Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Release Date: January 10, 2012
Publisher: Dutton Books
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 336


Source: Bought.

Image from Penguin.com

Summary:

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.


Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green's most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love. (From Penguin.com)

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The diction and characters in John Green's The Fault in Our Stars are as electric as the novel's bright blue book jacket. I finished reading this book a month ago*, and the funny, insightful Hazel and the adorably pretentious Augustus--who chooses his "'behaviors based on their metaphorical resonances'"--still burst in on my thoughts.

Hazel Grace Lancaster meets Augustus Waters at Cancer Kid Support Group. Hazel carries an oxygen tank everywhere she goes, because--in her words--her lungs "suck at being lungs." Hazel was diagnosed with incurable Stage IV thyroid cancer that had also spread to her lungs when she was thirteen. Miraculously, she's still alive at sixteen thanks to Phalanxifor, a fictional experimental drug that keeps the tumors in her lungs from growing. Phalanxifor grants Hazel some extra time, but no one knows how much. Augustus, on the other hand, is in remission from osteosarcoma that left him with a prosthetic leg. Augustus is long, lean, and hot. He invites Hazel to his house the afternoon they first meet, and she says yes.

The Fault in Our Stars is a love story: a beautiful, heartbreaking, luminous love story. While cancer plays a major role in the novel, Green never lets it consume the characters or the plot, showing that sick people are--above all--still people. At one point, Hazel remarks, "You have a choice in this world, I believe, about how to tell sad stories, and we made the funny choice." John Green makes the funny choice, too. The Fault in Our Stars is full of hilarious conversation and observations. And when I say hilarious, I mean so funny you want to roar with laughter and read the book out loud to everyone you meet. Or maybe that was just me.


Amidst all this humor, however, Green's characters face tragic, torturous situations. Life isn't fair in reality, and Green does not sugarcoat the reality of cancer. Hazel and Augustus are both forced to contemplate death more often and more seriously than average teenagers, and they are concerned with universal human desires to be remembered, to not truly die, to go on being people. The Fault in Our Stars asks readers to consider the definition of heroism and what it means to do something that matters.


The Fault in Our Stars is also a book about books. When Hazel goes to Augustus's house the afternoon she meets him, they talk about books. Augustus cajoles Hazel into revealing her favorite novel, An Imperial Affliction, which exists only in the fictional world of Green's novel. August announces that he will read it, but adds, "'All I ask in exchange is that you read this brilliant and haunting novelization of my favorite video game.'" Green's characters display an appreciation for different types of fiction, and the novel comments on the place of stories in the face of life and death.

The Fault in Our Stars is one of the best books I have ever read, and I recommend it to readers who enjoy romance, humor, and pitch-perfect prose. I was working at the library the day my branch received our copy, and it was all I could do not to rave about this book to every customer who approached me with a reference question. So I will rave here: The Fault in Our Stars is funny, addictive, quotable, deep, and lovely. And I hope many, many people decide to read it.
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*I happened to pre-order the book from the company that accidentally shipped its pre-orders early . . .

Book Review: Supernaturally by Kiersten White

Release Date: July 26, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 352

Source: My local library.

Summary:
A lot has changed in the six months since Evie escaped from the International Paranormal Containment Agency with her shape-shifter boyfriend, Lend. She finally has the blissfully normal life she’s always dreamed of, including
1) A real live high school
2) A perfectly ordinary after-school job
3) Her very own locker (and by the way, rusted metal is every bit as awesome as she imagined)

But Evie’s not-so-normal past keeps creeping up on her...and things get pretty complicated when you factor in:
1) A centuries-old, seriously decaying vampire stalker
2) A crazy faerie ex-boyfriend who is the perpetual bearer of really bad news
3) A major battle brewing between the faerie courts where e prize in question happens to be...Evie herself.

So much for normal. (From Kiersten White's website.)
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Paranormalcy--the first book in this series--was pink, sparkly fun, and I am pleased to announce that the laughs--and the pink--are still present in the second book of the trilogy, Supernaturally. Evie, the main character, has come a long way from page one of Paranormalcy, in which she takes down paranormals such as vampires with Buffy-esque wit and Tasey, her pink taser, while longing for a normal high school life.

