When thinking of a cancer book likely what is brought to mind is another depressing story all about the cancer that you will end up forgetting in a month.  Award winning novel The Fault in Our Stars by John Green may be a cancer book, but it's one that will resonate with you in every stage of life. Main character Hazel Grace Lancaster was diagnosed with stage 4 thyroid cancer with metastasis forming in her lungs at age 13. She is not your typical inspirational, happy go lucky cancer poster child.  She is sarcastic, reads the same book over and over and is taking college classes at age 16. Stuck in a cyclone of reading her favorite book An Imperial Affliction and watching America’s Next Top Model, Hazel begrudgingly attends a cancer support group.  There she meets Augustus Waters (osteosarcoma) and their mutual friend Isaac who ironically has eye cancer for the second time.

    When Hazel lends her copy of An Imperial Affliction, another cancer story that Hazel feels perfectly captures what it's like to be dying as she is, they both get quickly become invested to the point of mild obsession into finding out the ending.  An Imperial Affliction ended mid-sentence so no one knows what became of the secondary characters once the narrator dies. In hopes of it being seen as a grand romantic gesture Augustus uses his make-a-wish on a trip to Amsterdam with Hazel and her mom where the author promised to give them the answers that have been haunting Hazel for years.  Augustus fears oblivion, this is increasingly relevant when Augustus’s cancer returns for more than just a leg.

    “That's the thing about pain, it demands to be felt”.

    This heart-wrenching novel is beautifully written with quotes that stay with you long after you have finished the book. Hazel’s simultaneous sarcastic and pessimistic outlook mixed with how she feels like a grenade to those around her provides an engaging and unique perspective on life and death.  Author John Green provides some insight on why he chose the name Hazel saying

    “Because it is an inbetween color. And she lives and in between life. Between health and sickness… between swimming and drowning” It's not your conventional love story. There is no happy ending in sight when you are as close to death as you are to each other.  This book isn’t an emotional rollercoaster, it's an emotional drop tower. This is a book not only just for teens but for anyone who struggles with depression, has cancer, is dying, has loved or lost. The Fault in Our Stars doesn’t discriminate, it's for everyone willing to give it the time, trust me it will be worth your time… okay.