The Fault of Our Stars

by John Green
4 out of 5 stars

I had to wait a few days before even contemplating a review of this book. This is YA fiction, but the subject matter is not for the faint of heart.

Hazel is a plucky, funny, really likable teenage girl with blue fingernails, heartbroken but determined parents, and the capacity for sarcasm and zingers that made me laugh out loud. She’s also terminally ill and fights the kind of demons that no one should have to face, least of all not a kid. Anyone who’s experienced cancer or watched someone you love go through it knows that any lulls that come between the peaks and valleys carry their own brand of pain – because it’s always there, and every glimmer of hope comes with a shadow.

But Hazel marches on, her oxygen tank named Phillip in tow. Her observations about life, living with cancer (as opposed to dying from it, which, she acknowledges will probably happen soon), her friends, and what will happen when she’s gone are served unapologetically with a side of blunt. She’s not snarky, she’s just tired and been through more than anyone can fathom, and, quite frankly, doesn’t have time for bullshit.

When Gus, a former basketball star with bone cancer and a penchant for irony and metaphor arrives at her cancer kid support group, she finds an unlikely soul mate, and the book takes off on a roller coaster ride of really sweet, raw, irreverent commentary that leaves you a tiny bit drained emotionally, but really glad you did it.

Gus and Hazel are young enough to love life and each other desperately, and old enough to know that whatever they have is fleeting. And that “You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world … but you do have some say in who hurts you.” They choose each other knowing full well what’s to come, and somehow, this is OK – you get it, and you can only cheer for them…and then go get more Kleenex.

Like a lot of YA fiction I’ve read lately, Fault of Our Stars veers into the unbelievably clever and articulate – like author John Green just needs an outlet for all of his cleverness (and he is VERY clever), but forgets that not EVERY SINGLE character should be that way. But Green also captures the hilarious awkwardness and blunt honesty of teenagers really well. Somehow, this still works despite the fact that Gus and Hazel write each other's eulogies (with humor) instead of love letters and their Gift-of-the-Magi destiny is to not worry about who will die first, but who will be left behind. Suffice it to say that this is a very difficult book to read in public.