Author: John Green
Date of Publication: 2012
Genre: Young Adult
Type of Work: Novel
Awards/Special Recognition: TODAY Book Club pick
TIME Magazine’s #1 Fiction Book of 2012
-Millions of copies sold-
#1 New York Times Bestseller
#1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller
#1 USA Today Bestseller
#1 International Bestseller
#1 Indie Bestseller
Summary: Seventeen year old Hazel Grace Lancaster is fighting an ongoing battle with stage four thyroid cancer, which has metastasized and spread to her lungs. Because of her cancer, she has to use a portable oxygen tank wherever she goes. Hazel reluctantly attends a cancer patients’ support group upon her mother’s request. It is during one of these meetings that she meets a boy named Augustus Waters, a boy there to support his friend Isaac, who had to have a tumor in his eye removed. Augustus and Hazel bond over a movie at the group and decide to go back to August’s house to watch the movie and talk about each of their experiences with cancer. Hazel reveals that she has thyroid cancer which has spread to her lungs. Augustus reveals that he had osteosarcoma but is now cancer free after having his leg amputated. From this point on the two go on a whirlwind romance that takes them halfway across the world to Amsterdam in search for an author that Hazel idolizes. Hazel learns quickly that sometimes the person whom you idolize from afar isn’t the same person you see up close.
This story is one of love, friendship, and the challenges that come with being a teenager in a new perspective. These two teens had to deal with all the normal struggles of being a teenager added on with having cancer. Augustus and Hazel not only deal with the angst of teenage love and heartbreak but they also share an intimacy that not many other teenagers, let alone adults, experience. The Fault in Our Stars depicts how cancer, in a best-case scenario, can provide a bond between some people and also how it can drive a wedge between others. I would give this book a rating of 3 and a half stars.