Cancer staging – YA Chit Chat

I am about to read a book that I’ve been told is one of the most beautiful, heart-wrenching stories ever written: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

Summary from Goodreads: Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs… for now.Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

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I’ve been told by many to have several box of tissues next to me when I read this book. I have to admit I’m hesitant to read something I know is going to make me cry. Why put myself through that? The last book I read that made me sob was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Sirius’ death really did a number on me.

“But it’s such a great story! You have to read it,” they tell me about Green’s novel. Okay, okay. I’m not one to turn down a great story, so I guess I’ll head out to the store today and pick up a couple of boxes of tissues. Geez, the things we do for the love of a good book.

What was the last book you read that made you cry? Did you go into it knowing it was a tear-jerker?