YAckers Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Published January 10, 2012.

Author website.

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours 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 tumours 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. (goodreads.com)

We read, we cried, we waxed existentialist. THE FAULT IN OUR STARS fell in the midst of a contemporary bender for me that kind of pushed me over the edge when it came to effed up kid stories. I'd had more than my fill so I probably didn't enjoy it to its full potential. I still liked what I was reading when I was trying to block out the existentialism (which is NOT my favorite subject by far) and getting over how ultimately depressing the story was. It's about cancer. No matter the amount of hope, it's going to hurt. But we still enjoyed it.

Head on over to this month's Keeper of the Book, Angie at Angieville, for more details on our inner brain workings. Kinda scary actually . . .

Ban Factor: High - Overly smart kids, difficult subject, sex. Yup. This one's on their radar.