The Fault in Our Stars

To be honest, my expectations from this book weren’t very high. I got hold of it by chance. It's actually written for teens, so I don't exactly match the age group the writer addresses. But when I once started reading it, I was instantly hooked.

The Fault in Our Stars tells the story of 16 year old cancer survivor Hazel Grace Lancaster. Her mother forces her to go to Cancer Kid Support Group where she meets Augustus Waters, a 17-year-old who lost his right leg to cancer. Eventually, the two of them fall in love.

Hazel is deeply fascinated by a novel called “An Imperial Affliction”. The book is about Anna, a girl who suffers from a rare form of cancer. Sadly, the story ends in the middle of a sentence. This leaves many questions open on which Hazel often broods over.

After all, Augustus manages to arrange a meeting with Peter Van Houten, the author of “An Imperial Affliction”. Van Houten, who lives in the Netherlands, promises to tell them what happened to the characters after the abrupt ending of the book. But when they arrive at Van Houten's home in Amsterdam, things don't go according to plan….

What I most like about this book is the writing style. It is easy to read but also deep and touching. John Green conveys a quite genuine picture of the life of a cancer patient. The story is sad and tragic but at the same time beautiful and often funny. This book made me cry, it made me laugh and first and foremost it made me think.

The Fault in Our Stars was my first book by John Green. But I'm quite sure it won't be the last one. If you like these kinds of stories, I would highly recommend you to give it a try - regardless of how old you are.