The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

from goodreads

4 stars

I have come to the conclusion, which most readers eventually come to I'm sure, that I will never get around to reading every book I want to. There are just so many books that are published everyday. Even when I think I am doing well at whittling down my to read list more just keep on getting added. And forget about trying to stay current with the literary world. Quite often by the time I get around to a book it almost seems passe.

But coming to that conclusion has lead me to other insights. Such as knowing when a book is just not worth my time to continue with it. Because I have so many other books on my list, why would I bother keeping on reading something that is just not doing it for me. I still will keep those on "the list", because maybe they would be better if I read them later, or didn't feel the pressure of my holds list at the library. But I have definitely become more picky about which books I will slog through and which ones are not worth the effort. It has become freeing in a way. Giving myself permission to say "I fought the good fight to try to be interested, but it's just not to be". And you know what, that's okay.

Synopsis
Hazel knows that she is going to die, sooner rather than later. She has cancer, but thanks to a miracle drug she has lasted longer than what her parents and doctors thought possible. At a support group she meets Augustus another cancer kid. This is a book about their love story, their adventure, and what it means to be human.

My Thoughts

What a great book. What a wonderful and heart-wrenching story. It is funny, poetic, lovely, sad and hopeful. It gives an insight into the cancer teen world that you don't think about. While the story focused mostly on Hazel and Augustus, you catch glimpses of how it effects friends, parents, and the relationships with the cancer patient and those people.

I love how Green talks about the complexities of what it means to "fight cancer". Of course the patients would love to keep on living and experiencing life, but there is also feelings of guilt, frustration, humiliation, concerns  and fears.

The one thing that I didn't like about the book, or at least I didn't find it as believable, was the intensity of the love connection between Hazel and Augustus. Supposedly they had this crazy super in love connection, a love that changed them, redefined them, and would go down in history as the best love ever. I just didn't get that. I felt I was only getting mere glimpses into their lives. Supposedly they spent a lot of time together, but to me it was like they knew each other for a day and then bam, they were in love and inseparable. I guess it was just the time line that seemed funny and was hard for me to really picture their crazy in love status.

There is a bit of a plot twist which kept up some of the suspense and drama. It was cool and heartbreaking all at once.

I think this is a great book for all ages, well teen and up. This is a book that I think adults will like and learn from just as much as their teen counterparts. John Green, you did good with this!