Back On the Shelf

This is in response to my previous post... I decided to give John Green a chance to redeem himself, and he did, except for one tiny thing. The fruit being analyzed was The Fault in Our Stars. Here we go..

I really, really liked this book. I think that female protagonists suit Green much better than males. Our lovable lady is Hazel, a 16 year old with terminal cancer in her thyroid and lungs. At support group she meets Augustus, 17, handsome, charming, suave, honest, and cancer free. A lovely romance ensues.

Here's my touch ups to the previous post:

1. Predictability. This was predictable, but not in the same way. There was a plot twist that I saw, but I talked myself out of. I though: John would never do that, he must have a heart somewhere! Right?! Yeah... I was wrong. Prepare yourself for tears, Kleenex to the right, trash can to the left. get some icing/cake/ice cream to eat away the pain.

2. The women. I loved Hazel from the beginning as we both have the (tragic or redeeming) character flaw of not sugar coating things. I pride myself on my ability to be honest, even when honesty isn't wanted, just like Hazel. She's accepted her fate and knows what's coming to her, never once beating around the bush, a quality that I greatly admire. Hazel contradicts issue number 2. Hazel isn't unpredictable, self destructive, or borderline psychotic, she just wants to die in peace and leave the least amount of rubble in her wake as she can. She's beautiful.

3. Whining. As it is a cancer book, you would expect there to be a lot of whining, but there really isn't. Hazel's honest, matter-of-fact nature doesn't really leave room for much of it. I also think there's less whining because the protagonist is a female (WOMEN POWER). When coming from a male perspective it just seems whiny because you don't expect it from a male while you would from a female. (I don't know if that made sense. Pretend like it did...) Green should stick to female protagonists in my opinion.

I also felt like Green might have had a pow wow with Sarah Dessen because it had an eerie Dessen feel to it. Sad, lonely girl meets eccentric boy who brightens up her life. I like Dessen every once and a while as a guilty pleasure read, so I ain't even mad.

My only problems. The ending. I could not be more disappointed with the ending. The whole time you're building up excitement for it to end mid-sentence like it does in Hazel's favorite book An Imperial Afflicion, but no. my dreams were crushed.
I also don't believe in character redemption, I think it's lame and a cop out for the reader to have a sense of satisfaction with all the characters. Peter Van Houten (the author of AIA) was great and then he was ruined with a sob story background that made him likable. It seemed forced and like Green wanted Hazel to be at peace with all the people in her life which doesn't happen in real life. This real story suddenly became cardboard. Disappointing.