The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is one of those books that actually reaches out and touches you, shakes you and makes you a different person for having read it.
Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
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Title & Author: The Fault in Our Stars
Genre: YA Contemporary
Release Date: January 10, 2012
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Dutton
How I Got the Book: Bought (Book Club Pick)
Description:
Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.
Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.”
Faultless – The Fault in Our Stars
Note: I read this for my first ever YA book club (that’s meeting tonight)!! I quickly made some discussion questions (which refer to the book as “A Fault in Our Stars”), so if you’re interested, feel free to use them too. HERE THEY ARE!
“It’s not a cancer book, because cancer books suck.” – Hazel Lancaster
From Hazel’s own mouth, cancer books suck. And, if you think The Fault in Our Stars is a cancer book you’re mistaken. The main character doesn’t create a charity for cancer patients or even a charity for people with cancer who want to cure cholera (as Hazel suggests as a better alternative).
The Fault in Our Stars is so much more than a mere cancer book. It’s about life, death, love, loss and everything in between. It’s written with the most authentic voice I’ve ever experienced in young adult fiction.
Even though the topics at hand are gruesome and terrifying in their graphicness and realism, John Green handles it with a strong dose of humor and a chance for redemption.
Hazel, or Hazel Grace as Augustus calls her, is main character who is an existentialist with a penchant for swearing and making snarky jokes.Hazel is brutal in her humor – often about her lung cancer and others’ ailments too – which can certainly make readers uncomfortable and squirmy.
After Hazel meets Augustus Waters, a hot guy with a prosthetic leg, at her cancer support group (that takes place in the literal heart of Jesus – inside joke), she finds someone who understands her completely and who is just as cynical and she is. The one thing Augustus is not is negative or depressed, and he shows Hazel how to live life with abandon.
One of the Best YA Books Ever
John Green is a genius. There’s no doubt about it. His writing is amazing – the dialogue is fresh and witty and his characters are raw and deep. The Fault in Our Stars is definitely one of the absolute best books I’ve read in 2013 AND of ALL TIME.
What’s amazing about The Fault in Our Stars is that there’s a beloved book of Hazel’s that’s talked about often – An Imperial Affliction. It’s a total creation of Green’s mind, but it (and its author) serves as this huge backdrop to ponder some seriously deep stuff – like does the universe demand our attention, or is it the other way around?
Plus, it makes Hazel think about her own story and how her life may end in the middle of a sentence or a word. And, it makes her think about her family and their own epilogue. What stories will be written there for them?
In the long list of “things I loved most” about The Fault in Our Stars, sitting at the top is death. Not just death, but how it’s handled. Green totally goes there and really takes a look at how death affects families and the people who face it daily.
OVERALL:
As Hazel Grace says, some books make you want to shout from the rooftops with zeal and others make you want to keep it a secret and hold it to yourself. I can relate with the former. This book is simply stunning. Above all else, The Fault in Our Stars will definitely make you think about the deeper things of life and is sure to stick with you long after the last words are read.
