The Valley Tribune: The Fault In Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars is written from the perspective of 16 year old Hazel Lancaster who suffers from terminal lung cancer. She meets Augustus Waters, who is recovering from osteosarcoma, at a Cancer Kid Support Group. Although this is a book about cancer, it is not a cancer book. It is not your typical 'tragic' book and frankly, I think it is a lot more than that. Throughout the book, I really warmed to the characters, especially Augustus who is not only charming and kind but very witty. The characters are written in such a way that they seem very very real and that is both the book's strength and weakness because personally, I was incredibly attached to Hazel and Augustus. Hazel and Augustus mutually fall in love with each other and use Augustus' "cancer perk" to visit Amsterdam to meet their favorite yet reclusive author. However, the cancer kicks in. Like a lot of John Green's books, this has the theme of the value of youth and life running throughout it. Despite the fact that in its essence it is a love story, it is more than that. It is a short-lived tale of friendship and it really does emphasis how short life is. Spoiler alert: it is extremely likely you will cry and/or be speechless at the end. The film of this book is also being released next year so you should definitely read this before watching it!