The beginning of Supernaturally finds our spunky heroine living a fairly normal life. Her roommate is a vampire, and her boyfriend is an immortal shapeshifter, but her high school is normal. (Read: boring.) And, since she no longer works for IPCA, the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she is free to focus on the terrors of real life, like girls' gym, a boyfriend who's in college and can only visit on the weekends, and the fact that her favorite teen drama is in reruns.

Normalcy is overrated.

So when Raquel shows up with an offer for side jobs with IPCA, and an impish, annoying new assistant named Jack, Evie says yes, even though Lend--her boyfriend--and her other new friends disapprove. Author Kiersten White combines this disagreement with mysterious faerie attacks, the reappearance of Evie's ex-faerie-boyfriend Reth, and some startling revelations about Evie's origins to create an intricate, interesting tale.*

While I recommend reading this series in order (readers who do not will likely be confused), Supernaturally stands enough apart from Paranormalcy to be a good story in itself. White avoids a potential snoozer or simple bridge to the last book in the novel by adding characters like Jack and building more complexity into the characters readers already know.

Supernaturally is a breezy read, but, as with Paranormalcy, I didn't find it impossible to put down. I like Evie and Lend and the other characters, but I wasn't emotionally attached to them. White's writing, on the other hand, is fantastic. She turns on a dime from funny to profound, and in the end her plot threads all come together beautifully. I recommend Supernaturally to readers of paranormal romance, contemporary and realistic fiction (despite the paranormal twists, Supernaturally deals with surprisingly common teen drama, like the horrors of college applications), and readers who like sweet, clean romance. And laughing. Because anyone who reads one of Kiersten White's books will be doing a lot of that.
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*Evie isn't completely normal; she has some special abilities. But you can read all about those in Paranormalcy.

Book Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Release Date: December 2, 2010

Publisher: Dutton

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 384

Source: Bought.

Summary:
Anna was looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. So she's less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all . . . including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss? Stephanie Perkins keeps the romantic tension crackling and the attraction high in a debut guaranteed to make toes tingle and hearts melt. (From stephanieperkins.com)
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Anna Oliphant is sent to Paris for her senior year of high school by her father, a Nicholas Sparks-ish author who writes "novels set in Small Town Georgia about folks with Good American Values who Fall in Love and then contract Life-Threatening Diseases and Die." Luckily, she makes friends quickly, and even luckier for both Anna and the reader, one of them--Étienne St. Clair--is a Very Hot Boy.*

I can't say enough about this book. A tangle of relationships--friendship, love-gone-wrong, misleading flirtation, friends crushing on friends--compose the plot, and author Stephanie Perkins adroitly juggles her characters' many different dreams, agendas, and feelings. And despite the boarding-school-in-Paris setting (which I loved), the interactions between the characters stem from realistic situations. A person doesn't have to be in Paris to break and repair friendships or fall in love with someone who's already taken.

Anna tells her roller coaster of a tale in funny, clever first-person narration. I would've read this book in one sitting if I'd had the time. The ending is unique, mature, and gorgeous. Anna and the French Kiss left me light and wide-eyed, stuck in warm knits in Paris with the scent of baguettes and a sense of boundless possibility. Anna is a dream of a book--so, so satisfying, yet realistic. And as much as I like him, Étienne St. Clair isn't perfect. He makes mistakes, and there's no idealism here. There are also some faintly stereotypical high school moments and some over-the-top emotions, but over all Anna and the French Kiss left me in post-good book depression because I couldn't find anything to immediately replace the experience of Anna. I wanted to keep wandering Paris with Anna, Étienne, and their friends. I recommend Anna and the French Kiss to anyone who likes contemporary fiction and/or romance, armchair travel, humor, and good writing. I've already started reading Anna a second time.
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*This diminutive text is accidental; Blogger is doing some odd things with font size and will not let me fix it.

Book Review: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Release Date: August 31, 2010
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 352

Source: Bought.

Summary:

Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours.

But Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal. (From the author's website)

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Ohmigosh, so fun! So pink. So side-splittingly funny.

