<P> Several well - known authors have contributed their own positive reviews for the book . Jodi Picoult, author of My Sister's Keeper, calls The Fault in Our Stars "an electric portrait of young people who learn to live life with one foot in the grave ." She goes on to say that the novel is "filled with staccato bursts of humor and tragedy ." Bestselling author of The Book Thief, Markus Zusak, describes it as "a novel of life and death and the people caught in between" and "John Green at his best". Pertaining to Green's writing throughout the book, E. Lockhart, author of The Boyfriend List, says "He makes me laugh and gasp at the beauty of a sentence or the twist of a tale . He is one of the best writers alive and I am seething with envy of his talent ." Time named The Fault in Our Stars as the #1 fiction book of 2012 . Kirkus Reviews listed it among the top 100 children's books of 2012 . It also made USA Today's list of the top 10 books of 2012 . In 2013, the Edmonton Journal named the book one of their "favourite books of the year ." </P> <P> One notable unfavorable opinion appeared in the Daily Mail . In the piece, the plot of The Fault in Our Stars was described as "mawkish at best, exploitative at worst" and the book was characterized as belonging to the "sick - lit" young adult genre, together with other young - adult novels such as Never Eighteen and Before I Die . This entire genre, as well as the genre of young - adult novels dealing with suicide and self - harm (the piece mentions Thirteen Reasons Why, By the Time You Read This, I'll Be Dead, The Lovely Bones, and Red Tears) was criticized as being "distasteful" and inappropriate for their target audience of teens . The Guardian criticized the piece, pointing out in particular that The Fault in Our Stars was chosen by The Guardian as that month's "teen book club choice" because "it's a gripping read, featuring two compelling characters, that deals sensitively and even humorously with a difficult situation without descending into mawkishness ." In general, The Guardian faulted the Daily Mail for suggesting that the issues of illness, depression, and sexuality are inappropriate precisely "in the one place where difficult subjects have traditionally been most sensitively explored for teens: fiction written specifically for them ." For his part, in an interview for The Guardian, John Green said: "The thing that bothered me about The Daily Mail piece was that it was a bit condescending to teenagers . I'm tired of adults telling teenagers that they aren't smart, that they can't read critically, that they aren't thoughtful, and I feel like that article made those arguments ." </P> <P> In January 2012, Fox 2000, a division of 20th Century Fox, optioned the rights to adapt the novel into a feature film . Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber wrote the adapted screenplay . Josh Boone signed on to direct a year later, in February 2013 . Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen produced the film . Shailene Woodley stars as Hazel, while Ansel Elgort plays Augustus . Nat Wolff was cast as Isaac, the friend that introduces them, and Laura Dern stars as Hazel's mother . Sam Trammell was cast as Mr. Lancaster, Hazel's father . On August 29, 2013, John Green announced that Mike Birbiglia would be playing Patrick, and on September 6, 2013, Green announced that Willem Dafoe would portray Peter Van Houten . </P> <P> Principal photography began on August 26, 2013, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which doubled for the novel's setting of Indianapolis, Indiana, with a few days in Amsterdam, before concluding October 16, 2013 . The film was released on June 6, 2014, in the United States . It was positively received by critics, with praise going to Woodley's performance as well as the entire film . The film also proved to be commercially successful, retaining the No. 1 spot at the box - office during its opening weekend, and grossed over $307 million worldwide against its budget of $12 million . It was released on Blu - Ray and DVD on September 16, 2014 . </P>

Summary of the fault in our stars novel