A review by missyjohnson
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

3.0

I found this to be a lovely book. I think that Mr. Green did a good job of writing in the voice of the teenagers. Hazel Grace was wise beyond her years and Augustus was funny, and smart and loving. I picked this book up after hearing a podcast on which Mr. Green was featured. The podcast was Heavyweights. Mr Green was a chaplain in a hospital and either attending or going to attend seminary when he had a young patient who was burned come into the hospital. The encounter caused him to quit his job as a chaplain and to not go to seminary. After hearing that story, I was curious about this book. I knew what it was about due to the attention that had been surrounding it after publication. I am glad that I knew this background on the author before reading as I think that the extra insight made me the book more. Hazel Grace is 16 and uses supplemental oxygen due to her cancer affecting her lungs. She meets Gus at support group after he has had his leg amputated from osteosarcoma. They also have another friend from support group named Isaac who has to have his one remaining eye removed due to Ca and is now blind. Gus and Hazel become a couple and their conversations concerning life, love and cancer are funny and educational. They make a trip to Amsterdam to meet the author of Hazel’s favorite book and he ends up being an old, angry alcoholic but the trip is nice otherwise. Gus’s cancer returns with speed and ferocity and dies. Hazel dealing with her grief completes the story.