One of my college colleagues actually recommended this book to me. She asked me if I’m fond of YA genres. And so I told her, I read all genres. There’s no particular genre for me, I think. And so I searched an ebook copy of this and saved it on my phone.
Once I started reading The Fault In Our Stars and commenced posting progress on my facebook account, I got several feedback. Right there and then, I found out that this novel won as the best YA book in 2012. Knowing this, I became much more eager to finish and find out what this book is really all about.
I was caught by the use of words by the author. John Green is so effective narrating as Hazel Grace, the protagonist in the novel. It just amazed me how HE (Green) was able to convincingly portray a woman character, capturing the feminine and delicate facade of a woman’s personality. Also, the novel is short enough not to bore readers. Every page progresses. Every chapter is relevant. And I appreciate that.
This book is about Cancer Patients who have accepted to themselves that YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE. During the first chapters, I was already able to depict what will happen. I assumed and thought that Hazel Grace, as she pertains to herself a grenade, will die eventually, leaving Augustus behind, all broken. But it was the other way around. Augustus left her after battling with the traitor disease. Of course, I cried. And as I read the parts about Gus’ death, I can’t help but remember my father who died almost 8 years ago. The pain was excruciating. I know. And so I felt for Augustus’ bereaved family and loved ones. But the novel isn’t all about just dying and fighting a battle. It’s a love story as cheesy as we all can imagine. It’s heartbreaking, too. This is one of the few novels that made me shed tears.
What I love the most about The Fault In Our Stars are the quotable quotes, lines, and metaphors embedded in it. I will never forget how I imagined Augustus telling Hazel Grace this: “I am in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I’m in love with you and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only Earth we’ll never have, and I am in love with you.”
Some of the most memorable lines about life are:
“Grief does not change you. It reveals you.”
“Pain is like fabric: the stronger it is, the more it’s worth.”
“Without pain, we couldn’t know joy.”
“No matter how hard you kick, no matter how high you get, you can’t go all the way around.”
…And a whole lot more!
In totality, I find reading The Fault In Our Stars very informative. It gave me so much insights and realizations about LIFE and LOVE.
Life. Love. World 