3.5 stars 
 Firstly, I probably shouldn't have picked this up as audiobook. I think it would have been better as an actual book. I also really didn't like the narrator. She spoke way too properly for portraying teens and I felt like I was listening to a motivational tape. 
 Secondly, yeah, I still didn't really like the writing. Please don't shoot me - I know there are so many people who loved this book (I mean, loooved this book), but I just didn't. I didn't really care for Hazel's character nor Augustus. I just didn't connect with them for some reason. I felt like John Green threw way too many "big words" in there. It seemed like it was trying to be overly smart or overly poignant and it took away a lot for me. Hazel went from using words that I would never use or haven't even heard of and then immediately called someone a "doucheface". Meh, I mean I guess teens CAN pull that 180, but it just seemed unnatural. Sure, they weren't your usual teens and they said so, but I just really didn't enjoy the characters. 
 That being said.... I still cried. 
 Full review originally posted on The Book Addict's Guide: Please don't bring out the torches and pitchforks but... I totally didn't like The Fault In Our Stars as much as I had hoped. For everything I had heard about it, the rave reviews, everyone who was touched by it, I feel like there were so many things that I just found not to like about it. 
 First and foremost, I borrowed this from the library as an audiobook. To be fair, I probably shouldn't have listened to the book and I should have actually read the book. I really didn't like the narrator, Kate Rudd (actually hated at the beginning). Her voice was just fine, but it was a little too exact in pronunciation so I felt like I was listening to a motivational tape or something. I also really didn't like her voices for Augustus or Isaac at all. Isaac was a really whiny voice and Augustus just sounded kind of dopey. Also, all of the "okay" sequences between Hazel and Augustus sounded so stiff and not emotional at all and always with the same exact inflection. I just really didn't think she did a good job. 
 Looking past the narration, there were also quite a few things that bothered me. I felt like John Green had big word-itis in this book. Has anyone ever seen that episode of Friends where Joey uses the thesaurus to write an adoption recommendation letter for Monica & Chandler? That's how I felt about the choice of words in this book. Now, now, I know Hazel is supposed to be "not-your-ordinary-16-year-old-girl". She doesn't have the social life to pick up the common teenage "OMG" aspect, but still. She's 16. I just didn't relate to the fact that she (and Augustus too) seemed to have a vastly larger vocabulary than any of their peers, and even the adults in this book were dumbed down by their knowledge as well as their struggle with their respective cancers. I just really felt like the writing was a bit -- dare I say -- pretentious. I really just didn't care for a lot of it, actually. 
 I really didn't enjoy the trip to Amsterdam much either. The whole thing just felt unnecessary and that the whole thing could have taken place in the US. I know, I know, there were obvious reasons for it but I totally wasn't digging it. 
 And don't get me wrong, it has nothing to do with the fact that it was a sadder or more serious story than I normally read. I quite enjoy the serious turn on quite a few books, but I don't know... I just never really got into it. And also has nothing to do with cancer as the main focus - Please - Lurleen McDaniels books were my bread and butter as an adolescent. I just never made a real connection with the characters. 
 I think I complained a bit too much in this review... But I actually was bothered by quite a bit. That being said, I did cry. I sobbed at the ultimate sobbing point of the book and totally could not help it! And I did end up enjoying quite a bit of the book. I was just let down quite a bit since everyone was giving it 4.5 or 5 stars reviews. I disappointed myself by expecting too much!