Hellobee Boards

I liked the book and its perspective. I thought Gus and Hazel seemed too mature for their age, but I'm sure having cancer changed their perspective. The beginning of their relationship didn't seem realistic to me, but I liked it better as the story went along.

I thought it was interesting that Gus didn't really like his ex-girlfriend before she died, but stayed with her out of loyalty. It directly confronted the "cancer patients are heroes" mentality.

The saddest parts for me involved Gus and Hazel's parents.

I don't re-read books often, so I don't think I'll read this again, but I did enjoy reading it.

I had been excited to participate in my first book club. I even bought the book for my Kindle...and then didn't read it until this weekend. But I finished it this weekend so I can participate now!

So here are my overall thoughts on the book:

1-The humor was fantastic. I found myself laughing out loud a few times, which is not what I expected from the book. Maybe it's an inappropriate sense of humor, but Gus and Hazel's rapport was very funny at times. Add in the interactions with Isaac, it was very entertaining.

2. Nothing was terribly surprising. It would have been too obvious for Hazel to die, it had to be Gus.

3-The whole Peter van Houten (PvH) storyline just didn't make much sense the more I thought about it. First of all, Hazel acknowledged how well PvH captured dying from cancer without having actually died from cancer, yet she didn't think that was because someone (likely a daughter) had died from cancer? That just seemed out of character for Hazel who was supposedly so preceptive.

4-Additionally, the final chapters where Hazel is looking for what Gus had written is also completely out of character. Gus wanted to hear his friends eulogize him, but he would write Hazel's eulogy and not send it to her? He would send it to someone who had shown to be a not good person? But this could somewhat be explained by PvH's slight redemption in coming to Gus' funeral. But again, PvH was corresponding with Gus before his death, yet didn't read the letter Gus had sent with the eulogy? It just seems to contrived.

5-I thought the parents were portrayed really well. And as others have said (maybe on the other threads), Hazel's mom saying she would not be a mother anymore was heartbreaking.

6-I didn't cry while reading this. Which means there may be something wrong with me. Or it might be because I can't imagine my daughter as a teenager yet. So I couldn't relate to the parents of a teenager. This did somewhat surprise me though, because I do cry at sad things.