When I picked up John Green's The Fault in our Stars -- a holiday season gift, and my first John Green novel -- I was reluctant to make the investment. I've started enough love stories with two-dimensional characters and rolled my eyes many a time at long, drawn out bedroom scenes and dull, uninspiring dialogue. It turns out that The Fault in our Stars made the #1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller List for good reason by taking familiar themes, adding less familiar twists, and defying predictability.
The Fault in Our Stars is an atypical love story from the start: the main characters are teenagers who meet in a cancer support group. Seventeen-year-old Hazel Waters is the edgy, sharp-witted, intelligent protagonist who has terminal cancer. Her life takes a turn for the more adventurous when Augustus Waters shows up to her otherwise craptastic support group. Gus shows up to the group in support of his and Hazel's mutual friend, Isaac, who is about to have surgery that will render him blind.
Although the story focuses upon Hazel and Gus's evolving relationship, a series of intriguing side plots are explored: Isaac's transition from sighted to blind; the eccentricities of Hazel's favorite author; and the ways in which cancer affects the lives of the teens and their families.
Throughout the book, Green transitions smoothly and suddenly into moments of devastating humor and devastating pain. He deftly creates snapshots within the story that draw upon the lives of the characters before the time of this story, infusing the dialogue with emotional depth and adding to the richness and complexity of the characters. One particularly potent example can be found in this exchange:
Dad asked me if I was working on anything for school. "I've got some very advanced Algebra homework, " I told him. "So advanced that I couldn't possibly explain it to a layperson."
"And how's your friend Isaac?"
"Blind," I said.
"You're being very teenagery today," Mom said. She seemed annoyed about it.
"Isn't this what you wanted, Mom? For me to be teenagery?"
"Well, not necessarily this kind of teenagery, but of course your father and I are excited to see you become a young woman, making friends, going on dates."
"I'm not going on dates," I said. "I don't want to go on dates with anyone. It's a terrible idea and a huge waste of time and ---"
"Honey," my mom said. "What's wrong?"
"I'm like. Like. I'm like a grenade, Mom. I'm a grenade and at some point I'm going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties, okay?"
My dad tilted his head a little to the side, like a scolded puppy.
"I'm a grenade," I said again. "I just want to stay away from people and read books and think and be with you guys because there's nothing I can do about hurting you; you're too invested, so just please let me do that, okay? I'm not depressed. I don't need to get out more. And I can't be a regular teenager, because I'm a grenade." (p. 98-99)
As the story unfolds, Green deftly and skillfully weaves in several surprises. Some are pleasant ones, and others not so pleasant, but they are written in such a way that struck me as true to life. Perhaps it is trite to say, "I laughed! I cried! I felt like I knew the characters and I missed them when I closed the book! I couldn't put it down!" It turns out that all of these things were true. I encourage you to read -- and enjoy -- this wonderful story.
As the story unfolds, Green deftly and skillfully weaves in several surprises. Some are pleasant ones, and others not so pleasant, but they are written in such a way that struck me as true to life. Perhaps it is trite to say, "I laughed! I cried! I felt like I knew the characters and I missed them when I closed the book! I couldn't put it down!" It turns out that all of these things were true. I encourage you to read -- and enjoy -- this wonderful story.
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