Green, John, and Irene Vandervoort. The Fault in Our Stars. New York: Dutton Books, 2012. Print. ISBN-13: 978-0525478812. Hardcover. $10.79.
Annotation: Two teens confront life and love while battling cancer.
Book Talk:
Will I be loved? Will I be remembered? Will I leave a mark on this world?
These questions take on greater urgency when you’re a teenager with cancer. 16-year-old Hazel Lancaster and 17-year-old Augustus (“Gus”) Waters first meet at a Cancer Support Group meeting in a church basement. Hazel has thyroid cancer, a terminal diagnosis. She is forced to carry around a portable oxygen tank to survive day-to-day. She thinks Gus is cocky, but very “hot”. He thinks she looks like Natalie Portman and is attracted to her. Gus is a cancer survivor himself at the meeting to support his best friend Isaac.
Hazel and Gus bond over a Natalie Portman movie and their discussion of Hazel’s favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, written by Dutch author Peter Van Houten. Hazel is absolutely obsessed with this book about a young girl with blood cancer, but completely frustrated by the book’s incomplete ending that leaves the fate of many characters unknown. Gus uses his Make-a-Wish “cancer perk” to take Hazel and her mother to Amsterdam to meet the reclusive author. Amsterdam is where their friendship blossoms into a serious relationship, and they fall in love.
Hazel and Gus are teenagers first, but also recognize that cancer shapes their personalities, their sense of humor, and their hopes and ambitions. Author John Green worked in a children’s hospital early in his career and met many children and families confronting cancer. As you read The Fault In Our Stars, there are many unexpected twists and turns, but you will get answers about the unfinished novel that haunts Hazel as well as the urgent questions that are top-of-mind for these two teenagers: Will I be loved? Will I be remembered? Will I leave a mark on this world?
0 comments:
Post a Comment