The Fault in Our Stars - Review
By: John Green
Published: January 10, 2012 by Dutton Books
313 pages
Source: Personal Library (won hardback over a year ago)
(Goodreads / Amazon
)Summary:
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.MY REVIEW:
Do you ever find yourself not wanting to read a book that's been hyped up a lot? I won a hardback copy of this book over a year ago. Everyone was raving about it. Consistently bloggers and friends I trust were rating it 5 stars. So I KNEW it was a good book. I KNEW I would love it. And I also KNEW that it would make me cry. At the time of receiving the book I was emotionally drained from some other heavy books and needed light and fun and easy reads. A year later I still hadn't read it and the movie was a few months from coming out. So my sister-n-law's and I planned a beach trip that also coincided with the release of the movie. Not being a very long book I read it in 2 days. And I boo-hoo'd through the last 125ish pages. Snot.Nosed.Crying!
Guess what? The raving, and the hype and the building up was definitely deserved!
Hazel is a 16 year old girl who has terminal cancer. What started out as thyroid cancer when she was 13 has developed into stage 4 cancer that has spread to her lungs. Upon her mom's and doctor's insistence she attends a support group for kids with cancer. It's here that she meet's Isaac. A boy who lost an eye to cancer and is facing losing his other eye. It's here during her second visit that she meets Isaac's best friend: the witty, charismatic and handsome Augustus Waters.
The first half of the book is filled with great humor in an otherwise serious story. It keeps you smiling and laughing out loud. Then BAM, just like that the seriousness of the book and their situation hits you like a sledge hammer and the tears start flowing. (Be sure you have a box of tissues nearby) Even as sad as it is, and how emotional I was, I feel like I gained something in my heart by reading the story of Hazel Grace and Augustus. I gained a small glimpse into what cancer patients - especially young people - go through. Seriously, if you never read any other piece of fiction - read this story.
Favorite Quotes:
Look, let me just say it: He was hot. A nonhot boy stares at you relentlessly and it is, at best, awkward and, at worst, a form of assault. But a hot boy...well.
I liked that he was a tenured professor in the Department of Slightly Crooked Smiles with a dual appointment in the Department of Having a Voice That Made My Skin Feel More Like Skin.
But you keep the promise anyway. That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway.
As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.
I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you.
...I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful.
Final Rating - An overwhelming 5 stars!!