Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Title: The Fault in Our Stars [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: John Green [Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Standing: Stand alone novel.
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Published: January 10th, 2012 by Dutton Books
Format: Hardcover; 313 pages.
Source: Borrowed from my local library.
Challenge: Completely Contemp Challenge

You have a choice in this world, I believe, about how to tell sad stories, and we made the funny choice.

Did you know that there are, chemically speaking, two different stages of love? The first stage, the one where you’re falling and all dopey and basically unable to function because you can’t think of anything but that other person is the result of a chemical cocktail of adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin pouring through your brain. The second stage, the one where you’re committed and stay together potentially for life is because of two other chemicals, vasopressin and oxytocin. These are the ones that really bond you together, but the fact is, once you’re getting the vasopressin and oxytocin, you don’t get so much of the adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin. And that, my friends, is probably the biggest reason that I (and quite probably you) love to read about falling in love. It gives me a bit of those chemicals (and feelings) back. That’s why after reading a book I love, I often can’t sleep, and I usually have a lot of energy. And I love it!

But here’s the thing. Reading can also make you feel not-so-good feelings that you don’t like and want to avoid like the plague. That, my friends, is why I did not really want to read The Fault in Our Stars. I drug my feet…a lot. Even while reading. A book that could have easily been read in one sitting, I read a third of, put down for two days, then read chapter by chapter for some time, getting up and doing something else constantly to try to keep myself from getting too involved. This behavior continued for about 2/3 of the book.  I knew what was coming, and I dreaded it. I kind of Monnicad this book. I didn’t want to get hurt, so I pushed it away, but it hurt anyway. But it also felt pretty good, falling in love with Augustus Waters.

This book doesn’t really need another review at this point (heck, I didn’t even bother to post a summary, please click the GoodReads link if you need one). Many/most of you have already read it, and to my knowledge, everyone’s loved it, so it seems silly to go on and on, and yet I’m not sure I can resist fawning a little. So here it goes:

I love Augustus. I love that he pushes this perfect boundary between being pushy and just plain attentive. I love that he doesn’t try to kiss Hazel, or call her too much, and I love that he reads her favorite book first thing, and really thinks about it.

I love that Hazel has a hard time standing much, and Augustus has a hard time sitting. Something about that whispers “star-crossed lovers” in your ear and breaks your heart.

I love that Hazel and Augustus both have wonderful families. Families who care about them and support them, and even hover a little, but the kids don’t resent them for it. They love them for it. There need to be more families like this in books (and maybe in real life).

I love that this book manages to include poetry that wasn’t at all cheesy, and did not once make me gag.

I love that this book made me laugh a lot more than it made me cry. I agree with Hazel and Augustus (and with Mr. John Green), you have a choice how to tell sad stories, and the funny choice? That’s the best one.

And I like my choices.

Likelihood that I'll be back for more: This was my second John Green, and I’m not going to lie, I am glad it wasn’t my first.  If it was my first, I’d probably think “wonderful book, but I’m not signing up for that again”.  Luckily, I remain very excited to read his other books, and plan on listening to the audio of Looking for Alaska somewhat soonish.  This guy’s made himself a must-read.

Recommended for:  The next time anyone says something degrading about the quality or value of YA lit, I’m going to slap them with The Fault in Our Stars and just dare them not to feel all the things.

Real life repercussions of reading this book:  Only 2.25 tissues used! <—Unsure if this is a bragging point, or a sign that I am well and truly dead inside.

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Review: Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom by Brendan Halpin and Emily Franklin

  Title: Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom[Amazon|GoodReads]
  Author: Brendan Halpin [Website|Twitter] and Emily Franklin [Website]
  Standing: Stand alone novel.
  Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
  Published: March 27th, 2012 by Walker Childrens
  Format: Kindle edition; 257 pages.
  Source: ARC copy from publisher via NetGalley
  Challenge: Completely Contemp Challenge

Lucas and Tessa’s friendship is the stuff of legend in their small Midwestern town. So it’s no surprise when Lucas finally realizes his feelings for Tessa are more than friendship and he asks her to prom. What no one expected, especially Lucas, was for Tessa to come out as a lesbian instead of accepting his heartfelt invitation. Humiliated and confused, Lucas also feels betrayed that his best friend kept such an important secret from him.

What’s worse is Tessa’s decision to wear a tastefully tailored tuxedo to escort her female crush, sparking a firestorm of controversy. Lucas must decide if he should stand on the sidelines or if he should stand by his friend to make sure that Tessa Masterson will go to prom.

Emily Franklin and Brendan Halpin tackle both sides of a ripped-from-the headlines story to show that true friendship will triumph after all.

