Author : John Green
Genre : Contemporary
Published Date : January 10th 2012
Publisher : Dutton Books
Pages : 312
Award : Goodreads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Fiction (2012), ALA Teens' Top Ten Nominee (2012)
Source : Bought
Rating : ✿✿✿✿✿
From Goodreads :
Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.
Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.
Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.
Get a Copy : [AMAZON] | [BARNES&NOBLE] | [INDIEBOUND] | [THE BOOK DEPOSITORY]
Review
This book had actually been sitting on my TBR lists for quite a long time before I finally decided to pick it up and give it and try. What drew me to this book was mostly its cover, being so simple yet so eye catching, and I've always had a soft spot for tragic love story, and when I read this book synopsis, it definitely made it to my list.
"I like my choices. I hope she likes hers."
—Augustus
The Fault in Our Stars told us about Hazel Grace, sixteen-year-old girl living with cancer, who had to struggle everyday just to live one day longer. for her, breathing was hard, going to a cancer group was a bunch of crap, and dealing with people was too much trouble.
That is until she met Augustus Waters.
A charming young man, funny, witty, and NEC from osteosarcoma, Augustus and Hazel quickly became special to one another, as they both shared the same traits no one else possess : the love for An Imperial Affliction, a book by Peter van Houten. And as they both got together, they learnt that live was not so bad when they have another person to support you.
Ultimately, this book taught us about the meaning of life, how we should live to their fullest in our one and only life, and of how every seconds matters.
This book was averagely paced, not too fast, not too slow, and I guess it worked well with this book. The readers could feel deeply involved with Hazel's life, as well as her struggle, her relationship with Augustus, her anxiety, and what happened around her everyday and how people looked at kids like Hazel.
It was detailed enough to make the reader feel they were there with Hazel and experienced the same things as her, yet it was not sagging and overloaded with too much unnecessary things.
While the plot was good, I found the characters was a bit undeveloped.
Some characters like Augustus, Hazel, and their friend Isaac was developed enough, which was obvious since they were the main character of this book. But some other character like Peter van Houten assistant, Hazel's parents, and the other kids at Hazel's cancer group felt too two dimensional for me they didn't make any special impression.
Hazel Grace, our main character as well as the narrator of this book, had an especially distinct voice. She could add her own personality to the narration, and not just a flat sentence with no real feelings behind it. I also love how she could stand strong and tall despite her illness, while many other people would certainly just complained about how hard and unfair this life could be.
Augustus Waters, Hazel's counterpart, was quite interesting too. He stood out from the others with his easygoing and carefree character, and I loved how he always seemed optimistic about everything. He also had this unique habit, putting an unlit cigarette on his mouth, feeling "You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don’t give it the power to do its killing.", as he said. And I also love how, one day, after Isaac finished the surgery that made him blind forever, he allowed Isaac to destroyed his trophy collections, just to make his friends feel better. It was very nicely done, and it portrayed him as a caring person perfectly.
One thing I found quite unsatisfying on this book was Peter van Houten's character.
Hazel and Augustus's relationship basically revolved around his book, An Imperial Affliction, and yet when his character was finally introduced, I could not really grasp it.
It was not like he was undeveloped or two dimensional or whatever. He was certainly developed, with his personality seemed quite deep and he had quite a past too. It's just, he was not explained enough.
Overall, if you love a tearjerker contemporary romance novel about searching the meaning of life, as well as a book about struggling against cancer, and how sweet and heartbreaking our first love is, this book is definitely worth a try.
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