The Fault In Our Stars

The Fault In Our Stars
Written by John Green

"I can't be a regular teenager... I'm a grenade waiting to go off."

About the Author
John Green grew up in Orlando, Florida, and after graduating Kenyon College in 2000, he went onto work with terminally ill children. His work with these youngsters inspired him to write The Fault In Our Stars.
He moved to Chicago where he worked as a Publishing Assistant whilst working on his novel Looking For Alaska. Green is also a online Vlogger and Educationalist.

The Story
The Fault In Our Stars is the story of Hazel Grace, 16 year old cancer patient from Indiana and her struggle against the monsters inside her body. She was diagnosed with Stage 4 Thyroid Cancer when she was only 13 years old. Hazels mother pushes her to attend group therapy meetings every week, and that is where she meets Augustus "Gus" Waters. Gus was a former basketball star who lost his right leg to osteosarcoma. Gus becomes infatuated with Hazel after her first words spoken to him. He persuades Hazel to spend some time with him and watch a movie at his house, she agrees. After swapping knowledge on films and books, Hazel tells Gus about her favourite book An Imperial Affliction. After becoming obsessed with it himself he goes out of his way to try and contact the author after Hazel had tried many times in the past.
When Gus is successful, Hazel asks for the email address he discovered and writes her own letter to the famous author, Peter Van Houten. The "Genies" (Fictional version of the Make a Wish Foundation) allow sick children to have one wish to do or see whatever they want. After Hazel had wasted hers a few years earlier on Disneyland, Gus offers to use his wish to fly her to Amsterdam to meet Peter Van Houten himself.

Characterisation
Character leads in the storyline include;

• Hazel Grace Lancaster - The stories lead protagonist and main character, she also acts as the narrator, as the story is told from her point of view.
• Augustus "Gus" Waters - Male lead character, young heartthrob and cancer survivor we follow in the story.
• Isaac - Gus's blind best friend and another fellow cancer survivor.
• Peter Van Houten - One time best seller of An Imperial Affliction, Hazels idol and all around freak show of a character.

Hazel was diagnosed with cancer when she was only 13 years old, just 3 months after her first period. She lives with both her mum and dad, as she is an only child. Which in the story worries her because she classes herself as a ticking time bomb. "A grenade waiting to go off." She worries that when she does finally pass on, her parents will be unable to carry on with life without her.

Gus is in remission after losing one of his legs to osteosarcoma. He is tall, slim and very good looking, and he knows it. Gus is first intrigued by Hazel because she resembles his late ex-girlfriend Caroline Mathers. Gus uses his "Genies Wish" to allow Hazel and himself to go and meet Peter Van Houten.
Isaac is Gus's best friend. At the start of our story he has only one eye after losing it to eye cancer, but he then goes completely blind further in due to the surgery he has to remove the cancer. Isaac is dating a young lady named Monica, but he is shortly dumped by her before he goes 100% blind because she "Didn't want to dump a blind guy" Isaac assumes.
Peter Van Houten comes into our story a little later than everyone else and also plays a major part in our connection between Hazel and Gus. After Gus offers to take Hazel to Amsterdam to meet her idol, they are disappointed to find that the man that they though was so great is actually a worthless drunk, and all around horrible guy. Hazel and Gus have been portrayed in a way in which you know that no matter what good or bad things may come along in their lives, they have found a place for each other and shall be there for each other every time.

Plot Lines
One of my favourite plot lines in the story is when Hazel and Gus are first on the plane, flying over the ocean on their way to Amsterdam when Gus asks Hazel to read him the poem that she was currently reading. But she tells him it isn't the sort of poem you can read out aloud. So he asks if she knows anything off the top of her head, and suddenly she starts to read out aloud a poem she had memorized. She memorizes the poem out aloud to Gus slowly, and when she finishes Gus turns to Hazel and tells her that he is in love with her. And Hazel replies in shock by just saying his name. This small scene in the book actually made a little voice in side of me say "AWW" with a very long "WWWWWWWWW" on the end of it.
From this event onwards, both Hazel and Gus start to grow closer. Hazel was shocked by his revelation as she told him that she didn't want to date him, as she was classing herself as a grenade waiting to go off, and didn't want the same thing to happen to him when he lost Caroline.
This was the scene in the book that made the whole book worth reading. Knowing that no matter what Hazel did, how much she fought to not be with Gus, fighting her feelings for him, he still wasn't going to give up on her. He was determined to be with her and he fought for her.

OVERALL

Story: 9/10

Characterisation: 9/10 (Purely for the detail of the characters and their connections to each other)

Re-readable: Yes

Recommendable: Yes

Overall I rate this book: 9/10

When reading a story that is touching to you, or heart warming, you get to a certain point where you literally do not want to have to put the book down again. You know in your heart that an author has done well with a novel when they are able to make you cry whilst reading. I got to a point in this book where I was crying so much, I couldn't control myself and had to put the book down and take a break before I could go back to it. The Fault In Our Stars is so BEAUTIFULLY written. It makes you wish you could write like that. John Green has honestly touched my heart with this book. It allows you to connect to the characters on another level, and if you have family member that has or had cancer, it really relates to you.

I look forward to reading more from John Green in the future, and I hope I am able to find another author that is able to make me feel the way that this book did.

A news story I found on the Internet allowed to me confirm that there will be a movie adaptation of this novel, to be released in 2014. I look forward to it already. I just hope it isn't going to be like My Sisters Keeper all over again. Blubbering and weeping like a baby at every turn point in the story.

I would recommend this book to fans of General Fiction

If you liked this, You will also like:

• My Sisters Keeper
• The Lovely Bones
• The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas