Author: John Green
Hardcover, 313 pages
Published January 10th 2012
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
ISBN: 0525478817
Summary: Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.
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
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
My thoughts: If you could judge a book by the ache in your chest while reading it, this book would get ten stars. I read A LOT of books, and usually don't have too difficult a time giving them a rating between one and five, but The Fault in Our Stars was an exception. Five stars was not nearly enough. I could come up with a silly pun here about the fault in my stars, but I'll spare you.
This is definitely a book that I'll have to read a few more times to really appreciate. I'm a huge fan of John Green's witty dialogue and unique characters, but this book felt like it had a depth that went beyond his other books.
While I'm sure some readers will take issue with how this book portrays cancer (because the ugliness of this disease can never really be condensed inside a few hundred pages) I thought Green did an excellent job of addressing the stereotypes that people with cancer face. I chose to look at this book for what it is: a book. And like any good book I felt like A Fault in Our Stars distilled real life into something painful and beautiful and haunting.
I don't know if I'd change one word.
Wow. I was wondering if it was good. Thanks for reviewing TFIOS!
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