The fault in our stars by John Green

I had picked up this book a couple of years ago and never read it ;(

My friend borrowed it and returned it and I kept it back on the book shelf. I had known that the movie had come out but what say, I prefer the actual book to a movie out of it for the simple reason that movies can never do justice to a book. A movie ends up being twisted to appeal to the masses (no arguing here; movie is a commercial product and is made to make money). A book can take you to places and a good author can actually make you feel that you are present in the place or is a part of the lives of the characters in the book.

Even before I had picked up this book, I knew it was a sad story. Maybe that was what had refrained me from reading it. The story is about cancer patients and the two stars in the story - Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters- are sadly cancer patients who has no chance of a complete cure. The story line revolves around how they meet in a support group, become friends and fall in love. Augustus has this wacky sense of humor which is what attracts Hazel (and me) in the first place. He uses his one last wish to take her to Amsterdam to meet her favourite author of her favourite book 'An imperial affliction', because she wants to know from the author himself what happens to the characters in the book since the book comes to an abrupt end. That is selfless love.

We keep thinking that Hazel might be in a bad condition, but Augustus might live till old age with his amputated leg, since his cancer seems to be in the category of 'not-so-bad-you-will-live' but alas, fate has other plans. Our hearts sink when Augustus puts it to Hazel ' I lit up like a Christmas tree Hazel Grace', the result of his scan. His cancer has recurred and has spread to other parts of his body. You would want to hug those two at that point in the book and reassure them that everything is going to be all right.

You just realize how lucky you are to be alive and healthy. How blessed we are to see each day, to wake up healthy, to have happy parents and can attend to day to day activities of life without fear. Life is so short. We  never know what is going to happen the next moment.

John Green knows the English language and how to twist and turn it to make an interesting book. There are quite a few number of words that you might want to refer to a dictionary to know the meaning  :).

I don't want to spill the entire story here and ruin your book-reading experience (and the wrath of the author) but do read it if you can lay your hands on it.