Review of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Rating: 5/5 Stars - An emotional must read - you won't regret it. 

The Fault in Our Stars is a brilliant work of fiction. It follows the story of two star crossed lovers; Augustus Waters and Hazel Grace. When I first read the blurb on goodreads I decided not to go and read the book. I could see it was rated really well, but I didn't care.

I didn't want to read a book about cancer, and sadness and mortality. I didn't want to read something that could be real. That could bear any semblance to a person's actual lived heart ache - And I am by no means suggesting that this book is based in fact, so John Green you can just chill. Normally I prefer to read something entirely unrealistic, about a zombie apocalypse or vampires with a romantic streak or a dystopian world where average teens somehow become pumped up super people and kick ass. However, I listened to Green read the first chapter aloud on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_vFvb... ) and I was hooked. I could picture Augustus and his crooked smile and I wanted to know more, about him, Hazel and Isaac. From the first chapter I became obsessed with the characters. 

And that's the fantastic thing about Green's writing. Each character is important, they are each essential to the storyline. To me at least, it didn't feel like anyone had just been added in to fill a role. I loved the humour between Augustus and Hazel. I stand by what I've said in my status updates - my favourite section of the entire book is the first page of chapter 15 (which I'm including here because I am no longer restricted by minuscule character limits!! I'm also nesting it in a clearly marked spoiler so that those of you who want to experience it in the moment can, and those who want to know what the heck I'm talking about can actually read it)


***SPOILER QUOTE!***


Gus: “It tastes like . . .”
Me: “Food.”
Gus: “Yes, precisely. It tastes like food, excellently prepared. But it does not taste, how do I put this delicately . . . ?”
Me: “It does not taste like God Himself cooked heaven into a series of five dishes which were then served to you accompanied by several luminous balls of fermented, bubbly plasma while actual and literal flower petals floated down all around your canal-side dinner table.”
Gus: “Nicely phrased.”
Gus’s father: “Our children are weird.”
My dad: “Nicely phrased.


This is a book that will make you laugh. It will give you warm fuzzies, and you will sit there and be all *naww they're just so cute and adorable and oh-my-god-kiss-alreadybecauseyou'reperfectforeachother!* Just as often however, you'll curse the universe, God or whatever higher 'Something' that said it's ok for people to suffer, and made it so that the world wasn't a giant "wish-granting factory" where everyone lived happy lives like the weird ass pixie at the start of the movie 'A Series of Unfortunate Events' (I've never gotten round to reading the books so I can't say with any conviction that the pixie exists in its novel form - My Bad!). You will learn from this book. You will quite probably fall in love with the people contained within its pages. If you react anything like I did, you will admire their strength, humour and intelligence. And you will mourn their loss when there are no more pages to read. 

John Green tackles issues of mortality, identity, love and stigma and he does it in a way that will make you laugh and cry all at the same time - and regardless of whether or not you're in the mood for a book about cancer, sadness and all of the above you should read it. Because it is brilliant and you won't regret it for a second.