Kindle Quest 2014 - The Fault is in Our Stars

I bought this book last summer. It was on sale for under two dollars and since some place like Time or The New York Times Book Review said it was the best book of the year (rare for a YA novel) I thought I should go ahead and buy it. But I hesitated to read it for two reasons. One, I worried that it would make me think about what it would be like if either of my children got cancer. It did. Two, I figured the book HAD to be overrated. It wasn't.

I didn't think there was any way that a story about two kids dying from cancer could be so unique, engaging,and ultimately uplifting. John Green has managed to create compelling, lovable characters that I truly cared about and a great plot, but that, to me, wasn't the most amazing part. How did he manage to write so profoundly in such an accessible way? I have total writer's envy after reading this one.

And I came to a conclusion. There are writers who are good because they have learned from other writers and they managed to draw stylistically from them to create something unique of their own. On my good days I believe that I belong in that group. Then there are writers who define a genre or contribute so much original thought that the work they create becomes an instant classic.

That's John Green, and that's The Fault is in Our Stars.