For some reason, I was unaware of the buzz surrounding "The Fault In Our Stars" until last week. I encountered someone on the subway reading the paperback. When I asked about the book, she informed me that it had been made into a movie that was about to open, and that it was one of the best books she had read in a long while. Her praise for the novel was so specific and so effusive that I immediately ordered a copy.
John Green has written a very touching and unsentimental book about two teenagers who choose to live life to the fullest while dancing under the dangling sword of Damocles that is a diagnosis of cancer. Unlike the cloying "Love Story" of a generation ago, this book captures the heart of a girl and a boy who meet in a cancer support group meeting in a church basement - "The Heart of Jesus." Their journeys of discovery, exploration, growth, affirmation and acceptance are inspirational without being condescending or cliched. This is a book with a lot of "metas." There are metaphors for love and for life and for disease. There are meta-conversations about "cancer books." And there are the inevitable metastases that hover over each cancer patient like a phantom's shadow..
This book is both heart-breaking and uplifting, and is richly deserving of its current status as a favorite of young readers and older adults alike.
CEnjoy.
Al
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