response to a response

Found on Goodreads.com  http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/180373889

"The Fault in Our Stars currently has a rating of 4.74 on Goodreads, almost everyone I know has given it 5 stars, therefore I'm certain no one would want to read my sour musings, except me and maybe a couple of other like-minded and unimpressed.

What I'd love to know is this - what makes a writer undertake the topic of cancer? So much has already been written about it, so many Lifetime movies filmed, so many tears shed. It literally has been done to death. What new did John Green have to bring to the cancer table?

The way I see it, nothing. Having your terminally sick characters be ironic about their illnesses and swap cancer jokes isn't groundbreaking.

The Fault in Our Stars isn't a bad book, but it's a standard cancer book, and, sadly, a standard John Green book, with standardJohn Green humor and standard John Green characters speaking in the very same John Green voice. 

You have a witty and intelligent protagonist (this time 2, Hazel and Augustus - a female and male versions of Miles/Quentin/Colin), a funny, slightly pathetic sidekick (Isaac - another version of Hassan/Chip/Marcus), a mysterious, unhinged girl, Gus's dead ex (Alaska/Margo clone), and, of course, the signature ROAD TRIP. I can't help but recognize these people and this plot, I've read all of Green's novels.

I understand why so many readers would have such an emotional response to the book. Nothing will get the ladies crying quicker than a kid dying of cancer. Add in some long farewells, painkillers, eulogies and funerals - you can collect buckets of tears. But, IMO, here Green aims for the most obvious, the most easily accessible emotions, for the most typical "life lessons." And for all Green's attempts to be subversive and to make fun of "cancer cliches" - inspirational quotes, heroic cancer survivors, etc. he ended up writing about exactly the same things. 

Frankly, I think The Fault in Our Stars is Green's weakest work to date, weaker even than half-baked Zombicorns. Because this, unlike his earlier works, feels commercial and intentionally tearjerky and insincere. It will probably sell the most copies."

SPOILERS IN RESPONSE 

Overall " The Fault In Our Stars" was my favorite book, ever. Tatiana brought up some really valid points but she also said many things that I dont believe are true.

 
the "The Fault In Our Stars" is about a girl who has cancer, and her story of falling in love with a boy who she believed did not have cancer. Hazel and Augustus both fell in love with a book, and the book did not have an ending so they decided to travel to meet the author. While they were on their trip Hazel found out that Augustus has a serious amount of cancer that is terminal. They spend the rest of the book dealing with his cancer and later his death.

Tatiana wrote in the first paragraph her problems with John Green writing about cancer, "What I'd love to know is this - what makes a writer undertake the topic of cancer? So much has already been written about it, so many Lifetime movies filmed, so many tears shed. It literally has been done to death. What new did John Green have to bring to the cancer table? The way I see it, nothing. Having your terminally sick characters be ironic about their illnesses and swap cancer jokes isn't groundbreaking." 

 The way I see it, John was writing a love story for everyone. For the parents that need a little hope in knowing that their kids care about them, and for the teenagers that want to read about falling in love in the worst situations, and fighting through. Even though the book's topic is not the most original it's so perfect and it is so perfectly written. Tatiana called it standard which it isn't all. A drunk author with a mental problem? A perfectly well character dying? The two awkward kids becoming best friends? those are the things that kept the book going. 

"Nothing will get the ladies crying quicker than a kid dying of cancer. Add in some long farewells, painkillers, eulogies and funerals - you can collect buckets of tears." When Tatiana said this I was furious, I was in tears because I wanted them to die together, no one likes death. Whether it is with cancer patients or  cats. I was mainly in tears because of how in love they were. It wasn't something small to them they belonged together and cancer ended that, and it's a shame. 

Overall I don't agree with Tatiana's response, because I loved the book. I would reccomend it to anyone and everyone.