April Book Review and Summary: The Fault In Our Stars(Detailed) *Spoilers*

Recently (8 days ago) I turned eighteen! woo! so anyway, going off tangent. I was given, by my best friend a new book. Now i'm a huge book worm, I love to read and I had never read this book. My friend said she hadn't finished it because it destroyed her, you will find out why later, but it took me three hours to read the book in total. if you don't want to know anymore, stop reading here as spoilers may occur from here.

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green is 313 pages is long and a really enticing read. Each chapter encourages you to want to read more and pulls you in after every page. The title, as you may have guessed comes from a William Shakespeare Play Julius Caesar, and is a quote that can be found within the book. The book itself is a #1 New York Times Bestseller.  It was published in 2012 and retails in the United Kingdom at the Recommended Retail Price of £7.99 ($12.39 US Dollars).

The book is set out into chapters (25 in fact) and is in Chronological order. You as the reader follow the main protagonist: Hazel Grace Lancaster, who is sixteen years old. "Hazel Grace" (as she gets called frequently throughout the book) has thyroid cancer, stage four. She first got cancer three years previously, but is living thanks to an experimental drug called Phalanxifor (which Green informs us at the end does not exist-he made it up because he would like it to exist). Wherever she goes Lancaster has to pull a wagon with an oxygen tank in so she can breathe. This oxygen tank is called "Phillip" this is because it "looked like a Phillip". This is not the only inanimate object Hazel Grace owns. She also owns a stuffed bear named "bluie" which she got when she "was like one", which occurs a few times within the book.

The book begins with Lancaster being very depressed and not doing very much (according to her mother) which Lancaster definitely agrees with as she calls it a "side effect of dying". In accordance with this, her mother sends her to a support group for teenage cancer suffers. This is where she met Isaac: a boy who has lost an eye due to cancer (he later undergoes an operation to remove the cancer and it results in him being blinded), later she meets Augustus Waters, a friend of Isaac. He too has had his issues with cancer but has been NEC (No evidence of cancer) four fourteen months. Waters had osteosarcoma which resulted him in requiring losing a leg and in its place he wears a prosthetic one. On there first meeting Lancaster describes Waters as being "hot" and Waters describes her as looking like Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta (although it is later revealed that Hazel Grace has an very similar appearance to Waters ex-girlfriend that died from cancer).

Lancaster introduces Waters to her favourite book An Imperial Affliction-or AIA. The book ends in the middle of a sentence and Lancaster desperately wants to know what happens. later in the book, the writer tells her that if she came to Amsterdam (where he lived) he would give her all the answers she asked for. Of course she has the issue of cost as her medical fees were very high. Waters then reminds Lancaster that she should have a wish, which she shamefully admits to having used when she was 13 to go to Disney. Luckily Waters banked his wish and uses it to take Lancaster and her mother to Amsterdam with him to meet the writer-Peter Van Houten.

Both Lancaster and Waters meet Houten and find out he is a drunk and insults the pair (he later turns up in America and apologises for his attitude). Whilst on their trip, after dealing with Houten, the pair go back to Waters' room.

Afterwards, I personally broke down and was emotionally destroyed when it was revealed that Augustus Waters was riddled with cancer. The rest of the story is just as heartbreaking, as you already know what is coming. The rest of the book talks about how Lancaster deals with 'Late stage Augustus'. Lancaster also later speaks at his funeral and begins a better relationship with her parents, after he mother tells her that she is going to get a career in Social work.

Personally I never expected this book to effect me how it did, I cried through the last couple of chapters and actually smudged part of the ink. It took me around three hours to read the whole thing, once I had started reading it, I was hooked. Although, you have to physically force yourself through the rest of it after Amsterdam as you do not want to read any more. If you are looking for a not-so-typical teenage romance novel, or just want a good cry, this book is ideal. I have never read anything like this before but will definitely  be looking into what else John Green has written.

Would I recommend this book? Yes

I rate this book 8/10 it would have been more, but it seemed to just wrap up so quickly, and I am waiting for the sequel. It has definitely opened my eyes to a different type of book.

I am definitely looking forward to see what is next in this type of genre and also excited to see what else Mr. Green can produce.