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.
The story is written in a breathtaking way which makes us become a part of the characters and feel the same emotions. Hazel and Augustus appeal to readers through their sense of humour and their courage ... John Green, through Hazel and Augustus, brings both: tears and laughter ... The Fault in Our Stars is a beautiful novel and I would recommend it to anyone who believes in love and has the courage to fight for it.
The Fault in Our Stars feels like the stakes have been raised, a swing for the fences that tackles big themes (life, love, and death) and succeeds. Mr. Green takes a potentially mawkish premise and delivers an honest, immediate, and deeply resonant story, one deserving of its status as a future classic ... In case you worry that this will be a four-hankie, Nicholas Sparks-style sapfest, Hazel’s self-awareness will quickly dispel that notion (though you should still keep the hankies) ...
Augustus and Hazel’s relationship forms the heart of the book, and their scene following their first encounter with Van Houten is maybe the best of its kind that I’ve read in many years in a book aimed at teenagers.
Mr. Green’s empathetic portrayals have been a hallmark of all his fiction, but Hazel and Augustus are his two best creations. Deeply thoughtful and hyper-literate[.]
Remarkably, Stars might be Green’s best novel yet ... There’s more wisdom about life and death here than in a dozen similarly themed, more 'literary' novels, and Green’s protagonist is a wonderful creation. Green’s success stems from his ability to render his characters’ voices extremely well ... Green could have gone wrong with this setup in many ways. Cancer-stricken teenagers is such an inherently sentimental idea that it all but begs him to ladle on the tear-jerking moments. And though the book garners its share of tears, it earns them by being brutally honest about its characters and their condition. It’s predictable, but it works nearly perfectly, because it’s always filtered through caustic Hazel, who tells jokes, doubts the afterlife, and constantly points out the conventions of her genre ... he’s found a narrator who’s very nearly the equal of Holden Caulfield.
