The Book Vipers discussion

Spoilers are allowed on here. Don't read on if you haven't finished the book yet.

I read this last year. Looking forward to talking about it here.

Feel free to start off by posting your thought Cheryl. Did you like it?

Yes, I liked it quite a bit.

I gave it four stars, as there were a couple of things I didn't like about the characters. I felt they were both a little unrealistic and at times Hazel was a hypocrite.

(I wonder if anyone else can guess why I felt this, or if I'm the only one)

Overall though, I laughed, I cried and would recommend it.

Do you want to expand on that thought about Hazel?

I felt that her character wasn't quite as well developed as Augustus, who I did prefer. I would have liked to read more about Isaac too.

Ok, well it was a minor thing really, but it bothered me a little.

It is related to the scenes where Gus plays with the video games and Hazel tells him to "calm down it's only pixels" and comments that it's as if he believes it's real.

This is the same character who wants to travel half way across the world, putting her life in jeopardy to find out how a book ends.

Putting the metaphor of why these are both important to each character aside for a moment I just felt it was a little hypocritical of her to criticize him for caring about fictional characters.

Good point. It wad a hard lesson Hazel learned from van Houten. Life doesn't always have a happy ending, as she should know, and van Houten clearly wanted to show this in his novel. A shame she had to travel so far physically to realise that. She found a man destroyed by his own tragedy.

This arrived from the library on Thursday and I finished it today. I liked it a lot but did not find it exceptional. The writing was fluid and poetic but the characters were fairly idealised; while they were both very likeable, they were ridiculously witty and verbally dexterous and philosophical for 17 year-olds, which just doesn't ring true for me. Their love seemed too mature and thought-out, as well. And I wasn't too sure what Kaitlyn was there for? These issues, though, didn't take away from what is a well-written and emotional YA book.

I found the Van Houten part in Amsterdam incredibly well done in terms of the shattering of ideals and the 'wish factory' idea, but I didn't think his visit to America was at all likely or even necessary. I realise this was supposed to absolve him but I found it all odd.

I've just read this, and enjoyed it, although I had been dreading it! It was chosen by someone in my book club, and I didn't want to read it, partly because of all the hype, and partly because I don't like really sad books about people contemplating death, but felt I should join in, so I read it.

I was very surprised to find that I enjoyed Hazel's narrative voice, the story flowed well and it was very easy to read. I liked Augustus, although (like Lisa's comment below) I found he was far too articulate fir a 17 year old. However, Hazel's narrative allowed me to be 17 again and fall in love with Augustus. I thought the Van Houten part of the story was important, as it brought a reality to the story. Overall, I thought it was very good and one I would recommend.