The Fault in Our Stars

I've never heard of John Green nor did I know this was a Young Adult book or I may have passed on it completely. I chose it because of all the 5 star ratings. There's no way to sugarcoat this. This book is about teenagers with cancer. Hazel Grace Lancaster, the narrator, is 16 and carries an oxygen tank with her everywhere. Augustus Waters lost his leg to cancer. These two teens meet in a support group and eventually fall in love.

Although the disease is always front and center, Green does an excellent job of creating an adventure that is not related to their illness. He has worked a beautiful story around it in order to follow something more important; a dream to meet Peter Van Houten, an author who lives in the Netherlands. Hazel needs to find out what ultimately happens to a character in one of his books and Augustus is going to do everything in his power to help her make that dream come true. These two teenagers are so inspiring they treat cancer like more of an inconvenience than a life sentence, a real life lesson on many different levels.

I connected to these teens and to their parents. I can honestly say I "enjoyed" this book, it was funny, haunting and tragic all at the same time. Don't pass on it because of the big "C", you'll be missing quite a gem.

Kate Rudd brought Hazel to life. She did an excellent job with the narration.

There are books that you experience in a state of welcoming bliss. They stick with you because you needed to read them JUST RIGHT NOW. And somehow the universe converged at the perfect moment to drop a wonderful story about this or that into your hands. You read with great fervor the adventures, sadness, mystery, or humor of your fictional doppleganger, and when you are done, you feel awash in both elation and deflation, wondering if you will ever find another story like this one.

This was not one of those stories. It could have been, and at times it seemed on the verge of becoming one of them, but it ended and I did not feel that. I have no doubt that it probably instills in others the feelings that I wrote about above. For me, I experienced the roller coaster of Hazel Grace's young life and was properly enchanted, worried, and hopeful for her. I think that I wanted something even more profound in the end, and it just wasn't there for me.

This, in no way, should discourage you from reading this story. It is beautifully written and wonderfully executed. Kate Rudd does a fantastic job of bringing Hazel Grace to life, to the point that I'm not sure they aren't the same person. This story of life, and its byproduct cancer, is filled with moments of pure happiness, humor, and devastating sadness. John Green's compelling storytelling is on full display here, and I cannot fault the story for any shortcomings.

An excellent read no matter what my unreasonable expectations may have been.

I would place this one near the top of the YA titles I've sampled.

I enjoyed the couple's time in Amsterdam. I liked the author of Hazel's book. He was flawed, humorous, and inevitably redeemable.

I also thought the simplistic drawing of the circle diagram was hilarious.

I did cry at the end and chuckle during the middle. John Green has the ability to insert humor at almost every turn. This was his best attempt at creating sadness.

Great read.

I laughed, I cried, I fell in love with the characters. The narrator captures teenage sarcasm perfectly. The description of this book doesn't do it justice. I picked it up at the recommendation of a couple friends and loved it from the first word. Listen to this book.

As I get farther away from being a young adult, I find myself drawn more towards that time in my life to understand how I feel now. And John Green is my favorite author to stir up the emotions and perspectives that time in our lives holds. These characters brought joy and pain into my life as a person who has watched a loved one die from cancer, as a parent trying to shield their kids from pain, and as a flawed adult worried about the legacy I'll leave behind. Mr. Green does this without taking shortcuts or using the mystical or seeking easy answers. As reported by others, I could listen to Kate Rudd read a phone book and be happy. Fortunately this is quite far from that and only serves to make the best book I've heard in a long time even better. I think I owe Audible an extra "credit" for this one.

It doesn’t matter that John Green’s target audience is teenagers – his characters are smart, honest, and funny no matter how old you are, and the universal themes captured in this book are, well, universal. Terminal cancer may not be the most uplifting of plotlines, but don’t let that stop you from listening to this wonderful story. Though I’ve listened to John Green before (Will Grayson, Will Grayson was also really good!), this was the first time I heard narrator Kate Rudd, and I was most impressed with how she handled all the male and female characters – young and old, American and Dutch. I will definitely be looking for more of her performances in the future!

Nothing I say or don't say can make you understand how wonderful this book truly is, but believe me when I tell you that you are making the right choice by buying it. I mean seriously, this story could have been boring and depressing, instead, I find it fun, interesting, touching and insightful. I simply did not want it to end!

I've rarely read a book that is filled with such raw honesty, so when I come across one, I appreciate it. I was perfectly able to connect with the characters. I couldn't detect a single trace of fakeness in them. The Fault in Our Stars isn't just some random book you read and forget, as I'm sure in my case, it will stick in my head for a very long time.

Kate Rudd did a phenomenal, outstanding job narrating this highly emotional read. Considering the subject matter and the emotionally charged nature of this book, it would have been so easy to overdo the narration. But Kate Rudd’s performance was perfection, bringing to life these amazing characters and telling this heart-wrenching story so naturally that it was as if I was listening to Hazels private thoughts. And yes, I could still recognize a great narration even when I don’t know how I heard anything over the sobbing mess I was reduced to throughout this book. I highly recommend this audiobook experience to anyone that is interested in reading this book.

The story itself, well, I mean its John Green so of course it was amazing. I love this man’s writing. It’s like he effortlessly creates these wonderfully realistic characters; characters that I’d want to know, that I’d want to become friends with. And by the end of the book, I feel like I DO know them and that we’ve been friends forever and I’m so emotionally entwined in the story that its actually difficult to move on to another book when it is over. I felt like that with Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and I certainly feel like that with this incredible book.

I don’t know that there are many of us whose lives have not been touched in some way by cancer, but even if it hasn’t, almost everybody has lost a loved one too early and has felt the utter unfairness of that loss. The Fault in Our Stars is the story of several kids suffering from cancer and is told from their perspective. It is unapologetically and brutally honest, morbidly humorous, simply just real. This book was so filled with unfiltered truth that it was almost uncomfortable to read in some places. But I still recommend that you do.

By the end of this book, I had cried so many tears that the front of my shirt was wet, and days later I’m still tearing up as I recall the story while I write this review. The Fault in Our stars was a powerful, emotionally intense, and incredibly important read. I highly recommend it to anyone regardless of genre.

I absolutely loved this story. I am not the kind of person who cries at movies or goes awww during romantic moments, but this book is different. I laughed out loud at parts and i did cry a bit... only a few tears, but for me that is huge!

John Green outdid himself with this unbelievably touching story. The characters are amazing individuals who you like immediately. You enter a world where the character's problems are on such a different level that it feels almost foreign and you can lose yourself in it.

I don't want to drone on over every detail because that will ruin its twists and turns for all who read this review so i will keep it brief.

This story reminds us to be present in life and appreciate the things we take for granted. Please read this book, you will absolutely fall in love with it. You will feel for these characters and perhaps see life from a new perspective. Thanks to this story my life, "is a roller coaster that only goes up...." my friends.

Narrator: Did a great job with both male and female voices. The accents sounded authentic. A perfect choice for this book.

I couldn't imagine the story being told any other way. Easily one of the best readings I've heard on audible.

Yes. But I didn't and I'm glad i didn't. Not that the book didn't call for it. It actually screamed for it to be honest. The performance begged for it as well. She was brilliant. My drive was over and felt that a break would be best.

You won't regret this purchase. Like all good stories I don't want to ruin one detail for you. But I believe you will want to buy the ebook as well. To many things to highlight, to reread, to contemplate. I'm not saying skip the audio book. This one is to well done to decide between the two. I would really like it if Audible started to offer a bundle of the two.. Even if it cost extra.