ISBN: 9780525478812
Plot Summary:
Sixteen year old Hazel Grace Lancaster is a girl who has cancer. She is reluctant to go to cancer support group, but while there meets a boy names Augustus Waters. Augustus is immediately drawn to her and they become great friends. The two teens embark on a roller coaster ride of emotions, including love, sadness and romance, while searching for the author of their favorite book. Hazel shares her favorite book with Augustus which sets in motion a search for the author who has not finished the book. They travel to Amsterdam in search of Peter Van Houten the author of An Imperial Affliction. While on their trip, Augustus breaks some heartbreaking news to Hazel and both of their worlds fall apart around them. Augustus tells Hazel that at his recent scan, the doctors discovered that his entire body is filled with cancer. Hazel spends the last months of Augustus's life caring for him and loving him.
Critical Analysis:
The Fault in Our Stars is set in a modern setting where Hazel is the main character and the narrator of the story. She lives in Indianapolis, Indiana and has cancer which means she may not live a full life. Her outlook on life is a bit different than the regular sixteen year old girl. Hazel speaks in a way that makes it very real to the reader and easy to understand. It’s simple, deep and humorous all at the same time. The first half is generally funny and light even though the characters have cancer and might die. Even when things get more serious and sad, the humor is still in the story. The conversations between Hazel and Augustus are what make this book so wonderful. They go beyond simply discussing their disease and instead engage in conversations about their fears of oblivion, their favorite books and many other day to day occurrences. After meeting and continuing to see each other, the two slowly fall in love. This is how the plot builds. There is not a highly excited climax in this book but it draws the reader in with the easy flowing dialog between the characters. The only "ah ha" moment (which is extremely sad) is when Augustus tells Hazel he has cancer and is going to die. Up to that point in the book, the reader anticipates that Hazel will die and leave Augustus.
“My name is Hazel. Augustus Waters was the great sat-crossed love of my life.
Ours was an epic love story, and I won’t be able to get more than a sentence
into it without disappearing into a puddle of tears.
Gus knew. Gus knows. I will not tell you our love story,
because-like all real love stories-it will die with us, as it should.”
Connections:
Finding Alaska by John Green
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
http://johngreenbooks.com/the-fault-in-our-stars/
Reviews/Awards:
- Winner of the 2013 Children's Choice Teen Book of the Year Award
- #1 New York Times bestseller
- #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller
- #9 The Bookseller (UK) bestseller
- #1 Indiebound bestseller
- New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
TIME Magazine's #1 Fiction Book of 2012! " The Fault in Our Stars is a love story, one of the most genuine and moving ones in recent American fiction, but it's also an existential tragedy of tremendous intelligence and courage and sadness." -Lev Grossman
Green's promotional genius is a force of nature. After announcing he would sign all 150,000 copies of this title's first print run, it shot to the top of Amazon and Barnes & Noble's best-seller lists six months before publication.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2010 Booklist
“A smartly crafted intellectual explosion of a romance.” -Kirkus, starred review
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