The Fault in Our Stars is a contemporary teen romance in the way that Paris is a city in Europe and ice cream is a type of dessert. It tells the story of Hazel Grace and Augustus, Midwestern "cancer kids" who meet at a support group and connect over their fatalistic sarcasm and mutual attraction. They've both been maimed by their illnesses-Augustus has had a leg amputated, and Hazel needs oxygen tubes to support her damaged lungs-and though they delight in mocking the usual cancer narratives of "miracle" drugs and stoic, saintly patients, their story doesn't dodge the cruelties of juvenile disease. It's not all grim: There's fumbling teen -sex in hospital beds and friends who do and don't under-stand, and a pickled literary recluse in Amsterdam whom the two cash in a Make-a-Wish Foundation gift to visit.
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