review; the fault in our stars

The Fault In Our Stars
by John Green

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

Review:
TFIOS is the first book to have broken my heart so completely and made me cry. John Green took me on a journey with Hazel. It wasn’t her full story, but it’s a snippet of Hazel’s life that tells us her character, almost completely. The story starts with a 16-year-old dying from cancer and ends with a 16-year-old dying from cancer.

But within the span of time we spend with Hazel, we see that even in her situation, it is possible for someone to leave their mark on her. The questions of mortality and life after death that are tackled in the book are never preachy or over the top, and it is refreshing to see a point of view so frank and open about life and death and dying.

Augustus Waters is one of the most compelling characters I have ever come across. All the characters in the novel are engaging and entertaining and sometimes irreverently funny, and always real. I never once felt as though these could not be actual people somewhere in the world.

I’ve never simultaneously loved and hated a book so much. This book took me on a roller coaster of emotions, and I could not put it down, even when it hurt my heart to keep reading. It’s one of those few books that will stay with you all your life, and it’s made a fan of John Green’s writing, as I am of his vlogs and blog.