The Fault in Our Stars

I have two words to say about John Green's The Fault in Our Stars: Holy crap. What a celestial body of a book. It shines. It sparkles. It's intelligent and hilarious and absolutely stellar and it makes you believe in love and in other worlds and I will never forget it.

If you haven't heard about it or seen the movie trailer, The Fault in Our Stars is the story of Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters. They meet at a cancer support group. They fall in love. They experience life together. Maybe you can guess how it ends.

There's no "best thing" about this novel, but one of the great things was how fantastic the characters are. They're the kind of characters you wish desperately were real because they're so much more interesting to talk to than most of the people you actually go to school with. And they're more than their cancer; they don't let their sickness define them and they don't just go around feeling sorry for themselves. I was worried when I started to read this book that the whole thing was just going to be a cancer sob story, but the characters made it far less about the disease than it was about the human experience, which I appreciated.

Another thing I thought really added to the book was the great dialogue. It's very realistic; Green's word choice makes it sound like stuff real people would actually say, which can be difficult to find in a book. It also has a tendency to be quite profound, especially coming from Augustus. Since you can't see the characters' eyes, their dialogue provides a little window into their souls.

Please don't write this book off just because you hate crying; I was actually too sad to cry for most of the book. However, if you hate being sad, are offended by occasional foul language and semi-sacreligious remarks or are intimidated by brilliant and charismatic boys, this book is probably not for you. Also, full disclosure, there's a mild sex scene.

Despite it's few flaws, I loved The Fault in Our Stars and frankly think everyone should make time for the experience of getting to know Hazel Grace and her marvelous cast of supporting characters. A+.

Things fall apart

Things Fall Apart is a book that talks about how African culture was demolished by the catholic missionaries that came to spread their faith to Niger and places around it. In this book you follow Okonkwo, a native to the tribe of Umuofia and a very high class citizen in the village. He grew up to a lazy father and from a young age had to sharecrop to feed himself and his family. But as he grew up he finally started to obtain enough money to buy his own yam crop and start farming for himself. As he grew older his farm prospered and he became a powerful man and was of very high status. Until one day when a funeral was happening and they were firing off the ceremonial guns but Okonkwo's gun exploded killing a child. He was banished for seven years because of the accident and the villagers burned his compound and all his yam crops. So he left in exile depressed and under lots of pain to his motherland where he started anew with a small compound and only a few yams. Half way through the seven years Okonkwo is back on his feet with a new yam farm strange white men start coming into the village talking of only one god and building churches and all of the tribes were shaken because of it. Finally seven years have passed and Okonkwo is allowed to return to Umuofia to find it taken over by the missionaries. He is invited to talk to the leader of the missionaries but is tricked and thrown in jail. After being released and stripped of his pride Okonkwo lashes out in a rage, killing a white messenger and hanging himself.

Although this book wasn't very interesting to read, it was very informative on European culture, and very sad. I think this book if your willing to wade through slow parts is a very good read for someone of a medium understanding of African society.

Thanks Mrs. Jensen for a wonderful 8th grade year!
-Will

The Beginning of Everything

Sarah Mlynowski definitely knew what she was talking about when she called Robyn Schneider's The Beginning of Everything "heartbreaking and hilarious," and said that "girls everywhere are going to fall madly, deeply, hopelessly in love with Ezra Faulkner." As a teenage girl, I can tell you first hand that that is absolutely true.

 

The novel, which in the UK is known by the title Severed Heads, Broken Hearts, follows Ezra through the aftermath of his tragedy- a car accident that smashed not only his knee, but his social life and the future he had planned. A car accident that threw his life upside down and right into the middle of Cassidy Thorpe's. Of course, they fall in love. She, in all her mysterious bohemian glory, shows him the world as he hadn't considered it before, teaches him not to care what people think, how to let himself be different. Of course, something goes terribly wrong.

 

The ending was so unexpected and unbelievable (yet totally convincing) that it's taking all of me not to spoil the entire book, but I won't. The great thing about The Beginning was that it was unpredictable, contrary to the norm as far as teen novels go, and I'd hate to ruin that. But this book was different in other ways, too. It alluded to classic novels, quoted poetry and actually meant something- it said something. Maybe I'm a little unconventional myself, but a call to action is so important to me in a good book. One hundred points to Schneider.

 

Another thing I really appreciated as I read this novel was that Schneider gives you a reason to give a crap. About the characters, that is, about what happens to them. I read a book recently where a girl gets kidnapped, but she was so annoying and bland that I just thought, "Kill her already! Hold her for ransom! She's not good for much else." Reading The Beginning of Everything, though, I did fall in love with Ezra Faulkner. I fell in love with Toby, and Phoebe, and Cooper. I hated Charlotte and Evan and Jimmy and Luke and sometimes Cassidy, but at the same time understood her and half-wanted to be her. I felt personally invested in Ezra's destiny. I cared. I had a reason to keep reading.

 

I could go on and on, but instead I'd better acknowledge, albeit reluctantly, the book's flaws. The thing that bothered me the most was Schneider's use of ridiculous replacements for the word "said" and, when she did use it, long adverbs after it. "Enthused," "deadpanned," "said sheepishly..." I found that sort of annoying. Also, she used a lot of phrases a bit too frequently throughout the book. Maybe those things don't irritate anyone else, but there they are, acknowledged, just in case.

 

Also, please take note of the fact that this book is full of passionate kissing, curse words, explicit references and other scenes and dialogues of that kind. Of course, that's exactly what high school is full of, so that makes the novel realistic, but if those things bother you, avoid this book.

 

Ultimately, I loved The Beginning of Everything. I encourage anyone mildly interested to indulge themselves in the fantastic reading experience it provides. A