The Fault In Our Stars

Finished The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.

Hazel is a teenage girl with terminal cancer.  The tumors aren’t growing and with the drugs she’s taking (and the oxygen she’s on), she has more time.  Even so, “more time” isn’t enough time.  She’s fully aware that she’s going to die, and sooner rather than later.  She’s perfectly content to spend her remaining time at home, with her parents and marathons of America’s Next Top Model, but her mom pushes her to attend a cancer support group.  That’s where she meets Augustus Waters, a guy with the “good” cancer (an 80% survival rate) and he’s in remission.  And then everything changes.

I completely adored Looking For Alaska and really liked Paper Towns (and didn’t hate an Abundance of Katherines) so my expectations for this book were beyond sky-high.  Even so, they were completely blown away.

I don’t want to get too specific because I know this is a highly-anticipated book for a LOT of people and I don’t want to be accused of any spoilers, no matter how benign.  So I will just say this: the potential for sappy sentimentalism in a book like this is high.  I mean, come on, teens with cancer?  And I have a soul; I cried during A Walk to Remember.  But this is not that story.  This is a story about courage and strength and love and friendship and family, all the best things about being human.

This is a story that will stay with you and one that has become one of my all-time favorite books.

There are not enough superlatives for this, or for Hazel and Augustus or for any of the other characters in this book.

I wrote on Facebook this morning that I want everyone to read this book and I completely hate that John Green isn’t Stephenie Meyer-famous.  Because he should be.  This should be one of those books that you see everyone reading. 

Highly recommended.  SO highly recommended.