Book Review :: The Fault in our Stars by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Published by Penguin Books
on January 3rd 2013
Genres: Contemporary, Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 318
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Despite the tumor-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.

Last updated on 3 April 2023

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I’ve been a little bit familiar with John Green, ever since I read Looking for Alaska when I was about 16 (I remember not really enjoying it, but after loving The Fault in Our Stars, I’m thinking of re-reading Looking for Alaska and giving it a second shot), and I have always seen raving reviews and mentions of this book around the internet. I knew that I should probably see what all the hype was about but I only got around to it this past week. Because Amazon is super cheap (compared with NZ prices for…well, for everything) I just bought the book online, rather than wait for the ever-increasingly long wait line at the library.

“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.”

I started The Fault in Our Stars on Saturday morning, and by the time we arrived home from travelling down from Scotland in the car, I had started, read, teared up, laughed, gasped, and finished the book. One sitting. That doesn’t usually happen. But once I started this book, even after the first page, I was hooked and not even coffee at the motorway services could stop me from reading.

What is The Fault in our Stars about?

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green tells of Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16-year-old girl with cancer, who meets a boy, Augustus Waters, in Support Group. She has lung cancer, and has to carry oxygen around with her wherever she goes; he had osteosarcoma over a year ago.

We follow the story of their friendship, and then the story of their love while battling with their health and the health and sanity of those around them. One of Hazel’s great loves is reading, and this is woven all through the story, as she shares her favourite book with Augustus and they, together, go on a hunt to find the author so they can ask him to tie up loose ends.

“I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and I am in love with you.”

It’s written in first person, from Hazel’s perspective, and while it sounds like it would be a depressing ‘everyone’s-got-cancer-and-they-are-all-gonna-die’ book, it really isn’t.

Hazel’s character is your typical teenager who just has cancer thrown in the mix. She reads, she watches America’s Next Top Model, she goes shopping, she checks out hot boys…the works. Augustus is a fun-loving, cheesy-line-making, makes-everyone-smile kind of guy, with an immediate attraction to Hazel. Their friendship, while being individually quite different, makes for a great read, and a very cute couple. The minor characters in the story are definitely there for a reason, and while there are a couple I wanted to punch in the face, there were a few I just wanted to hug.

My thoughts on The Fault in Our Stars

With laugh-out-loud moments, *gasp* moments, ‘I need tissues now’ moments, and great chemistry between the characters, this is an amazing story of friendship, love, and life’s everyday battles, as well as extremely heart-wrenching cancer battles.

“As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once.”

It’s a story that has the best lines in it, and it is written beautifully. Green has done an incredible job with this book, and I highly recommend it. The reason I’ve given it a four-star rating instead of a five is that I could see what was coming, so it wasn’t much of a heart-being-ripped-out-of-my-chest kinda ending. But it was still beautiful, and I will definitely be reading this one again.

“My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.”