the fault in our stars {book review}

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Favorite character: Augustus

Favorite quotes (there are literally so many good ones):

“What a slut time is. She screws everybody.” 

“Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.” 

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

“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.” 

Book Summary from Goodreads
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.

My Thoughts
When there's a YA book that gets a lot of hype, I always feel like I need to read it to see what the hype is about. And when that said book has been read by two of my friends and they both say how awesome it is, I, of course, need to try to read that book ASAP. When I had a reunion with a few of my college friends, we had a nice little chat about books (I really value friends that share my love for books. Some people just don't understand!), and my friends, Mandy and Tyler, had both read The Fault in Our Stars, and I just felt like I needed to read it after our conversation about it. The book definitely lived up to the hype of both the critics and them.

I listened to this on audio book, and man. It was hard to get through. Not because the storyline was bad or anything like that. More like, it made the sad parts even sadder. It was like Hazel was talking to me personally about all of these things that happened in her life, and when the sad parts came, I cried. I'm not even gonna lie. This book brought tears to my eyes.

From the get go, I was really attached to Hazel. I mean, she's a young girl with cancer. Then she meets Augustus, who is in remission. And oh. My. Goodness. If they aren't the perfect couple, then no such thing exists. For a book about cancer, I sure smiled and laughed a lot throughout this book. Both of them are so witty and amazing. I officially deemed Augustus my book boyfriend, in spite of what happens at the end of the book.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. John Green is brilliant. Like, why haven't I read this book until now (okay, more rambling. Sorry). I think these characters are easy to relate to in so many ways. They are both just trying to make the best out of the worst possible situation. Hazel has been terminal since her first diagnosis. All she wanted to do was sit at home and watch reality TV with her parents. All her parents wanted was for her to go make friends and have a life.

Augustus's struggle was different because things were looking up for him. He was in remission. He fell fast and hard for Hazel. His biggest problem was figuring out how he would be remembered to everyone in the world. Hazel didn't care about that. She just wanted to die knowing that she left a positive light on the few people she cared about.

For the skeptics who don't want to read this book because it's about cancer: the book isn't really about cancer. I mean, yeah, cancer is a big deal in the book, but in my eyes, it's secondary to the relationship of Augustus and Hazel.

Easily and happily giving this book a 5 out of 5. TFIOS sent me on an emotional rollercoaster. It was full of extremely awesome and happy moments, moments that warmed my heart, moments of pure anger, blissful moments, and, of course, the dreaded devastatingly sad moments. I loved reading from the perspective of Hazel. I felt like we were friends, and I was just sucked into this storyline that I didn't want to get out of. The voices in the novel are just raw and real and no one tiptoes around the things that everyone thinks you're supposed to tiptoe around.

The movie poster came out yesterday, and it's freaking precious! Everyone's talking smack about the tagline on it: "One sick love story," but I think it's perfect. Clever. It makes a lot of sense to me, so I don't know why everyone is so offended by it.

For more information about John Green, visit his website, follow him on twitter, or like him on Facebook.