*flaps hands* I just finished listening to this one yesterday and had this whole fantasy of making you read it and making a bunch of other people with other disabilities and serious illnesses and chronic conditions read it, so we could talk about the things he gets so right and the things he gets so wrong and then talk about it as a book without any disability/illness issues at all. And then you read it.
I have many thoughts, and you got at a lot of them here. I gave the characters a pass on being so pretentiously witty, but I couldn't decide if that was because they were both teenagers and dying, or because Kate Rudd did a good job with the audio. I do think John Green does a good job with female POV characters, because it makes it harder for him to manic pixie any of the characters. And it did jerk a puddle of tears out of me, but it was very calculated; the last third of the book is masterful tear jerking rather than masterful literature.
Actually that might be what happens with the metaphor issue you bring up. The first half of the book stresses explicitly the whole idea of life as metaphor. Metaphorical cigarettes, and all. And then the last third of the book is concentrated tearjerking, personalities distilled through pain, etc., and the life just lived through illness get less focus at that point. (Which is one reason why Isaac might be my favorite character later in the book; he's less about the pain oh the beautiful pain.)
I think the book does better with the chronic nature of illness and pain (which I agree he gets so right) than with disability. I was perplexed about how little Augustus' prosthetic (and the pains and inconveniences that are related to that) were a presence in the book, but maybe for able-bodied readers there was a lot and it only seemed like a little to me because I was being more practical about it. And Isaac's computer game made me burn with jealousy, but it served a good narrative purpose.
(Also, did you listen to the author's note on the audio? I wanted to punch John Green in the mouth the entire time I was listening to it. It's all us/them, and "people with chronic illness all think existentially.")
no subject
I have many thoughts, and you got at a lot of them here. I gave the characters a pass on being so pretentiously witty, but I couldn't decide if that was because they were both teenagers and dying, or because Kate Rudd did a good job with the audio. I do think John Green does a good job with female POV characters, because it makes it harder for him to manic pixie any of the characters. And it did jerk a puddle of tears out of me, but it was very calculated; the last third of the book is masterful tear jerking rather than masterful literature.
Actually that might be what happens with the metaphor issue you bring up. The first half of the book stresses explicitly the whole idea of life as metaphor. Metaphorical cigarettes, and all. And then the last third of the book is concentrated tearjerking, personalities distilled through pain, etc., and the life just lived through illness get less focus at that point. (Which is one reason why Isaac might be my favorite character later in the book; he's less about the pain oh the beautiful pain.)
I think the book does better with the chronic nature of illness and pain (which I agree he gets so right) than with disability. I was perplexed about how little Augustus' prosthetic (and the pains and inconveniences that are related to that) were a presence in the book, but maybe for able-bodied readers there was a lot and it only seemed like a little to me because I was being more practical about it. And Isaac's computer game made me burn with jealousy, but it served a good narrative purpose.
(Also, did you listen to the author's note on the audio? I wanted to punch John Green in the mouth the entire time I was listening to it. It's all us/them, and "people with chronic illness all think existentially.")