"The Fault in Our Stars" | Book Review

"TFiOS" book cover

The Fault in Our Stars, written by heartstring-tugger extraordinaire John Green, follows Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16-year-old girl with stage 4 Thyroid cancer with metastis forming in her lungs. After her mother forces her to attend weekly support group meetings, Hazel meets Augustus Waters, an intelligent, very attractive 17-year-old boy in remission from Osteosarcoma. Although Hazel fights it at first, the two fall in love and develop a relationship that is a pleasure to witness take form.

To call this book a tear-jerker would be a massive understatement. John Green gives us such an honest portrayal of cancer's effects on families and relationships. You really do fall in love with the characters over the course of the story; it's the wonderful characters coupled with the harsh truth about cancer that make this story so painful. And yet, through all the tears (and trust me, there are a lot), Green manages to leave readers with a sense of hope at the end of the novel.

I absolutely love this book (I've now read it twice), although I do sometimes find it hard to believe Hazel and Augustus are teens because the way they speak sounds so advanced. I've never known any teenager to speak with the level of intelligence they do - which is not to say I think teens are unintelligent, because I don't, nor am I saying these kinds of teenagers don't exist. I just found a lot of their speech to be so metaphor-laden and mature-sounding. I think this maturity can be attributed to the amount of growing up their cancers have forced them into; they had to deal with extremely difficult situations at a young, impressionable age.

I highly recommend this sad, beautiful, hopeful, and incredibly quotable book to anyone and everyone. Be warned: you will cry, so be sure to keep a box of tissues by your side.

Have you read The Fault in Our Stars? If so, what did you think? Will you be watching the film adaptation?

You can read my review of the film here.