John Green is a literary god. His way with words is remarkably natural, and his characters are so real and relatable. As a #1 New York Times Best Seller, Green’s most recent book, The Fault in Our Stars, is my favorite novel, and by the last page, it will undoubtedly be one of your favorites too.
Spring break is the perfect time to take a much-needed break from lengthy academic books and indulge yourself in some leisurely reading. The Fault in Our Stars is one such novel, ideal for recovering your fried-by-finals mind. It’s one of those books that’s so good, you can’t help but stay up until 3:00 AM reading, unable to tear your weary eyes from the pages.
The Fault in Our Stars is a classic story of boy and girl, but with one major plot twist: they both have cancer. Augustus Waters charms his way into Hazel Grace’s life after meeting her at a local support group. They soon find themselves entangled in an adventure for truth, meaning and as much happiness as they can extract from the time they have left. As Lev Gossman from Time Magazine puts it, “The Fault in Our Stars is a love story, one of the most genuine and moving ones in recent American fiction, but it’s also an existential tragedy of tremendous intelligence and courage and sadness.”
But I warn you: You will fall in love with the characters.
You know that “now what?” feeling you get after finishing an amazing book, TV series or movie? I like to call this the John Green Effect, and you will experience it after you shut this book. I’m not going to lie, you will feel like you got hit by a semi-truck of emotion. By the end, you will just be another victim of Green’s literary excellence and sadistic desire to toy with his reader’s fragile hearts.
Now I know what you’re thinking — this book seems extremely depressing. I mean, it’s about two kids with cancer, so how happy can it really be, right? But TFIOS is one of those books that will make you, quite literally, laugh out loud (and then make you cry less than two pages later, but let’s not dwell on that.)
If you love the Fault in Our Stars, definitely check out some of John Green’s other novels, like Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, and Paper Towns. And don’t miss the movie adaptation of TFIOS starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, set to come out June 6th, 2014!
Photo Sources: imdb.com, wikipedia.org