least the start to an ending! An explanation to Zombies and what happens to them years down the road, it explains their social interactions with each other, it explains what happens when they don’t get enough to eat, and it explains eventually how they evolve into something more evil and sinister. You’re introduced to a whole new concept in warm bodies that I can honestly say I haven’t seen before!
                The main Character’s name is R. He’s in either his 20’s or 30’s and appears to have been some type of business man as he wears a red tie and suit. He is different from the other Zombie’s even before Julie enters the picture. He has thoughts and inside longs for a deeper connection which he tries to have with other Zombies, for example he gets married and has two ‘adopted’ children with her. He also has a best friend named M who he sometimes hangs out with and attempts to connect with on a deeper more intelligent level.
                R and the other Zombies, especially when they start to develop become fairly intelligent, they actually kind of remind me of what the Zombies in Cell by Stephan King kind of end up being however Isaac Marion’s Zombies eventually surpass that. I really enjoyed seeing them grow and was amazed how well done it was for a book that’s not even two hundred and fifty pages!
                I liked Julie, I liked her dark past I really enjoyed how she wasn’t perfect but that she was perfect for something greater than I am even sure she herself was prepared for. It was fantastic to read about someone who basically grew up during such a strange and new time in history; the violent plague that over took her city, family and her way of life. It was interesting to see how she became who she was at the end of the book. Her relationship with Perry was interesting to watch (Through the eyes of R of course) and you come to understand why what happened is the only way it could have happened.
                I could probably go on and on about this book, I read it in one day (yesterday) and then basically right after I finished it I went and saw the movie! The movie was also fantastic, there were a lot of differences but I thought they stayed fairly true to the book except for the ending of the movie unfortunately a character in the movie dies in the book but it was ok because I didn’t feel like the character dying broke or made either the movie or book. Anyways, suggest both of them greatly to anyone interested. Should be noted though the movie is much heavier on the romance rather than what is happening to R.
                obviously this is 5/5 stars for me as well as the movie. ALSO! The music in the movie was insanely awesome. It made me so crazy happy to hear Midnight City by M83 as that is actually hands done of my top 5 songs of all time. I actually listen to this song at least once a day! So I’m going to link it below! Enjoy!
                P.s Felt I should mention that the book deals with some ‘adult’ themes that obviously make this not a young adult novel and should be taken into consideration as I know there has been some confusion about how this novel should be classed (Despite of course the author being adamant that this is not a young adult novel.)