When Munchkin #1 was about 10 years old, she made a rule that our read aloud and together books could not be "books that make mom cry." Needless to say, I read this one alone... late at night... pretty much all in one sitting... with a box of tissues nearby.
The Fault in Our Stars is John Green's newest young adult book, which you've probably already heard about because it has made #1 on the New York Times and the Indiebound bestseller lists and it had a full page review in Time magazine.
Yes, if you are someone who is put off by the hype, it is my opinion that this is a book that deserves it. At first glance it's a cancer book, and if you get the same feeling I get when thinking about cancer books... well...
But honestly, it's a book about living and first love and being honest and frank in that way that most people only manage for that brief window in their teen years anyway. Hazel, the main character, is an immediately endearing person who just happens to depend on an oxygen tank and has cancer. It's a nuisance, but she doesn't waste pages whining about her fate.
Instead, she focuses on being a good friend to the boy in her support group who will lose his eye to cancer. She falls in love with another boy who has lost a leg to cancer. She worries about her parents and what her sooner-rather-than-later life's end will do to them. She obsesses over characters in a book whose lives past the book's ending are unknown to her.
John Green, once again, impresses me as a story teller and as a worthy, intelligent adult who is gaining an audience with teens (and I would imagine adults, as well). Next on my bookshelf is his debut novel, Looking for Alaska. My kids have already given me reviews, but I've enjoyed Green's books enough I plan to read them all myself, as well.
1 comment:
Writing for young adults about such serious subjects has got to be a monumental task. I admire those who do it well, and it sounds like this author has found the key. Interesting review.
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