Evie, the main character of Kiersten White's Paranormalcy, wandered away from her foster parents when she was eight years old. She ended up in a graveyard where she saw a vampire, learned she could see through paranormals' human-like glamours to their true natures, and was subsequently snatched up by IPCA, the International Paranormal Containment Agency. Now she's a hardworking teen with a full time job identifying, bagging, and tagging paranormals with Tasey, her pink rhinestoned taser.

Evie's world is shaken early in the novel by the arrival of a handsome shape-shifting paranormal boy. Soon, she's questioning the hard line between paranormals and humans and brushing aside disturbing hints that her world, and her identity, aren't what they seem. It doesn't help that her faerie ex-boyfriend is up to no good.

Paranormalcy is a quick--though not wildly unputdownable--read with a creative spin on paranormal romance and mythology. While I wasn't always crazy about Evie's repetitive first person voice, her narration is engaging and funny; I dare anyone who picks Paranormalcy up to keep a straight face. Moreover, White delivers not one, but two attractive male leads. The winner of Evie's heart is obvious, but it's still fun to watch the romance--and the most adorable first kiss scene I've read in a long time--take shape.

As the novel progresses, Evie's world goes from simple to complex, and she learns to think of normal in new ways.

I recommend Paranormalcy to readers who enjoy paranormal fiction, squeaky clean (and super cute) romances, books with both humor and attitude, and anyone looking for a quick, fun read.* Paranormalcy left me many lovable characters and enjoyable scenes to carry in my head after finishing it. Oh, bleep!** I can't wait for the sequel.
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*Evie uses Buffy-esque snark on more than one bag and tag mission.
**You'll get it if you read the book.

Book Review: Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan

Release Date: October 19, 2009

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 336

Source: My local library.

Cover image from BTSB Bookstore

Summary:

Fifteen-year-old Blake has a girlfriend and a friend who’s a girl. One of them loves him, the other one needs him.

When he snapped a picture of a street person for his photography homework, Blake never dreamed that the woman in the photo was his friend Marissa’s long-lost meth addicted mom. Blake’s participation in the ensuing drama opens up a world of trouble, both for him and for Marissa. He spends the next few months trying to reconcile the conflicting roles of Boyfriend and Friend. His experiences range from the comic (surviving his dad’s birth control talk) to the tragic (a harrowing after-hours visit to the morgue).

In a tangle of life and death, love and loyalty, Blake will emerge with a more sharply defined snapshot of himself. (From the author's website)
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I didn't pay attention to this book when it came out last year because I didn't like the cover--shallow, I know. Other people paid attention to it, though. Flash Burnout won the 2010 William C. Morris Award, an ALA award that honors YA debut authors. I looked past the cover after author Stephanie Perkins recommended Flash Burnout in this post.

I now understand why it won an award.

Flash Burnout is a love story: first love, love going well, love gone wrong, parental love, brotherly love, friendship, and self-acceptance. Blake, the main character and first person narrator, has a likable, humorous voice that made me laugh even as bits of Blake's life were falling apart. Blake has a girlfriend he loves and a girl friend and fellow photography student he likes spending time with, and who, after Blake unknowingly snaps a picture of her meth-addict mom, needs him.

Author L.K. Madigan navigates first-relationship awkwardness and the tension between Shannon and Marissa, the two girls in Blake's life, well. Each scene flows neatly into the next; Flash Burnout is well-paced and well-suited for long sittings. I liked all of Madigan's characters--Blake has a great family that includes a Medical Examiner dad who occasionally brings his work home, a no-nonsense mom and a surprisingly awesome older brother, as well as a dog named The Dog Formerly Known as Prince. Half the fun of this novel is watching Blake's family interact and support each other.

Anyway. The drama of Blake's girl issues escalates until it explodes, and Blake does a Bad Thing. I won't say what it is, but Blake's actions and their fallout invite much serious thought about a mature subject. Through it all, though, I never disliked Blake, nor did I feel sorry for him. Madigan walks a tightrope of feelings and ends up with a beautiful, sad (not oh-no-somebody-died sad, but rather realistically bleak), and funny novel. The plot is intense--externally and internally--and but for one awkward sneaking out at night scene, I have no complaints.

I recommend Flash Burnout to readers of contemporary fiction, those who enjoy juicy internal conflict, and anyone looking for a thoughtful, funny read.