The Fault in Our Stars
By John Green
The only way I can start this review is with a warning- Beware this book WILL break your heart. I was a wreck. Turning the page became a blur of words behind my tears, towards the end I struggled to read on mainly because I new what was coming, a struggle I concurred not unlike like Hazels "18 steps". Please don't construe this as a negative review: John Green is undoubtedly a genius, he made me feel more than any other book has. I fell in love with the characters and mourned them, I felt every word.
Hazel is the likeable girl next door with terminal cancer, she argues with her parents, watches Americas next top model and enjoys "cancer perks". She meets Augustus in "Gods heart" and he immediately settles in the readers as well as Hazels heart alike. Handsome, funny, clever and he "had a touch of osteosarcoma" which left him with one leg. Along the way you meet Isaac who adds to the selflessness you find in Augustus and Hazel.
Their story is utterly beautiful a tragic love story, Romeo and Juliet for 2013. It is not all loveable characters though the villain is created in the form of an author named Mr Van Houten. Ironic that the villain is an author- as the real villain in any novel is always the author because they create the tragedy. However for me Van Houten helps the story in numerous ways when we read Hazel shouting "no that's not acceptable" we see her as more than a cancer victim when its followed by "bullshit" we no longer think of her as a weak. She is standing her ground, she is using abusive language, she is human. For me it was Van Houten's story that truely brought me to heaving, heavy sobs.
The book is filled with metaphors and amazing quotes. When the couple visit Amsterdam and go to view the Anne Frank museum Hazel describes that Anne "almost lived" a very apt and heartbreaking mirror to the last third of the novel. My favourite quote throughout the whole book without a doubt, is John Greens description of Amsterdam "Amsterdam is like the rings of a tree: it gets older as you get closer to the centre"
Now comes the question would I recommend this book? I undoubtedly would, go out and buy it but buy a box of tissues and don't think you will turn the last page unaffected.
