A Spoiler Free Bit About The Book
I usually write my own blurbs in this section. I don't actually use the published ones because I feel I can shorten them and give you the gist. I'm not doing that this time. I can't seem to find a way. So this time, here's the real blurb!
Despite the tumour-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.
My Review
I warn you now, this review is going to be me raving about how beautiful and perfect this book was. I could find no fault with it. None at all. This is one of those rare books that will change you. I put this book down and I wanted to pick it up again at once. I could read this all day everyday over and over again, much as Hazel does with An Imperial Affliction during TFIOS.
I loved this book from the start. From paragraph one. From sentence one. I knew from the first sentence that this book was something very special, and you can't often say that.
TFIOS was many things. Tragic. Honest. Funny. It was a perfect blend of all my emotions at once. I was laughing one minute and wiping tears off my face the very next. And then laughing again.
It was brutally honest. And it needed to be. That was why it was so funny sometimes. Hazel and Augustus were so real to me. They were the perfect mix of intelligence and teenagers that you never seem to get in YAs. They said things you would say and did things you would do. They screamed and cried and laughed and loved. They were flawed, of course they were. They were beautiful and I would've followed them to the ends of the earth. They were the kind of characters you want to know in real life. As sad as this is, I wanted to be their friends immediately. I'm not even ashamed.
TFIOS gives you the harsh reality about cancer that many other books about it don't give. It wasn't prettied up, shall we say. We readers were not lied to. Why should we be? We know full well it's not going to be pretty when we pick up the book so I applaud John Green for not sugar-coating it for us. It may be for teenagers, but teenagers can handle the truth. I hate it when adults forget that.
Of course it wasn't just the harsh realities of cancer that made this book stand out. It was the other harsh realities too. About illness and death and love and life and dreams. So many subjects were covered and interlaced perfectly. This book is the home to my soul now for so many reasons.
I devoured this book in no time. I read it at every opportunity and willed it to be longer because I was sad I was going to finish it before I was half way through. I read the second half of the book all in one day. I cried a lot. On the train into London. On the streets of London. I didn't even care. I just couldn't get it out of my head or my heart - nor did I want to.
John Green is a beautiful writer. There were so many lines I read and then had to share because keeping the book all to myself was a crime, and yet the most delicious thing in the world.
Evaluation
Plot - 10/10 - went places I didn't expect
Way Plot Was Pursued - 10/10 - beautiful honesty
Characters - 10/10 - in love with them
Style - 10/10 - faultless
Pace - 10/10 - perfect
Would I recommend it? - Yes. A thousand times over. Grab a box of tissues, a cup of tea, some chocolate and give your soul to John Green.
Would I look up the author? -Yes, already done. Planning to read everything this man's written.
The Fault In Our Stars will have a place in my heart for every day I remain on this earth.
Molly Looby
Author / Editor / Blogger / Reviewer / Wrimo / Movellian / ZA Ready
molly.looby@hotmail.com
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