Need A Good Cry?

"As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."

I avoid books that make me cry. I just...don't care to go there. That isn't to say I don't read books that have sad parts, even depressing parts sometimes, but - as a rule - I try to stay away from books I think will just absolutely break my heart. 

A couple of weeks ago, I began seeing quotes pop up on Facebook for a book titled The Fault In Our Stars. I liked the quotes I saw, so I looked the book up. I quickly found that it was a young adult book and the narrator is a sixteen-year-old girl with cancer. I immediately scratched it off my "maybe I want to read it" list. I knew my heart could not take reading that book.

A couple of days ago, however, I just couldn't get some of the quotes I'd seen for the book out of my head. I looked the book up on Amazon and found I could download it on my Kindle Fire for $3.99. At that price, it was hard for me to pass up. I didn't want to buy it, though, if I wasn't going to really read it. I finally decided I would make it my first read over my Thanksgiving break from school, so I would have time to read another book or two after it to ease the heartache I felt sure the book would give me.

I downloaded the book on Friday night, and I finished it this morning. I even 'scheduled' the crying I knew would come. When I was about seventy percent done with the book, I could tell I was going to start getting emotional. I stopped reading last night and decided to finish the book this morning when I would be all alone in my house, and no one would question my tears, or ask me to explain, or wonder what the book touched off in me that would send me in to sobs.

And that is exactly what I did - bawled my eyes out for a bit. (It's OK, though, I was overdue for a good cry.) And if you think I'm giving anything away by saying that, you'd be wrong.  

Am I recommending the book? Oh, absolutely. It may have a couple of sad parts, but it has happy parts, too - along with great sarcasm and intelligence. I can't resist a book with good banter between characters. This one has a good bit of that. I promise you will smile and laugh and smirk more than anything else.

While the book is listed as "young adult," I will let you know it has some mature language in it here and there. It is appropriate (and not gratuitous), in my opinion, given the ages of the main characters and the fact that they are having to deal with some serious life issues. That being said, I wouldn't recommend it to one of my sixth graders, but I think it would be good for older teenagers. Amazon lists it as age appropriate for fourteen and up.

The book isn't long, only 318 pages in the hardcover edition. It packs a good punch, though, and makes you think,...which is exactly what a good book should do. I liked the book, and I am glad I read it. I am especially glad I read it before it becomes a movie, which is currently in the works. 

Nothing ruins a good book like a movie...