The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Book Review)

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Details)

Book Title: The Fault in Our Stars
Book Author: John Green
Date Published: January 10, 2012
Number Of Pages: 352
Achievements: Bestseller: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today | Recommended by: Entertainment Weekly, TIME Magazine, Today Book Club | Major Motion Picture
My Rating: ★★★★★

The Fault in Our Stars (Summary)

Hazel is a 16-year-old girl in the regressive stage of lung cancer. Her family is afraid that cancer will come back and we get to read about how they all deal with it. I love that the author spent time detailing, from Hazel’s point of view, how she watched her family deal with their emotions. It’s not often you see a teenage girl who appreciates and understands her mother’s smothering nature.

Her mother makes her go to a cancer support group, where Hazel meets Augustus, a teenage boy who survived bone cancer. While I could have done without the unlit cigarette metaphor from him, I did enjoy his witty banter as well as his thoughtful philosophy. It complements Hazel’s matter of fact personality very well. In fact, I was laughing at Augustus’ behavior a lot throughout the book.

Of course, Hazel and Augustus fall in love. But, with both of them struggling with the end of life questions and families that are scared for their children’s survival, their love isn’t the typical run of the mill story line. Hazel shares her favorite book, Imperial Affliction, with Augustus and they both become obsessed with the story’s ending. So obsessed, in fact, that they use Augustus’ unused Make A Wish gift to take a trip to Amsterdam to meet the author. We get to witness even more development with these characters when they find the truth about their favorite author that they weren’t expecting.

We meet several characters throughout the course of this book and learn that they are all dealing with their own struggles. We watch as they go through life, support each other, and grieve alongside each other when a loss is felt. Because of the horror of cancer and how unpredictable it is, we see the vulnerability in each character as they express their fears and doubts. But, we also get to see a lot of strength and the author did an amazing job of reminding us to live each day like it was our last.

The Fault in Our Stars (Book Review)

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. This book was that good. It hit all my marks for character development, story hitting me in the heart, love, grief, and vulnerability.