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Review
by Matt Brown (310712) Rating (10/10) Review
by Matt Brown The reason, as I'm sure narrator Hazel would agree, is perhaps because cancer is not only ugly but also rather mundane. For all the talk of 'fighting' cancer, life very much just goes on – until eventually it doesn't. So despite the huge role cancer will invariably play in all our lives, when it comes to fiction, it tends to be something that happens to other people. And so we are introduced to Hazel Grace Lancaster, a sixteen-year-old girl with stage four lung cancer. A new drug has the cancer at a temporary stalemate, but years with the disease has left Hazel relying on the constant presence of an oxygen tank and with very few illusions of her future. More or less resigned to her fate, Hazel spends much of her time watching reality TV with her doting parents and reading and rereading An Imperial Affliction, her favourite book. The novel-within-the-novel also concerns a cancer-ridden girl, and maddeningly ends in mid-sentence, prompting years of unrequited letters from Hazel to the reclusive author.
Her sedentary life abruptly changes when she meets Augustus Waters
at a cancer support group she is forced to attend. Startlingly
handsome, charming, kind, and endearingly goofy, Augustus swiftly
resolves himself as the one true love Hazel never expected to
find in her sadly shortened life. Augustus is himself a member of the cancer club, having narrowly staved off osteosarcoma at the cost of a leg. Between the two of them it would be easy to categorise The Fault in Our Stars as yet another addition to the 'cancer story' genre that Hazel and Augustus so disdain. It's certainly true that the big C is as inescapable a part of the narrative as Hazel's own oxygen tank, and the effects of cancer on the life of an individual and everyone they know are earnestly and unflinchingly explored as the novel progresses. A huge amount of research has clearly been put into a realistic portrayal of cancer, and Green's words are lent extra emotional heft by the book's dedication to Esther Earl, a 'Nerdfighter' (Green's cadre of fans) who sadly lost her own battle with the disease. And yet The Fault in Our Stars is so much more than another entry into the cancer lexicon. The burgeoning relationship between two young lovers would also make the book an easy option for the teen romance shelf, but there is little of the romantic chase and drama normally reserved for such titles. What the book is really about is life. Green's narrative deftly flits between laugh-out-loud comedy and heart-breaking tragedy at any given moment, and the emotional rollercoaster the book presents is as true to life as any you'll find.
The Fault in Our Stars will certainly make you laugh,
may well make you cry, and above all else it will stay with you
long after you finish the final page. And you can't ask much more
of a book than that. Review
by Kat Yes. This book exceeds the hype (and please believe there was a LOT of it). Hazel Grace Lancaster is a 16 year old stage four terminal lung cancer patient. Together her and her friend Augustus Waters embark on a journey to come to terms with the fact that inevitably "all of this will end in oblivion". Connected by their love of a single book they attempt to deal with death and its many "side effects". Firstly, Green doesn't conform to a cookie cutter cancer-kid book. Hazel Grace and Augustus don't discover any special secret of life or start a charity or change the world. However, what Green provides us with is an honest account of teen cancer. He gives the reader intelligence, witty dialogue, an abundance of charming metaphors, an un-smoked pack of cigarettes, and a story that really hits home. If you read books for general enjoyment, this book will make you both laugh and cry. If you like to read your literature critically, well, you're going to laugh and cry harder. The passion for life and the dialogue between Hazel Grace and Augustus is both truly heart warming and heart breaking. If there is anything of this book to criticize, it's that these two teens are almost too intelligent, too likeable and too easy to become emotionally invested in as you progress through this book.
On the back of this true masterpiece of fiction, E. Lockhart is
quoted on Green saying "He is one of the best writers alive
and I am seething with envy at his talent." After this book,
it's hard to argue with her. |
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