The Fault in our Stars Book Review

 

The Fault in our Stars 

by John Green







1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Green, J. (2012). The Fault in our Stars. Dutton Books. ISBN: 9780525555742

2.  PLOT SUMMARY

17 year old Hazel is battling Stage IV Thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs. Convinced she’s depressed, her mom insists she goes to a weekly support group meeting. After begrudgingly going to a weekly meeting, she meets August and instantly falls for him. Sharing a love of books, they exchange novels for the other to read. They spend most of their time together and fall deeply in love. Cancer is always lurking and deals them heartache. August never used his make a wish so he surprises Hazel with a trip to Amsterdam to meet the author of her favorite book to get closure about the characters. Not quite the outcome they came for, they find the trip bringing them closer than ever. Back home reality hits and changes their lives forever. 


 3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The book is told in first person from Hazel’s point of view. She begins with her cancer diagnosis and her bleak outlook. The characters in the story, especially Hazel and Augustus, are wonderfully developed and woven together through tragedy. Teens will identify with the teens and their interactions with parents; longing for independence but realizing they still need them. The plot is believable because if you take the cancer out of the story, teenager antics still remain. Also, those that have any experience with cancer or know someone that has will sympathize with their struggles. I also think it’s a good read for adults and parents to show their pain and struggles. The theme of love is not only between Hazel and Augustus, but also with their parents, family,  and friends. The love expressed is heartfelt and deep; it does not seem superficial or forced. There are no illustrations in the book but they are not needed because John Green does a wonderful job of depicting the scenes. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book even though I knew tragedy would come at some point. It draws you in quickly and holds on tightly through the entire book. 


4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

  • AudioFile, 01/01/12 

  • Booklist starred, 01/01/12

  • Booklist starred, 03/15/12 

  • Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books starred, 05/01/12

  • Horn Book Magazine, 11/01/12

  • Horn Book Magazine starred, 03/01/12

  • Kirkus Reviews starred, 01/15/12

  • Library Media Connection starred, 08/01/12

  • New York Times, 01/15/12

  • Odyssey Award, 2013 

  • Publishers Weekly starred, 01/16/12

  • School Library Journal starred, 02/01/12

  • School Library Journal starred, 04/01/12 

  • Teacher Librarian, 12/01/12

  • Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA), 04/01/12

  • Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) starred, 04/01/16 

  • Wilson's Senior High School, 11/01/12


  • Grades 9-12. At 16, Hazel Grace Lancaster, a three-year stage IV–cancer survivor, is clinically depressed. To help her deal with this, her doctor sends her to a weekly support group where she meets Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor, and the two fall in love. Both kids are preternaturally intelligent, and Hazel is fascinated with a novel about cancer called An Imperial Affliction. Most particularly, she longs to know what happened to its characters after an ambiguous ending. To find out, the enterprising Augustus makes it possible for them to travel to Amsterdam, where Imperial’s author, an expatriate American, lives. What happens when they meet him must be left to readers to discover. Suffice it to say, it is significant. Writing about kids with cancer is an invitation to sentimentality and pathos—or worse, in unskilled hands, bathos. Happily, Green is able to transcend such pitfalls in his best and most ambitious novel to date. Beautifully conceived and executed, this story artfully examines the largest possible considerations—life, love, and death—with sensitivity, intelligence, honesty, and integrity. In the process, Green shows his readers what it is like to live with cancer, sometimes no more than a breath or a heartbeat away from death. But it is life that Green spiritedly celebrates here, even while acknowledging its pain. In its every aspect, this novel is a triumph. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Green’s promotional genius is a force of nature. After announcing he would sign all 150,000 copies of this title’s first print run, it shot to the top of Amazon and Barnes & Noble’s best-seller lists six months before publication.


5. CONNECTIONS

Related Books:

Green, J. (2008). Paper Towns. Dutton Books.. ISBN:9780525555735

Sparks, N. (2004). A Walk to Remember. Bt Bound.ISBN: 9780525555742

Activities:

Author study on John Green


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