Hello Beautiful People,
If there ever was a book that made you want to climb into the pages & jump into the story and give the characters a hug….well, it’s this book. If there ever was a book that made you want to climb into the pages & jump into the story and laugh with the characters, cry with the characters, and live right alongside them…well, it’s this book.
The Fault in Our Stars is…beautiful.
Yes, it’s heart wrenching.
At one point in the story, I actually texted a dear friend the following: This book is ripping out my insides.
And Mr. John Green, if you’re reading this, I mean that in the nicest way possible.
Because really, when you have a sixteen year old girl, Hazel, and a seventeen year old boy, Augustus, and you add terminal cancer & love & adventure & just the nitty-gritty daily tasks of life & family obligations and trying to hold on when you know its time to let go and not really knowing when to let go or what’s smothering or how to act in situations that make you just want to crawl under the covers and disappear for a few years only to wake up when everything is bright and sunny…
….well, your heart can feel like it’s breaking. Your insides can feel like they’re being ripped out. Because, sometimes, that’s what life can feel like. Exquisite, yet painful, and deliciously beautiful. Sometimes all those feelings are isolated, and sometimes they’re just weaved together in one, big, beautiful mess.
For those readers who need a short synopsis, here it goes:
Hazel is 16 and has cancer. It’s not a matter of if she’ll die, it’s a matter of when. So she reads. And she hangs out with her very awesome parents. And she goes to community college, because she graduated high school early. Hazel says things like My third best friend was an author who did not know I existed, and I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once. Hazel talks about characters in books like they’re old friends. She reads & reads & reads and uses metaphors in her daily speech. I. Love. Hazel.
The book opens at a Cancer Kids Support Group meeting, which Hazel does not like going to, but does so anyway, to please her biggest champion & cheerleader…her mom.
Anyway, at the start of this book, Hazel is at a Cancer Kids Support Group meeting, and meets Augustus Waters. Let it be known that I have a literary crush on Augustus Waters, and perhaps John Green should write a book on how to woo women, for Mr. Augustus Waters, well, he’ll steal your heart and put a smile on your face. And he does that, with Hazel. And then her world is turned upside down & inside out…and life, as she knows it is never the same.
It’s a star-crossed lovers theme with some of the most human moments I’ve ever seen written on a page. And believe me, I’ve read more books than your local librarian.
But, I’m not going to tell you what happens to Hazel & Augustus, because really, what fun would that be?
I can only tell you this, it’s fantastic. You will love it.
A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed the phenomenal Lauren Ward for our Actors & Actresses Q&A Series. (Don’t you worry, the interview will go live at a later date.) Anyway, as Lauren and I were chatting about theatre and life and art over lunch, The Fault in Our Stars came up…and she started gushing about how much she loved it. She called it brilliant, and I have to say I agree.
So, if you won’t believe me, perhaps you’ll take the recommendation of Ms. Lauren Ward, who will be playing Miss Honey in Matilda on Broadway.
Whatever you do, read this book.
Teens & adults, you will all love it.
Live, Love, Learn,