The Fault In Our Stars - Review by Keyzla Rodriguez

The Faults in Our Stars is an amazing book. John Green writes about these two teenagers that are diagnosed with Cancer. He writes about a young girl known as Hazel who was diagnosed with lung cancer known as Thyroid. Hazel wouldn’t bother getting to know others and keep her circle of friends limited because she wouldn’t want them to pity her after her death.  Hazel would usually stay at home, sleeping or reading her favorite book over and over again, The Imperial Affliction by Peter Van Houten. She doesn’t make an effort to connect with her parents before her inevitable death, at the most sitting down to watching America’s Next Top Model together. Hazel is 16 and reluctant to attend a support group her mother was told about that is mainly for kids who are diagnose with terminal illness. Her first day attending support group she met a handsome one-legged young boy named Augustus Waters. Augustus is a very attractive, charming and witty young man. He was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, but has recently had it all cleared. He got a leg amputated to remove the cancer. Hazels and Augustus friendship began when she first laid eyes on him. They had this staring contest that spiced everything up between them. After that we already knew that their friendship would even become more than just a friendship. Augustus would be the type of boy that would be so determined to leave a mark on anything or anyone who speaks to him. Augustus took no time in getting to know Hazel but wasn’t hesitant to invite her over to watch a movie right after Support Group was over. Gus would attempt to make the impossible possible.

            Now let’s talk about Hazel. She refers herself to a “ticking bomb” nearly close to blow up any minute. As we’ve read, her first time attending the Support Group she doesn’t make any effort trying to communicate with others. Even though we know that she becomes friends with Augustus and Isaac. Isaac is Gus best friend; he had to get his eyes removed in order to get rid of the cancer. Back to Hazel and Gus; Hazel was very attractive to Gus, but didn’t want their friendship to become anything else. She was afraid that when she dies she would break his heart. Although, after their trip to Amsterdam she realized that loving someone was actually worth it.

            For a good portion of The Fault in Our Stars, I found myself chuckling at Hazel and Augustus’ dry humor. The first half was generally light-hearted despite the grim situation the characters were in. Even when things got more serious, the humor was subtly there as a convenient ice-breaker of sorts. It’s awkward and uncomfortable, but oddly reassuring that it’s possible to joke about something so morbid. Life goes on.

The plot was simply “ok” for me, at times wowing me, keeping me on the edge of my seat. It seemed to just float by with occasional things happening. There weren’t many plot twists or “ah ha!” moments because you could tell from the beginning how it would end. You knew from the subject matter that it would be sad, and yet… I, of course shed a few tears towards the ending of the book. There are many different ways people reacted to this, some cried some didn’t.

I would definitely read this book again and not get tired of it. So in that case I recommend this book to anyone, I’m pretty sure you’ll like it.