Book Review

Kristin Cammorata

10/24/13

period A

The Fault In Our Stars

Hazel thought she was in for another day at support group, the same boring routine of sitting in the quiet circle and not paying attention.That was until she met Augustus Waters, the confident, witty and intellectual ex-basketball player and amputee.

John Green's, The Fault in our Stars, is narrated by sixteen year old Hazel Grace Lancaster who has stage four thyroid cancer. Most of Hazels time is spent at home with her mom and dad.Until, Hazel meets Augustus when he comes to support group with his friend Issac. Hazel and Augustus have immediate chemistry, and bond over the book, An Imperial Affliction. Hazel subsequently falls in love with Augustus, but doesn't want to hurt him. However, this novel follows Hazel and Augustus’ relationship and where it takes them.

I found this book to be an amazing read. Most novels that are about a teenage romance are predictable and unrealistic. However, I found this book to have a great  balance between focusing on Hazel and Augustus’ relationship and keeping everything realistic when it came to obstacles of cancer. Green has created interesting characters that keep you thinking throughout the novel.The Fault in our Stars, is very well written, from the vocabulary, to the emotions that Green is able to portray in his writing. Green is able to take a simple statement and make it into something meaningful, “ I’m in love with you, and i know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor returns to dust, and i know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have,and I am in love with you” (Green 153).

One problem, if any, that I had in this book was that it could be hard to relate to the main characters of the novel, because they didn’t seem sixteen years old. Hazel and Augustus handle their relationship, and cancer like adults. They are very mature and intellectual  unlike most sixteen year olds. For example, most sixteen year olds couldn’t put together such a thought provoking sentence like this,”I think that the universe is improbably biased toward the consciousness, that it rewards intelligence in part because the universe enjoys its elegance being observed”(Green 223). I think that Green portrays himself, more than two teenagers in his novel. All his characters, from Hazel’s parents to Isaac, are very similar in that at all times they have intellectual, sophisticated conversations, and it is evident that Green is putting himself into the story.The most realatable character is Isaac, because it is evident that he is upset over losing his eyesight, and it shows true emotion, like any other person would be going through in that moment, and it allows you to feel,and give sympathy for the character.

Green depicts an interesting,and emotional book that forces you to become enthralled in the characters life, and continue reading. Many young adults can relate to the themes of love, loss, and hardship posed in this well written novel.

Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars.Dutton Books. 2012