Review: The Fault in our Stars by John Green

The Fault in our Stars by John Green
Published: January 10th, 2012 (Dutton)
Pages: 318
Source: bought
Challenge: none
Series: no
Buy the book: Bookdepository
Rating: ★★★★★


Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Please note that my review does not do this book justice at all. I've tried to form some coherent thoughts, but they are all over the place. I'm sorry about that - TFioS left me a wreck after I finished it. I blame John for my scattered thoughts afterwards.

Since the synopsis says all there is to know about the book beforehand (except: AMSTERDAM!), I'll jump straight in with my thoughts. While his other books were good, they never pulled me in fully because I didn't have a connection to the characters. The Fault in our Stars has all what I need to be fully sucked into the story, and it did exactly that and more. I felt connected to Hazel and Augustus, and I felt with them while I experienced their journey together.

It didn't take that long before I was in tears. Proper crying, not just burning eyes or a lone tear travelling down my cheek. Proper crying, that made my vision blurry and my eyes red. I was a mess while reading it, and even afterwards I had problems trying to form a decent thought. I was a wreck.

Cancer is a disease that has taken a lot of loved ones from me. John managed to tell the story with heart. It wasn't only about the disease and I loved that. I loved how he has created this story that shows us how the characters develop despite their disease and for the first time he managed to actually move something in me while I was reading it.

As far as I'm concerned, this book is John Green's best work to date by far. If you haven't gotten your hands on a (signed) copy yet, I highly recommend you do so in the next couple of days. This book is absolutely amazing.

Nothing short of brilliant - The Fault in our Stars deserves all the stars.