“You have a choice in this world, I believe, about how to tell sad stories, and we made the funny choice.”
Hazel Grace is a 16 year old girl with terminal cases of both cancer and irreverence, and I’m fairly sure I lost my heart to her while reading John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars. It’s witty and smart and draws you in even while you know there is no way a novel about a kid with terminal cancer can end in anything other than tears for one reason or another.
Hazel is hilarious, with subtle humor and unexpected insights, with a healthy dose of dark humor over the fact that she and most of the people she knows at the cancer support group are dying. Augustus is a boy she meets at group, and he is, of course, witty and charming and gorgeous and very interested.
At heart, it’s a love story – because what story isn’t, really? But it’s a love story with an uncertain ending both because of the terminal diagnosis, and because Hazel’s own favorite book ends in the middle of a sentence, which leaves the reader nervously wondering if John Green would be cruel enough to do the same. It’s funny and quotable and heartbreaking, and will leave you wiping your eyes and looking at the world differently. And that’s pretty much the highest recommendation I can give any book.
“You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I’m grateful.”
Disclaimer: BlogHer sent me this book and paid me to read it and overshare my opinion. Dream job, y’all. Book club discussion about The Fault In Our Stars is here, and you should check it out.
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