It could’ve been terrible.
A cancer book walking the
tightrope of cliché, lovey-dovey and a family dynamic could’ve very easily been
a joke of a book. Green, writing from the point of view of a female teen, was
probably a difficult sell as well. This is what makes the book so remarkable.
It’s actually good.
The two protagonists are more Shakesperean than angsty teen.
They quote literature and poetry far beyond their years and seem to understand
the world in a way that is more representative of a student receiving a
doctorate than a high school diploma. This sudden shift from what the reader
may expect a teenager to act like gives Green more leeway to do what he wants.
The story takes place in real places—Indiana, Amsterdam and
many other real locations—but it feels more like a fairytale or dream than
anything else. I believe that Green intended this as it creates a dividing line
between this story and other young adult novels of its ilk.
Perhaps the best example of this culture shift in this genre
is the meeting with Peter Van Houten. This interaction does, to put it simply,
not go the way Hazel and Gus expected it to go. He’s a drunkard, crude and just
a mean individual. It was a shock to me reading it and I’m sure it was a
wake-up call to all of the readers that things aren’t always going to work out the
way you want them to. It’s a beautiful lesson to try to find the good amongst
the bad, even if it takes an awful person to prove this.
Green may come off as manic in his YouTube videos, but he’s
a genius in terms of story structure and setting a mood (and then breaking that
mood to prove a point).
The reason I never read this book before this class is
because the title and overall premise turned me off. I’m fine with books about
romance, but this seemed to be another example of The Notebook
knock-offs. This one just involved cancer.
I couldn’t be farther off. It’s funny, smart and just clever
enough to not become sappy. Green’s a genius and the book is all the better for
it.
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