The Faults in Our Stars
Author: John Green
Title: The Fault in Our Stars
Publisher/Year: Dutton Books/2012
Pages: 313 (Hardcover)
Genre: YA Fiction
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten. (Summary taken my goodreads.com)
SPOILERS ALERT! SPOILERS ALERT!
I can’t even think about this book without wanting to cry until I die! Why why why why?! John Green, why do you want to destroy me? First you rip out my heart, but that wasn’t enough! You took my soul, too!
I’m dramatic, I know, but seriously, TFIOS is so good! And yes, by the end I felt like my heart had been crushed and my soul ripped out. It was devastating. I mean, it was a “cancer book”. Those don’t usually end well. (Example: My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult.)
Anyway, where to begin with this one? In my goodreads review, I pointed out that I don’t think I’ve ever cried this much because of ONE book. I even cried more than I did during and after the Harry Potter experience - books and films combined over 10 flipping years! I knew toward the middle of TFIOS that it was setting me up for something, which was hard, knowing someone was going to die - I knew it couldn’t really be Hazel, unless Green was going for the similar thing with Anna in that Affliction book she loved so much, how the story just ends mid sentence. I thought that’d be too obvious, since she’s the main character. But Augustus, that would be a death that would not only rip the PoV character’s heart out, but the reader as well, who’d grown to love him as a person, as a friend/boyfriend, cancer patient/surivor, whatever Augustus Waters was, he was cool and beautiful and it freaking SUCKS that he died. (God, I’m tearing up just thinking about it.)
I really, really appreciated the not over pressing beliefs in this. Yes, the support group was held in a church, The Literal Heart of Jesus, or whatever, but as a Christian, it was nice to see truth in faith, whether it’s Christianity, oblivion, Something... I thought John Green had a realistic approach to this, with the kids who are actually facing the diseases, the families that are deeply connection with the kids and illnesses but might believe differently because they don’t know how to let go of their baby...
This book hit home fore me, a lot of times, because my aunt has lung cancer. Recently it’s spread to her rib and neck, and yeah, it’s terminal. She’s fought three years and is currently stable, but with a deadly illness, you never really know. So having Hazel going through the motions, of having sucky lungs and using machines and loving someone who is so sick they’re put in a wheelchair, and then waking up thinking everything is fine until reality hits you and you realize life is unfair and people are sick and are dying and there’s nothing in this whole goddam world you can do about it... John Green, I hate you for this book.
But I don’t. Because it is a beautiful masterpiece. I can’t say that it made me become a better person, or even want to become a better person, because I don’t think that was the point of any of the characters or their journeys, or their lives or deaths. The truth is we all die, it’s just a matter of time, and it’s important to embrace the Here and Now, whether you’re sick or healthy.
Speaking more of the book - I really enjoyed how he capitalized things, named things without using parenthesis, like Last Good Day. I enjoy that despite how sick Hazel and Gus might be, they try to make it work, and they love each other through it, even if one of them is a grenade. I love that the Make a Wish foundation is mentioned, and that John Green actually went to Amsterdam for two months to write this book. I love that Hazel bought Gus his last cigarette pack, and told him he could light them, that she wouldn’t mind. I like that she and Isaac hung out, even after their best friend died. And I love that Hazel’s mom was planning a life for if when Hazel died.
My friend, Danielle, said this book destroyed her. I think that’s the only explanation. How can we love something that is so painful? It hurts so much. Even though this is fiction, it’s very real, and I think that’s why it has such a real reaction to it. People, even people without cancer, can relate to someone: the parents, the friends, the girlfriends/boyfriends of the sick.
When I was reading it all I could think about was what I’d do if I lost Ben like Hazel lost Gus. God, that is the hardest part of the whole damn book. Death is so final. So real. Because we have no real proof of an afterlife, of oblivion. The only thing we know for sure of death is that that person no longer is alive, here, on earth with us. And that sucks. In fiction or reality.
Sorry if I didn’t talk much about the book’s details. I really love it - Isaac, for one - but I’m blubbering now and can’t write much more. Overall, I recommend it to everyone. Yes, it’s YA and it’s sad and a “cancer book”, but it’s the best damn thing you’ll read, even if it does destroy you.