So…this one’s getting filed under ‘book guilt’ because I honestly had that mental/emotional debate with myself where I wasn’t sure I could be honest about my mediocre feelings for this book.  Why?  Because while I do want to be respected as an honest reviewer, I also don’t want people to get the impression that I harbor views or beliefs that I most adamantly do not.  On the flip side, I can’t pretend to be gung-ho about a book that I didn’t entirely enjoy reading, that wouldn’t be fair to me or that book.  So I just want to say here and now that I am 100% pro gay-rights, and my thoughts on Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom aren’t some anti-gay statement.  I don’t feel guilty for giving the book a ‘meh’ review, but I do feel guilty that I even considered fudging things to make myself feel better about it.

I have to confess—there are few things I was more ambivalent about as a teen (and still am) than prom.  So maybe that should have been a clue right there that a book starring the word ‘prom’ wouldn’t really be the perfectly fitting glass slipper I’ve been waiting on.  And then when right at the beginning, Luke (one of our two protagonists) asks Tessa (the other) to prom with a grand gesture the whole town can see, I really should have just stopped.  Because I’m that girl.  The one who hates grand gestures and public displays of love of a giant scale.  I hate it when people propose on billboards at sports events, heck, I hate it when people propose in public period.  Something about it just makes me so uncomfortable and awkward.  These were the clues I should have taken and just not read this book, but I didn’t want to let something like the P word intimidate me out of a read, so I powered forward.

Here’s the lowdown.  I’ve determined that I’m not really a fan of the ‘let’s get together and write a book from two characters’ points of view…we can each write a character and go back in forth in first person perspective!’ books.  I read Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares which was also a miss for me, and even though I really liked The Future of Us, I can acknowledge that this is not a style I enjoy.  And then there was the fact that this book had “ABC Family Special” written all over it.  You know, if ABC Family were the type of channel to support “the gay agenda” (I’m assuming they’re not, but I could be wrong.  Modern Family is on ABC).  It was very agenda-driven.  A ‘we have a message!’ type book, that’s so steeped in warm fuzzies and fond sentiments by the end I kind of felt like I was drowning in it.  Sure, it makes you feel good inside to see the things you believe about friendship, love, family, and being who you really are regurgitated so blatantly on a page, but it doesn’t challenge you or make you think.  Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom is a great book for teens who may need to see a happy ending come out of a ‘gay in small-town middle America’ story, but I don’t think that it’s going to change anyone’s mind in regards to their stance on sexuality.  And that’s okay!  Not every book needs to be the book that challenges the way people think, and sometimes people really need the support and to feel good at the end of the day, but it was all a bit too hug-it-out for me.

The “ripped-from-the-headlines” story that Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom was based on concerned a Mississippi student, Constance, whose high school prom was cancelled after the school informed her she could not attend prom with a girl, or wearing a tux.  You can read a short ACLU summary here.  Now, admittedly, I don’t know the gritty details of this story, but I had a hard time swallowing a lot of the events in Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom.  For example, the school does nothing when Tessa’s locker is repeatedly vandalized, to the point that her school work (and presumably) textbooks are destroyed.  In fact, they seem to support the vandalism, and even the custodian will do nothing to help clean the locker indicating that she deserved it.  The school suspends students who openly support Tessa, and indicate that they will attempt to negatively affect students’ acceptance and scholarships into colleges as a result.  I find it pretty tough to believe that professionals in this situation, regardless of personal beliefs, would openly support and participate in this type of bullying of any student for any reason.  I find it particularly hard to believe that not a single adult in this school seems to have stood up for this student.   Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom was so busy highlighting the negative to make it all that much bigger of a turnaround by the end that they diminished the positive to an unrealistic level.  

My final nitpick is that they used fake brand names close to but not quite the same as the real thing—I hate when books do this.  Can someone explain this to me?  Is this a result of not wanting/having to pay some sort of fee for mentioning Twilight and Good Morning America?  Because honestly?  It just makes the whole book feel like a knock-off brand to me too.  And I don’t care what people try to tell you, knock-offs are pretty much never as good as the name brand.

I will close in saying that there were some great, positive aspects to this book, and I think a lot of readers will love it.  I’d even recommend it if I met the right person for it.  Tessa’s family was wonderful, and my favorite character in the book was Luke’s mom who was downright awesome.  Luke was a bit of a douchenozzle, but as I’ve gone on long enough I suppose I shouldn’t go off on him too, especially since he spends so much time trying to make up for himself.  At any rate, don’t take my review as the end-all-be-all of Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom.  I’ve included links to some more positive reviews to give you some rounding.

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  I think I’ve pretty well determined that not only was this book not really my thing, this type of book isn’t really my thing.  To the point that I’ve considered crossing books like Will Grayson, Will Grayson off my list, because I’m pretty sure it just won’t click because of the narrative style.

Recommended for: LGBT teeens, contemporary fans, people who don’t physically cringe or gag over things like grand gestures and prom.

Real life repercussions of reading this book:  I just want to share this response to “I’m Christian, Unless You’re Gay” that came out last week.  I feel like it brought up a lot of the same issues as Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom, but in a way that made me think and feel more than this book was able to.

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