The Fault In Our Stars

Green, J. (2012). The fault in our stars. New York: Dutton Books. Seventeen-year-old Hazel Grace Lancaster reluctantly attends the support group meetings for kids with cancer. She is terminally ill and finds the meetings a waste of time until she meets Augustus Waters at one of the meetings. Together they find friendship, love, and an ability to cope with death as Augustus’s cancer returns. Hazel spent her days thinking about how her death would affect others, but with Augustus she learns that she has to live her life to the fullest until death comes to silence the pain. The Fault In Our Stars has frequently been confused as modern realistic fiction because it involves a romantic love story, but doesn’t meet the criteria because Hazel and Augustus are not able to live happily ever after. It does meet the criteria of dark modern realistic fiction because it deals with grief. The characters experience death by cancer and the suffering it causes. Students who enjoyed this novel will enjoy reading the true story of Esther Grace Earl in her book This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl. Esther’s life was Green’s inspiration for The Fault In Our Stars.