The Fault in our Stars by John Green

*Wooo exams are over! I'm back!


Pages: 313
Publisher: Penguin Books
Release: January 2012

Plot: Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now. 

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. 

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

The review

I'm not going to bother following my usual review style of good points, bad points for this books because I don't think I could ever bring myself to fault it. 

Firstly, God Damn it John Green what have you done to me!!! 

When I ordered this book a couple of days ago I knew that everyone had been giving it glowing reviews but for some reason I had kept putting off actually reading the thing. Why? You may ask, I'm not entirely sure...maybe its because I had read it was about cancer and couldn't bring myself to go through what I knew would inevitably happen within the story or maybe because I was worried that I would be investing time into characters I would inevitably grow to love only to be heartbroken when, you know, it happened.

Well anyway I finally decided to read it and I really am glad that I did. The book arrived yesterday afternoon and I think I read it in something like two sittings, it was that brilliant.

 On rare occasions do books have me bursting out into fits of laughter and on even rarer occasions do they eventually bring me to tears. But this book managed both. And although I wasn't flooded with tears, these characters that I had rightly believed I would grow fond of genuinely felt real in my eyes/mind (?)

This book isn't just about the cancer, its about finding yourself and learning to live. The characters find purpose and every one of their personalties shone through so amazingly well that you felt the people you were reading about were real. 

I don't think I can comment much more on how brilliant this book truly was, I can only recommend that if you haven't read it already- do, and if you have- read it again. 

BTW. Did anybody else rush on to Google to try and find An Imperial Affliction? I see now it is a made up book but I love that somebody has made a Goodreads page for it anyhow. See here :) 

Thanks for reading :D Please do comment!