YA Fiction / Realistic Fiction
Wow. This was a phenomenal book with characters so real and familiar that I was immediately drawn into them and the story. It felt like I was a fly on the wall and experiencing everything that was happening. I laughed, I cried, I got angry, I felt smitten, I grieved. Oh, did I grieve. . .
I didn't know anything about this book (this SIGNED COPY I own, yes indeedy, thanks TLA 2012), but it had come highly recommended by everyone who read it, young and old, so I decided to dig-in and read my SIGNED COPY (did I mention that already??)
Having just read A Monster Calls, (which I also didn't know anything about when I started it) I didn't realize I was again taking on a heavy-duty story about the agony of cancer, or I probably would have given it a breather. Having said that, this story isn't really about the disease but about the bonds and relationships that are formed and lost because of the disease. The perspectives are different than you would expect, and the story has so much to offer the readers. In the middle of all the drama of disease and remission and recurrence, there is also a story of every teen in Augustus and Hazel. They are going through the growing pains of becoming young adults, of becoming independent from their parents, of becoming themselves and not who others think they may be. At times they are incredibly mature, and other times they are just regular teens, struggling with reality.
The undercurrent story of Hazel's (and subsequently Augustus's) fascination with a book written by a reclusive author adds an extra element of interest -- and yet another perspective on the ways in which cancer impacts lives.
Watch the Penguin book trailer here:
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