The Fault in our Stars

Yes, another book review from the Ficklemaster.  But trust me, this one's amazing.  I read it in a day because I couldn't put it down.

I can't really write a decent summary for this novel by John Green, because no mixture of words would be able to put it to justice.  So, you're just going to need to take my word for it.

When my friend lent it to me, she made me promise I would discuss it with her as I was reading it.  Since I read it all in a night, though, I simply sent her e-mails periodically with whatever I was thinking.  My first reaction after the first three chapters was: "Ugh!  You didn't tell me it was a love story!" after Hazel (the main character) goes to her cancer Support Group one week and lays eyes on Augustus Waters--a boy who lives for metaphors.  Wait!  Wait, wait, wait.  Don't let that scare you off--the cancer or the love.  It would have frightened me away if my friend hadn't been so excited about me reading it.  I've been so exhausted with the love triangles and other complications in the novels cleverly hidden away in the teen section that I was ready to give up by then.  But boy, am I glad that I didn't.

It is so much more than that.  My friend promised it, and she was right.  It beautifully demonstrates their experiences living with cancer, knowing that every day could be their last.  They understand that sometimes people are not meant to change the entire world--just a small piece in it.  "The marks humans leave are too often scars", as John Green puts it.  In the ups and downs of love, dreams, and wishes all shadowed by the omniscient overhang of cancer, John Green put together an amazing story that I'm glad I didn't miss.