Book Review | 'The Fault in Our Stars'

The Fault in Our Stars
John Green
Penguin
Kindle Fire eBook
Five out of Five Stars



The Fault in Our Stars is the heart-breaking new novel by John Green, documenting a point in time of a girl named Hazel Grace Lancaster's life in which she meets, and falls in love with, a boy named Augustus Waters. Hazel and Augustus, however, both have cancer and spend the book realizing that they should live their lives to the fullest they can be, traveling from Indiana to Amsterdam and back to Indiana. If you are a big worrywart when it comes to spoilers/you haven't read the book, you may want to leave this page just to make sure you avoid anything you may consider to be a spoiler in the slightest.

The story begins with Hazel attending a support group against her will, but meeting Augustus Waters by the end of the meeting. They begin to hang out and soon become boyfriend and girlfriend. Hazel tells Augustus of a book called An Imperial Affliction by the fictional author (fictional in the sense that he is real to the characters, but not to the reader) Peter van Houten, whom they set off to Holland to find. After meeting with van Houten (I won't spoil that confrontation for anyone who wishes not to be spoiled), Hazel and Augustus return to Indiana only for Augustus to relapse and begin to lose sight of the snarky, metaphorical boy he was to Hazel before. Hazel then begins to view her life from a very different, very deep perspective and doubt her existence and presence on Earth.
Reading the book, I felt like I actually was hearing Hazel Lancaster's voice in my head, rather than just reading the words on the page. It sort of is that way with every John Green book, but seeing as this is first book from the perspective of a girl, it was very fresh and very nice to experience such a dramatic story written by a regularly-comical man. Something that really hit home is the connection between Hazel Lancaster and Esther Earl. For those who don't know, Esther Earl was a very avid member of Nerdfighteria (the fandom made by John and Hank Green) and the Harry Potter fandom, and was diagnosed with thyroid cancer (the same type of cancer Hazel possesses) at a young age. Esther Earl passed away in August of 2010, but still exists in the memories of thousands, maybe even millions, of people. To read more about Esther on the website for the charity foundation made for her, click here. Besides that, Hazel very much resembled Esther Earl; the way they looked, the type of cancer, etc. (as pointed out to me on the "Not a PotterCast" about TFiOS). John dedicated the book to Esther's memory, and that really could be something that fuels the debate over whether or not Hazel is a direct representation of Esther, which Green disclaims.
The characters in this book really meld into the storyline very well, and they were just the types of characters I really could believe were standing right next to me. I could feel their pain, their joy (that which we could not experience without the former), their sadness, and their euphoria. The ending of the book--while it wasn't a surprise--was a very beautiful and poetic way to end the novel. Green perfectly presented a meticulously-crafted story about friendship and loyalty and family and love and life.
Thank you so much, John Green.