But that argument feels flimsy to me, because it’s like saying a criticism of an Asian-American character is invalid because there might be some Asian kid somewhere who fits all the most absurd stereotypes society wants to saddle us with. There’s certainly an argument to be made that some people somewhere will react to pediatric cancer the way Green’s characters do. Of course, the reasons I found it boring made me angry all over again, because they’re indicative of just how poorly John Green portrays pediatric cancer patients. Instead, the poor understanding of cancer patients and repeated inaccuracies just got a bit monotonous-I acknowledge that I haven’t lived every possible cancer experience, but I felt like every other page I was running into something that felt wrong or that I’d never heard anyone say-and to my utter shock, the book was boring. I’d expected it to be a bit of a hate-read, but from what I’d heard I also expected it to be well-written and engaging. So my expectations were low, but I was willing to be surprised-and I was. The fact that it claims not to be a “cancer book” is all the more frustrating when it’s pretty much the canceringest cancer book ever to cancer-book. My history with The Fault in Our Stars: From the premise, I suspected I would dislike this book.

I have other cancer survivors close to me who’ve helped me through the most recent one, as well. For the first one I was treated at a children’s hospital and knew some of the other patients there, and I also went to several summer camps for kids with cancer where I met a whole lot more. Second time in my twenties, a different cancer. Me: Two-time cancer survivor, first time at age 12, intensive chemotherapy and radiation and given 50/50 odds of making it.

John green the fault in our stars