The Fault In Our Stars

The Fault In Our Stars
by John Green

First published in Great Britain in 2012.

The Fault In Our Stars is a book off my 'To Read' list for this year.  For a while after the film came out there was talk everywhere of 'Okay? Okay' - I even saw it on a tshirt in Primark.  I never got around to seeing the film but wanted to read the book once the hype died down (less chance of someone asking if I was up to 'the bit where......happens'?).  I did end up knowing certain plot points by the time I read it but not enough detail to have it ruined.

Hazel is a sixteen year old with terminal cancer.  Augustus Waters is a seventeen year old who has had osteosarcoma and is an amputee as a result.  The two meet at a Cancer Kid Support Group and are soon inseparable; Augustus even manages to organise a trip to Amsterdam for Hazel, her mum and himself to meet Hazel's favourite author.  As their relationship deepens and they help each other through hospital visits and a friend's issues, the backdrop of cancer is always there.  A plot twist eventually brings sadness to their love story.

Even though The Fault In Our Stars is a book mainly about teenagers it is one I believe a lot of adults would enjoy too.  The characters are maturely written, not made out to be your stereotypical high school kids.  The book is fairly concise; at only 313 pages it's short enough to read in a week or less (which I did) and then re-read before you have to give it back to the library.  

Although it is written from Hazel's point of view it is not childish and is at times emotionally quite hard.  Obviously cancer is horrendous, yet it is something which most of us will have some dealing with in our lives.  I have often heard that people who have cancer sometimes find a sort of humour in their situation, and this is definitely true for the characters in this book.  Cancer is the first link between Hazel and Augustus and continues to feature heavily in their story, from their friend dealing with losing his sight to Hazel's ever-present oxygen tank.  

The characters do not let it define themselves but they are also not cheesily optimistic all the time.  I think this is a much more realistic view; allowing the characters to scream and cry and shout that it isn't fair is a lot better (although emotional) to read than if they were these 'this won't affect me at all', unrelatable people.

I thought that Hazel was a well thought through character.  She wasn't just an angry teenager who has cancer.  I may be a bit biased because she loves reading and I know what it's like to feel obsessed with a book,  but I felt I could relate to her - I felt like we would have been friends in school if she were real.  She cares so much about the people in her life and says that she knows she is a grenade who will explode one day so wants to minimise the casualties.  I thought this was a very mature way of looking at her situation (plus it gave Augustus the chance to be all cheesy and sweet).  Hazel's matter of fact way of looking at her life is refreshing and makes it even more emotional when she is upset.

Augustus comes across as a bit of a cocky lad at first.  When he tells Hazel he is looking at her because she is beautiful at their first meeting I thought 'oh heck here we go with the over the top teen romance'.  I think because Hazel reacted the same way I did as I was reading, he grew on me the same as he grew on her.  He is similar to Hazel in that he understands the pain people can cause.  One of my favourite lines from the book is one of his: 'You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you'.  As sad as this sounds, that pain is inevitable, I like the idea that you can decide to let it get to you or not.

I won't spoil anything if you haven't read this great little book, but I will say that I cried.  A lot (at one point I had to stop reading it on a bus because tears were threatening to fall and it was first thing in the morning).  I found that I cried at random parts that you wouldn't even think to be sad at.  To me, that was the best bit about The Fault In Our Stars.  Even though I sortof knew what was coming, the story still hit me harder than I thought it would and I felt sadness in moments that you wouldn't immediately expect, particularly between Hazel and her parents.

Don't let the 'young adult' label put you off this one, let it teach you a better way to look at life.  And maybe don't read it on public transport unless you have a heart of stone.