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Synopsis (with Spoilers)

I loved this book. Let’s set the tears aside, and lets dive into this book. SO MUCH happens in this book that I rather discuss the events that I enjoyed.

This story follows of Aza in her quest, with her best friend, to solve the mystery of where the hell this fugitive billionaire is. It was interesting to read that Davis, the love interest for Aza, was an old friend of her and havent spoken since they were younger, similar to Paper Towns.

We never really talked much or even looked at each other, but it didn’t matter because we were looking at the same sky together, which is maybe even more intimate than eye contact anyway. I mean, anybody can look at you. It’s quite rare to find someone who sees the same world you see.

During the quest of going on the property of the billionaire, they get caught, and come across Davis. The son of a billionaire. What I appreciated about his character is that he wasn’t stuck up. He actually hated his dad and his money, and was a nice guy. He never forced Aza to do anything she didn’t want. He was also super poetic, and had an appreciation for literature.

It’s a weird phrase in English, in love, like it’s a sea you drown in or a town you live in. You don’t get to be in anything else—in friendship or in anger or in hope. All you can be in is love

I appreciated how John Green was fully able to capture what it is like to have anxiety. There was paragraphs and paragraphs into the mind of Aza, and as someone who deals with anxiety, I connected to the story. My anxiety isn’t as bad as some have it, but there moments when I just go into a spiral of thoughts, of second guessing myself, and second guessing others actions. 

I was afraid John Green was going to say that at the end, Aza was magically cured, and the anxiety went away, but instead, Green showed the many ways to cope with it and how it never really goes away. By living with it, moving on, seeking professional help, actually obeying to your medical prescriptions, and trying to shut those voices down, it helps to reduce anxiety.

“I wanted to tell her that I was getting better, because that was supposed to be the narrative of illness: It was a hurdle you jumped over, or a battle you won. Illness is a story told in the past tense.” 

Now let’s talk about the ending, and why it made me super sad. 

The problem with happy endings is that they’re either not really happy, or not really endings, you know? In real life, some things get better and some things get worse. And then eventually you die. 

The ending wasn’t sad, but it wasn’t a happy one either because in the end, Green sorta suggests that they don’t end up together but they will meet up again sometime, and that just makes me sad. Both Aza and Davis support each other in different ways, they’ve both been through a lot, they share the same core values, and to read that a connection as deep as those two, don’t end up together was upsetting. 

But at the same time, I loved the ending. After finishing the book I thought about their journey as a couple, and to come to an ending like this, made it more meaningful. An ending like this reminded me that even the people you love the most don’t become your forever, and that’s okay. What matters the most are the memories you share. 

You stare up at the same sky together and after a while he says, I have to go, and you say, Good-bye, and he says, Good-bye, Aza, and no one ever says good-bye unless they want to see you agin. 

What I liked about the book:

I loved how this book was many genres into one. It was a contemporary, romance, and a mystery novel all in one. All of these genres blended so well with the story that I was excited to see where the story would take me. 

I also appreciated how this book discussed class. In Davis’s case, it showed that no matter how much money you had, money couldn’t buy happiness, without explicitly talking about it. It also discussed the backgrounds that both Aza and Daisy lived in. Yeah Aza was middle class, but she lived in a house, had her own car, and didn’t have to worry about money. In Daisy’s case, she lived in an apartment, she didn’t have a car so she had to ask for rides, and she had to work at Chuck E. Cheese.

What I didn’t like about the book:

At times, I didn’t like the characterization of Daisy, Aza’s best friend. In the book she writes fan fiction and writes Aza into her stories as an annoying character. I get Daisy’s motives, but I would of loved to see her be a better friend to Aza. A friend who would check in with her mental illness, a friend who didn’t write Aza into her fan fiction, and a friend who supported Aza.  Daisy could of communicated her issues with the friendship, and all of this could of be solved. But then again, that’s how we are with friendships. We don’t really discuss our issues, and slip it under the mat. Other than that, I loved Daisy. She has her flaws as any other character.

What could of made the book better: 

If it was longer. This is definitely one of those books that made me wish it was longer because I never wanted it to end. If John Green wanted, he could of made this book into 500 pages, but instead we got this short, condensed novel. 

Will I read more books by this author?

Hell yes. Following the hype of The Fault in Our Stars, this book did not disappoint. John Green was able to show that he doesn’t cave into the pressure of writing the next great book. The Fault In Our Stars was a huge success, and following that much praise from a book, I couldn’t imagine the pressure of writing another book as big as that. 

Favorite quotes

In the best conversations, you don’t even remember what you talked about, only how it felt. It felt like we were in some place your body can’t visit, some place with no ceiling and no walls and no floor and no instruments

We always say we are beneath the stars. We aren’t, of course—there is no up or down, and anyway the stars surround us. But we say we are beneath them, which is nice. So often English glorifies the human—we are whos, other animals are that—but English puts us beneath the stars, at least.”

What were your favorite parts about the book? What were your least favorite parts about the book? Comment down below and let me know what you think!