The Fault in our Stars is a NY times bestselling novel written by John Green, published in 2012. The Fault in our Stars follows Hazel, a 16 year old stage 4 thyroid cancer patient who finds herself falling in love with Gus, another member of her cancer kid support group (which she is in begrudgingly). Gus is cancer-free at this point in his life, but he lost part of his leg in his battle. As Jodi Picoult put it, this book is “an electric portrait of young people who learn to live life with one foot in the grave”. And it is “filled with staccato bursts of humor and tragedy.”

The book has a 4.7 star rating on Amazon, which I personally think should be raised to 5. This book is such a beautiful, immersive, and truly human experience to read. John Green writes with an incredible insight on how the characters would think and feel, and writes them in a way that shows their faults without demonizing them. When reading this book, I found myself feeling the way the characters did, feeling their conflicts (both internal and external), and the story feels very real, in a way I have found is rare with books directed to teenagers/YA readers.