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.
I first bought this book for my cousin, having seen it decorating every bookshop for several months. Looking at the blurb, though, I didn't really have any urge to read it myself - young love, cancer? It all sounded a little pre-teen, a little American.
At this point I slipped into the kind of person I have despised for so long - a literary snob. Blghrrrr. So after seeing it's huge success and hearing nothing but high praise for this novel, I decided I really should have a go and damn it, it really is good.
Sure it is a little teenagery but it's done with such heart (and not the gooey fluffy kind, grittier and more painful than that). The protagonist, Hazel, has all the wonderful grumpiness and pretentiousness of that breed of teenager but she is not a caricature and I feel that must have been extremely important for Green when writing her. She's funny, she's intelligent, she has things she likes and things she doesn't, she's desperate to be understood but also desperate to be misunderstood, and she gets into grumps like any other person, teenager or otherwise, but actually has a *reasonably* decent excuse. The love interest, Augustus, is perhaps a little too perfect. But that's ok. Why? Because if Hazel is me, then in my little moment of escapism, there's an Augustus for me too. It's as simple, as cheesy and as sugar-sprinkled as that.
There is something about going through something awful like a serious illness, death, war, whatever it may be, that is very dreamlike; you don't ever believe it will happen to you, even when it has. Therefore, while my cynical side rolled its eyes at the seemingly perfect love story, the other part of me felt that it all kind of fits - cancer, love - they're pretty much both dreams, albeit opposite ends of the spectrum. Ok so now I sound like the pretentious teenager with very poor vocab but I hope you see what I'm getting at.
One of the best things about this book, and I think what makes it feel all the more real and not what I would call 'cancer-schmultz' is that Green and his characters are not afraid of humour. Nothing like a bit of black humour when everything is going wrong. Sure, it isn't for everyone, but it sure as hell is the drug for me.
By the end, though, I have to say I felt angry. Not at having wasted my time or anything - this was a beautiful book, it was funny and touching, enlightening and well-written - but because I felt manipulated. How dare Mr. Green make me feel emotional. Streaming with black mascara tears at various intervals, it felt like I had been drugged by Nicholas Sparks and that I was getting emotional against my own will. But actually, if I'm honest, sometimes that is exactly what I want - to be able to get in touch with those emotions in a safe environment. And there's no better way than reading this book. And it's not trashy, either. It's good quality, literary YA fiction that should be read by everyone. Ultimately, kids books do things that adult books can't. I can't put my finger on it but this book is surely a perfect example.
9/10
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