Book Review

Love Never Dies

Most people experience love at one time in their life or another. When John Green’s book, The Fault in Our Stars, touches on the subject of love after death, the book becomes wildly popular. Green focuses on the cancer story of Hazel Grace, who meets her cancer- surviving boyfriend at a support group. Hazel would waste all her time watching reruns of America’s Next Top Model and not realizing what she was missing out on: the rest of her life. Green contradicts the average idea of a cancer patient through Hazel’s personality, making this book impossible to put down.

Having written multiple books, including Looking for Alaska, Green understands the way a writer should demonstrate different plot twists. He includes different conflicts throughout the book, all tying back to the love between friends and family. His word choice is brilliant as he writes about the feelings between the characters.

To summarize the book, it is the story of two teenagers, Augustus Waters and Hazel Lancaster, who meet in a Cancer Kid Support Group. They make a connection practically instantly.  When Augustus becomes transfixed by Hazel’s beauty and cannot do anything but stare, she notices a bond that neither of them can break.

The Fault in Our Stars has a similar beginning storyline as the memoir Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Album, a New York Times bestselling book. The two contain people with an illness that is most likely fatal. The endings will leave you in tears as both Albom and Green have characters that are impossible to forget.

Specifically, Hazel’s personality shines through in one small act of kindness in the beginning of the book:

“This little girl with barretted braids appeared in front of me and said, “What’s in your nose?” And I said, “Um, it’s called a cannula. These tubes give me oxygen and help me breathe.” Her mother swooped in and said, “Jackie,” disapprovingly, but I said, “No no, it’s okay,” because it totally was, and then Jackie asked, “Would they help me breathe, too?” “I dunno. Let’s try.” I took it off and let Jackie stick the cannula in her nose and breathe. “Tickles,” she said.” (46)

Because Hazel is not ashamed by her cancer, or her cannula, she is open to talking about it. Her personality is strong with each page that is turned. Green defies the typical character choice by making his main character female. His choice made the book easier for females relate to even without cancer. After meeting Augustus for the first time, she is very straightforward with him. Her attitude seems stubborn and remains that way throughout the book.

The couple, together, goes to Amsterdam to visit and get answers from the author of their favorite book: An Imperial Affliction. When he is not how they thought he would be, they decide to spend their time around the city together. Their romantic relationship is stronger than ever, and it becomes more heart-felt when bad news is given to Augustus.

The love the two share is hard to extinguish, made clear by Hazel’s statement. She thinks, “The only person I really wanted to talk to about Augustus Water’s death was Augustus Waters.” This quote can help prove how, although her boyfriend was gone, she wanted to be with him through everything, and how their love never died.

Book Review Reflection

I chose to edit this piece because since it was the first piece that we wrote this year, I knew that it was rough. I decided to go back, read it, and take Ms. Marchetti’s comments into consideration. I made sure that my punctuation was appropriate for what it was explaining. I thought about other people reading my book review, and I tried to include things that someone who hasn’t read the book had maybe wanted to know. I did not want my book review to be “choppy”, so I made sure to make my transitions better. I rearranged my paragraphs to make them make a little more sense. I also correctly punctuated the passage from the book, since it was so long. I also made most of the paragraphs clearer. I enhanced my transitions with words like “specifically” and “to summarize the book.”