Book review: The Fault in our Stars by John Green

I'll be honest, it took a while to admit to myself that I really wanted to read this. I'm always wary of best-selling books that end up trending on Tumblr (mainly because of Perks of being a Wallflower - sorry if you like it), but something about the plot caught my interest. As soon as you read the blurb you know it's going to be a tear-jerker (which was firmly confirmed by the cashier at Waterstones) but sometimes you just have read a book like this. Maybe it was because I'd just finished The Book Thief, which made me an emotional wreck but was one of the best books I've ever read - maybe I just like to cry over fictional characters - who knows, but I gave this a try and I really enjoyed it.

The story is told through 16 year-old Hazel's point of view. She has Stage 4 Thyroid cancer with metastasis on her lungs but manages to keep going with the help of a new drug. In many ways she's a very typical teenager, and her parents push her to try to have a 'normal life'; part of this involves going to a cancer support group where she meets Augustus. They become friends after bonding over Hazel's favourite book and quickly become inseparable.

Naturally the book explores some complex themes, one of them being recognising your own mortality as a young cancer patient. All of the characters have different ways of looking at this and a couple of my favourite quotes arise from that topic:

"You say you're not special because the world doesn't know about you, but that's an insult to me. I know about you." (p. 240)

And reflecting this:

"Hazel knows the truth: we're as likely to hurt the universe as we are to help it, and we're not likely to do either. People will say it's sad that she leaves a lesser scar, that fewer remember her, that she was loved deeply but not widely. But it's not sad, Van Houten. It's triumphant. It's heroic. Isn't that the real heroism? Like the doctors say: first, do no harm." (p.312)

I really can't say much more about the story without giving everything away, but I will say that I found the ending quite disappointing. I've discussed why below so hopefully the spoiler box works!

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In the last third or so of the story we discover that Augustus's cancer has returned with a vengeance and sadly takes his life; the book finishes not long after his funeral, but I wish we'd have gotten to see Hazel go through the grieving process more or have her life after that explained in an epilogue. I understand that you can't always have happy endings but I just feel like the author ended it on such a low point for added emotional manipulation. If this is supposed to be 'Young Adult' fiction I think the author could have given readers a sense of hope or a way to positively reflect on their own lives, or at least make readers aware of the simple fact that life goes on after tragedy, for example Green could have displayed Hazel in her day-to-day life months down the line and have her reflect on the ways Augustus positively influenced her life in their short time together. I don't know, I'm not a writer, but I do feel that there are a plethora of better ways he could have ended the novel.

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All the same, I'd give The Fault in our Stars 4/5 stars. I'd mainly recommend it to teenagers and young adults as I don't think it'd be everyone's cup of tea, but it's still worth a read!