Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Hardcover, First Edition, 313 pages

Published: January 10th 2012 by Dutton Books
Review Copy: Purchased
Purchase: Amazon -- Barnes & Noble

Description from Goodreads:
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: 
I’ve had The Fault in Our Stars sitting on my shelf since its release day. Not because I didn’t want to read it, with all of the buzz it was actually high on my to-read pile. Unfortunately, I just never got around to it until this week, and oh how I regret waiting so long to read this book.

What can I say about The Fault in Our Stars that hasn’t already been said? This book took me on an emotional roller-coaster that I’m not entirely sure I’ll ever recover from.

I started this book on Tuesday around 11PM, having just finished The Spectacular Now, and had real life not gotten in the way, I’m sure I would’ve finished TFiOS in one sitting. This book pulled me in, and all I wanted to do was to keep reading about Augustus and Hazel.

What I loved most about The Fault in Our Stars was how Green constructed both Hazel and Augustus. Here you have these two kids, suffering from a terrible, terrible disease, and yet, they don’t allow their disease to become them. They still know how to smile, to laugh, to live – and honestly, they bring out the best in one another. It isn’t a cancer story, it’s a story about two teenagers that just so happen to have cancer. In fact, it actually kind of reminded me of 50/50 in that it managed to balance the humor with the pain, and it did so wonderfully.

I didn’t understand why so many others had stated they bawled their eyes out while reading this until I came upon the scene at the gas station. That is the first time that we really get to see the vulnerable side of Augustus Waters, and it is absolutely heartbreaking. That scene – as well as the whole book, honestly – just felt so real. And the pain only grows from there on out.

As for the ending… I honestly was expecting it to end mid-sentence, like I was fearing something would happen to Hazel, that her story would play out like Anna’s, and that in the middle of reading, everything would just end, but not really end. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. The ending was actually beautifully written, and though I still have many questions, I’m satisfied with how Green ended their story.

I’m not big into re-reading books, but this is one I can easily see myself re-reading time and time again.

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