You n g Adu lt Fic t ion 6 5
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
YAF GREEN, J.
Hazel is 17, and she’s dying of cancer. She lugs around an oxygen tank to breathe, but even so, her lungs are slowly filling with water. As she puts it, her lungs just basically suck at being lungs. After spending most of her teenage years in and out of hospitals and undergoing tests, she’s ready to spend the rest of them re-reading her favorite book, watching America’s Next Top Model and thinking about death. Her mom, of course, is having none of this. So it’s off to cancer support group she goes, a place where cancer patients are heroes and everyone strives to “live their best life today!” Just as she prepares herself for another agonizingly cheerful discussion, she meets fellow cancer patient Augustus Waters, diagnosis osteosarcoma. So then there’s Augustus. Basically he’s gorgeous, charming and refreshingly sarcastic; but, most importantly, he gets her. His intensity of being seems to fit perfectly with her witty intelligence. Try as she might not to, Hazel “falls in love the way you fall asleep, slowly and then all at once.” And in this way their story begins... This is one of the best novels I’ve ever read. It made me think about life, death and all the moments in between. This is not a cancer book. It’s not about death and dying. This book is about life and the universal questions we all ponder or try not to ponder every day. This book is a love story, not a silly story about infatuation, but a story about true love in all its honesty, pain, and beauty. This story was heartbreakingly beautiful, thoughtful and real. I loved it, and I loved all the feelings it made me feel. Recommended for 8th grade and up. – Heather Cunningham