The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

In honor of my last blog post, I have officially decided to cover what is currently my favorite book. I have taken a break from writing about this book, because I've written so many essays about it for college and school and pretty much everything else you could think of that I had gotten somewhat bored of talking about it. The Fault in Our Stars, though, is an incredible book; one that will likely be on my list of favorites for years to come. John Green, who I have written about before, has an insightful way of delving into the mysterious mind of the young adult, in a way that makes his characters more relatable than almost any other book I've read. I also really love how he does not write common love stories; instead, he throws his characters into extremely odd circumstances, and allows the reader to enjoy the adventure as they slowly overcome the odds that are against them.

The Fault in Our Stars is about a teenage girl named Hazel Grace, who has cancer. Her parents force her to go to a cancer support group, where she then meets Augustus Waters. Augustus had cancer, but was cured of it after having his leg removed. He is best friends with Isaac, who attends the support group regularly, and who is about to become blind after having both of his eyes removed due to cancer.  Gus and Hazel click almost immediately, and soon become close. They slowly fall in love as Hazel fights her illness, and the two go through many different ups and downs regarding both the disease, and life in general.

This book does a great job of tackling such existential questions as "why are we here?" and "is leaving your mark the most important thing?" while not sounding too pretentious or preachy. Deep topics are seamlessly integrated with more light-hearted topics, as well as an interesting story line that really draws you in. When this book arrived on my doorstep, I went to my room and read it in one night. I literally could not put it down, which even led to me accidentally skipping dinner because I completely forgot about the time. It really is an incredible book, and I highly recommend it.

“Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book.” - John Green, The Fault in Our Stars