The Fault in our Stars
By John Green
It has taken me a long time and a lot of distance to review this book. The Fault in Our Stars is about cancer. Specifically it is about teenagers and cancer. It is hard to read and I wasn't sure if I could or even wanted to. I'm glad that I did. Hazel Grace is our protagonist. She has terminal cancer. It is a type of cancer that has been terminal since the beginning. Her attitude was one of treading lightly. She wanted her death to cause as little mess as possible; wanted to leave a faint footprint. This is a very different book from what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be a "6 months to live" type sob story that was popular when I was a teenager. In those books, the patient wanted to make a difference, have the last days count, touch as many lives as possible and be remembered. They make cancer out to be slightly romantic. This book is not like that. John Green was very brave about writing this. He shows cancer as messy, gut wrenching and real. This is much more than a sob story. It tackles big issues like the meaning of our existence. Perhaps we are not as big of a deal as we think. Most of us will walk this earth, do our best and leave this earth and hopefully cause very little damage. Only a handful of the masses will do something earth shattering and that is ok. It is also surprisingly funny. He is a very witty writer and this book is no different. I think my favorite line is when Hazel says to Augustus, "It's embarrassing that we all just walk through life blindly accepting that scrambled eggs are fundamentally associated with breakfast." John Green and his books are proof that to be a young adult author, you do not have to write drivel. There is no need to constantly repeat words such as "like" and "totally" to persuade teenagers to read and appreciate it. I think authors like John Green challenge young people to think and grow. I know I have been.
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