Even when your dying you have to live a little.

Author : John Green
Title : The Fault In Our Stars
Published : 03/01/2013
Pages : 352
Format : paperback
Publisher : Penguin

     Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

 

     A little while a  go I spent some time with another of this authors books Paper towns. I was dually told that I should really try this book as well as it was a lot more of an emotional read than the other. So I bought my self a copy. The idea of a book about kids suffering from cancer is a difficult topic to tackle. How do you mange to make a story that wont be so depressing that it will make readers want to stop half way through.  Well I was about to find out.

 

     This is story told with care. Hazel is someone you come  to have a deep affinity for. What would you do if your body was failing you and there was little to nothing you could do about it. Through out the book we get to see her good days as well as the bad. She is as we learn a fighter and tries to make the best of her situation. One day when she goes to a support group she meets Augusts. A fellow cancer sufferer. Who can bring laughter and joy with him. He transforms hazels world and shows her how much more there can be. He pushes her in ways she didn't think where possible.  But its never done to her detriment. They soon fall for each other and the romance burns bright in the way love on a time limit does. When the ever present fear of death looms above you I think you would give your heart and soul with out a worry for what might come next.  Around them friends and family are all trying there best to manage the situation they find them selves in. I cant even begging to imagine what it must be like to find your self in this situation. When your whole world becomes about caring for someone you love and have no real way to make them better was be one of the most heart breaking places to find your self in. Hazels parent try their best to give her the most normal life they can knowing full well that at any moment her short life may come to an end.

 

     Once again Green gives and adventure in young love. His story's have a way of capturing you and Pulling you in to there world. His style is so easy to get on with I fail to see how you could no fall in love with the characters he comes up with. Unlike my previous experience with the Author this one will defiantly take you on more of an emotional journey. How could it not with the subject matter at hand. You cant escape death no one can but when it comes at such a young age you can feel it deep down inside you. That wanting for a miracle to take place to save them from there fait. But as one of the characters points out the world is not a wish factory. This however doesn't mean that while you have your time on earth you cant live it the best way you know how. This comes to us with a trip across an ocean. Hazels favourite author lives in Amsterdam a complete recluse. And trough a series of emails Augustus manages to arrange a meeting. As modern literature  goes I can see why this became the international success that it did. I raced through this book trying to keep up with our hero's. So many lies will stick with me from this story. so there may be a few clichés along the way but to be honest so what it all adds to a story that will build you up and then as we come to the end it will break you apart. I must confess that I so very nearly shed a tear . But hey what can you do. All this being said He also manages to bring so much humour to a bad situation. There were times that made me smile and also laugh. And I think we all need this. For Hazel and Augustus I think its there coping mechanism. When you dealing with mortality it can be a tricky thing. Green manages to make it seem so effortless in a kind and sensitive way. And shows us what it means to be alive.

 

     This is a book that is very life affirming. You will come to love these people as if they were real. It's also a book about the destructive nature of our own body's. Cancer can strike any one at any time in there lives. and while modern medicine can do a lot some times it fails us. if like me you are way behind when it comes to reading this book I would think you wont be disappointed by it.