The Fault in Our Stars (And a Lot of Crying)

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (January 10, 2012, Dutton Juvenile)
review by Laura Beutler, Bailey Kelsey, Kelly Lucas, and Kenzie Helene

When we join our valiant heroines, they are bent over their various computer screens. Laura is crunching on saltine toffees, her laptop sticky with chocolate. Bailey is pulling out chunks of her hair, trying to master all of the things. Kenzie is preparing for the batch of crazysauce college will serve up to her, and Kelly is...still at work. And then later, she comes home. But still. Their reading is done, and now it is time to talk The Fault in Our Stars, John Green’s much-awaited new novel.

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumors in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumors tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

It would be impossible to have a full discussion of The Fault in Our Stars without actually DISCUSSING it, which means spoilers. So, if you have not read the book yet, tread no further!