Sarah's Review of The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

The Fault In Our Stars is such a heartbreaking, dynamic novel. It is full of tragedy, but also humour and grace. John Green really capitalizes on the old saying "tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
The Fault In Our Stars is about a young teenage girl, Hazel Grace, who has been diagnosed with cancer, yet has gotten a few more years due to a new medical drug that is supposed to cause her tumor to shrink. It's a miracle drug, but Hazel still knows that her diagnosis is terminal. Upon her parents request, she attends a Cancer Kid Support Group in a church and it is here that she meets Augustus Waters. Everything Hazel thought she knew about her life and herself suddenly takes a huge turn as she finds herself irrevocably drawn to him and falls in love.
This novel helps put things into perspective while living in such a fast paced career driven world. It shows us that those that we love, our family and friends, are the most important things in our world and we should cherish them and make them a priority. We need to step back and figure out what it is that we truly want to do, what we love to do, and then follow those dreams in order to be truly happy.
All of the characters in this novel are filled with rich descriptive and they all play an integral role in the development of the story. The story is well-written and unfolds naturally over the course of their lives. Even though we only see a glimpse into Hazel's life for a short period of time, it is easy to fall in love with her character and to truly empathize with her. It's a sad reality that most of us readers know somebody or has known or loved somebody in a similar situation as Hazel, being diagnosed with cancer is such widespread and unfortunately happens too often in our society. Cancer touches many lives, and this novel shows just how deeply others are impacted with one's diagnosis.
There is a lot of tragedy in this novel yet through it all we find that amongst the anguish, tragedy brings people together. We see this especially in Hazel's friendship with Isaac.
I think the most important thing that I got out of this novel is the message to do the things that make you happy and spend your time with people you love because you only get one life and whether it is a short life or a long life, you want to make it yours and you want it to be memorable. I don't give many books 5 stars, but this one deserves it.