The Fault in Our Stars (2012) - Book by John Green

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After hearing so much about this book I have finally managed to read it. I wasn't expecting it to be as good as everyone has been saying because, although I love the Vlogbrothers channel, I am not a fan of John Green's writing. I was very pleasantly surprised because not only was the book enjoyable but I was quickly drawn in and had a strong desire to keep reading even at 3am. In case you have only just acquired the internet, it is a story about a young girl, Hazel Grace, who is dying from cancer and her encounter with the metaphor loving Augustus Walters.

The story is very hard-hitting because it is about such a terrible topic and anyone would well-up during reading. Sadly I was not overly interesting in Augustus, I dislike pretension and he was quite self-admittedly a pretentious character. The moments that affected me the most were the points where the parents were speaking to Hazel and dealing with losing their daughter. These sections were written very well, possibly because John is a father, and made me feel very emotional. The reader can sympathise with all those affected by the cancer, those physically suffering and the others who are close to them.

The characters were good. Teenage girls written by men are normally awful but Hazel Grace was quite normal, believable and likeable. The adults were quite perfect and very parent-like, familiar to all who were reading. The friends, however, were slightly mixed. Isaac, a fellow cancer patient was funny and likeable whereas Kaitlyn, a school friend of Hazel's, is quite clichéd as an over-dramatic secondary friend.

After finishing the book didn't resonate with me the way it has seemed to with so many other people but it really isn't the genre that I enjoy. It was well written and enjoyable and I hope that the film does it justice. I'm glad that John Green has written a book that I enjoy because I feel like a better Nerd Fighter but I worry that the other Nerd Fighters promoting it so strongly has diminished my enjoyment of the book because nothing was a surprise.