REVIEW: THE FAULT IN OUR STARS ~ JOHN GREEN

The Fault in our Stars by John Green follows the story of Hazel Grace Lancaster, a terminally ill sixteen year-old, who meets the great love of her life at a cancer support group.  Hazel sees herself as a grenade, bound to blow up eventually, and her wish is to minimize the damage; so she keeps Augustus at arm’s length.  Augustus, however, will not be deterred.  This book is a beautiful portrayal of young love, complicated by living with terminal cancer.

Augustus (Ansel Elgort) and Hazel Grace (Shailene Woodley) in the film version of TFIOS

I love, love, love the way this book is written.  It’s very intelligent, very clever writing.  It is first and foremost a love story, but offers quite a realistic look at the life of cancer patients (to an extent, but hey, this is fiction).  If this book does nothing else, it will give you a whole new appreciation for every breath you breathe effortlessly. 

I adore the characters.  Hazel and Augustus are such unique, interesting characters – as are the supporting characters.  I love Hazel’s relationship with her parents and Augustus’ relationship with Isaac.  This book might have my favourite dialogue ever – I love everything that Hazel and Augustus say; like I said, clever writing.  Is this how the average teenager talks?  Absolutely not; but that's why I love it.

I have to say though, while I know this book emotionally wrecked a lot of people, it did not make me cry; and I had expected it to.  I worried for a while because this book did not make me ugly cry as it seemed to make everyone else do - is there something wrong with me? - but considering I easily get chocked up while reading very often, I have just come to accept that while I loved this book, I guess I just didn't connect emotionally. I have to say that the first half of the book was better than the second half of the book, and I think maybe there was just too much hype surrounding the book when I started reading. Maybe my expectations were unrealistically high. The book by no means fell short and definitely falls under the category of best books I’ve ever read, but the tears just never came for me.  

The Fault In Our Stars is a beautiful book I would recommend to anyone who is considering reading it.  TIME Magazine called this book “Damn near genius”.  I would have to agree.

I am just so thrilled this book didn’t end mid-sentence.  You’ll have to read it to find out why…

The film version of The Fault In Our Stars is set to be released in June, and stars the talented Shailene Woodley as Hazel Grace, and Ansel Elgort as Augustus.  By the looks of the trailer the film is a faithful adaptation of the book, and I will definitely give it a go.

Product Information

Title: The Fault In Our Stars

Author: John Green

Pages: 337

Year: 2012

Publisher: Penguin Group

ISBN-10: 014242417X

ISBN-13: 978-0142424179

ASIN: B005ZOBNOI