Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I have avoided reading this book for a while now. Not because I did not think I would enjoy it but because I was worried about how emotional the content would make me. I am a weeper. I am well aware I can cry at the drop of a hat and books are no exceptions. In fact as a student warned me that I would and I quote here, ‘cry my face off’.  This really put me off as I just hate it when I get so emotionally involved that I cannot compose myself after closing the book.However, with my new goal to read different genres and new authors I thought I would kill the proverbial bird with one stone and read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. I have not read anything else by Green so the style was very new.  

I really got hooked by this book. The story is sad but handled in such a way that although I shed many a tear I was not as inconsolable as I had expected and there were many moments where I was laughing and cry such was the tone of the story.

The story centres on Hazel Grace who is fighting off cancer after unexpectedly beating it before. She has to have help to breathe constantly and as results is no longer in main stream education and is cared for by her mum. She is however living her life the best she can.  Hazels mother pushes her to attend a support group where she meets Augustus. A fellow cancer survivor, they bond over shared understanding and seem to be very much kindred spirits. Green creates a stunning romance between these characters that is not only believable but touching and sweet without being soppy and over-the-top. Augustus and Hazel find common ground after Hazel recommends the book An Imperial Affliction for Augustus to read. In a sweepingly romantic gesture Augustus manages to find the author of the story, a known recluse, and using his wish (a fictionalised version of the make a wish foundation) they travel to meet him and try find the answers they both now want, if not need.  

The story does have its complex moments that younger readers may find tough to get their heads around but as romance/tragedy fiction goes it is worthwhile contribution to the genre. Green has a way of writing that makes you feel the whole spectrum of emotions in short sharp bursts. 

I will not lie and say the book is not a sad one. It is without a doubt a tear-jerker but I do not believe Green has gone out of his way to make you cry. He has simply told the truth and sometimes the truth is unpleasantly sad. 

An emotional rollercoaster of a book