Giving this book three stars is supposed to mean that I liked it. But only three stars doesn't "look" like I liked it. That's a bummer, or a misrepresentation. I did like it. Had I been a teenager, no doubt I would have loved it, except for a few things that were said that would have gone over my head. I know this, because as an adult, a few things that were said DID go over my head. I wish I was smart like Hazel when I was a teen, but, alas, I was, and am now, of average intelligence.
There were so many things in this story that I liked. Several things that were said that made me go "Hmmm...", or "Oh, that was beautiful..." As I would put the book down and do my normal stuff for the day I would find myself thinking about it and now that I've finished, I'm still thinking about it. That, for me, is the sign of a great book. And I am no expert on writing style or skills but I would say that John Green has done an excellent job "telling" or writing the story.
I still laugh out loud when I think about one of my favorite scenes involving eggs and robot eyes. I enjoyed that so much that I read it aloud to my husband, who also laughed, and he is not a fiction reader. Unfortuately for him, he does read vicariously through me, and I consider it my pleasure and responsibility to keep him "cultured". (Sorry honey, should have thought about that before you took a wife.)
So why only three stars for a book that made me laugh, made me think, and gave me a great new lesson to teach my children and myself? (That being, "The world is not a wish-granting factory." Haven't used it yet but I'm gonna.). Well, it's for personal reasons, really. Personal meaning "for me" not "private". I just have a high sensitivity to profanity. I don't like it. It's offensive to me and many times just feels down-right assaulting. I know that I live in a world full of it, I know that it is so over-used that people don't even notice it. I know that teenagers today are so overly exposed to it that they also don't notice it and are not close to being offended by it. I know all that. Yet I find myself unable to dismiss it. I've heard all the reasons for 'why' to use it. Using it when it is appropriate or to fully develope a character or it is used to make something or someone more believable or reaslistc or whatever. I don't buy into this because I have read enough great literature that doesn't have it and I don't find those stories lacking. All this to say, there is tons of profanity in this book. I understand that these characters are frustrated, cancer-ridden teenagers and there is plenty enough of sadness, anger, edginess and sometimes despair in their lives. I just, (I don't really know how to express this),I just wish, I guess, that the language of these characters was matched more carefully and closely to their brilliant and beautiful brains. It just cheapened or reduced the atmosphere around them, or something, to have them keep throwing out such common, ugly and undesirable speech. They themselves have so much in them that I, the reader, love and want to know more of, and they ruin it for me by dividing their speech between what sounds like beautiful poetry and what sounds like something they learned from the Thesaurus of Foul Language that they picked up at the local dump. It doesn't make me like them less, it just makes me less able to enjoy them. I am, after all, investing my time in them everytime I pick up the book. I just think that a general reduction in profanity would have improved my experience of reading this book. It definately would have improved my rating.
One other reason for only three stars would be how the questions of Christianity and Heaven are handled. Let me say right off that I am a Christian and I do not expect that every person I encounter, fictional or real, to have the same beliefs or mind-set that I have. I just find it so disheartening when people walk through life, (a world of death and difficulty) with no hope of relief or rest or reward in the Afterlife. It's so sad, especially when I believe that it doesn't have to be that way. I love the process that we all eventually go through in life in thinking, wondering about and arriving at answers in regard to faith. I know of no one who doesn't consider this for themselves at some point. I believe that process is a gift given us directly from God, a God who wants to be discovered, revealed, arrived at and embraced. Seeing someone miss that arrival, fictional or real, makes me sad. I will say this though...I do not know if John Green is a Christian but I did notice something that I apprecialted very much in his writing. I'm pretty sure I saw that every reference to spiritual terminology, (Christianity), was always capitalized. Not just the proper usage for proper nouns like "God", but also when using "He" or "His" in reference to God in the middle of a sentence. That shows an honorable approach to all things of God to me; a careful, intentional action, and I noticed it, and I liked it.
Mr. Green, I'm going to pick up another one of your books. I know I will enjoy the story, I'm hoping for less profanity.
flag
No comments:
Post a Comment