I could talk for England about this book. I feel like I have
done already. I’ve bought copies for people, lent my copy out to friends, and
it is now currently working its way around some of the teenage girls at school.
There is a bit in TFIOS about reading a book that fills you with evangelical
zeal and you have to get everybody to read it before the world can be put
right. That’s how I feel about it.
The basic plotline does not do justice to the epicness of
the story. Girl meets boy. Girl has cancer. Boy in remission from cancer. They
fall in love. Go. You know it’s going to end badly. You wonder what you’re
doing to yourself. But it’s worth it.
Hazel and Augustus are my favourite ever literary
characters. The first time I read this book I was in Pret A Manger in
Canterbury, having just borrowed it from Canterbury city centre library, and I
had to leave the café because I was laughing so much. Yes, the cancer hangs
over Hazel and Augustus’ heads as an ever-present threat, but they really get
how to be young and alive while still remaining genuine and real. Their courage
lets up. They have bad days and they’re not afraid to show it. They are just
ordinary kids living with a horrible disease. They don’t let it define them.
I cannot recommend this book enough. Oh, and with regards to
the film? In my opinion it’s the best book-to-film adaptation I’ve ever seen.
The bits they cut out don’t make the film lose out in quality or detract from the
story. Read it, watch it. It probably will break your heart, but it’s worthy
for that to be okay.
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