The Fault in Our Stars - Book Review

I'm still enjoying my reads through BlogHer Book Club. For the most part, I've really enjoyed what I've gotten this year, and this month was no exception. On the heels of Claire Bidwell Smith's The Rules of Inheritance (her autobiography of dealing with her parents' cancer as a teen and young adult), I've been immersed in John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, a fictionalized account of two teens coping with their own cancer and relationships.

Hazel Lancaster is 16, diagnosed with terminal thyroid cancer at age 13, and the novel's protagonist, as she copes with her diagnosis and mortality. At her kids-with-cancer support group, she meets Augustus Waters, who is coping with a diagnosis of bone cancer as well as the loss of his leg to a tumor. As in the typical boy meets girl story, they fall for each other, with one caveat--time is not on their side.

But, as stated in the novel, "This isn't a cancer book, because cancer books suck," the relationship between Hazel and Gus is much more than a "two teens with cancer fall in love" schtick. It's funny, it's real, and it's more than their diagnosis.

Have you read The Fault in Our Stars? Join me over at BlogHer Book Club to discuss it!