The Book Life

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

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.

Words cannot even begin to describe how this novel made me feel. Never has the written word imbibed such deep emotions within me. Indeed, never has a novel made me think so much. About the sanctity life, of my own morality, and on other notes, of how unjustifiably unfair life really is.

The Fault in Our Stars follows the prose of Hazel Grace Lancaster, the protagonist, who is suffering from late stage thyroid cancer, and has to walk around with an oxygen tank in order to breathe properly. She meets Augustus, sufferer of Osteosarcoma, who fears oblivion, and Isaac, who has eye cancer, at a support group for cancer sufferers.  Aptly nicknamed the Literal Heart of Jesus. Augustus, we find out from the start, is highly intelligent and passionate and just a generally beautiful human being. He holds an unlit cigarette in his mouth as a symbol of defiance, a way of winning against the cancer. He says it's holding the cancer causing object in his mouth, without giving it the power to give him, by lighting it. (Please excuse my inadequate response of a beautiful, beautiful character). What makes Gus so loveable, so amazing is that he is human. he's brave and intelligent and beautiful, yes, but he's also scared, scared of Oblivion, as he tells Hazel Grace. As most stories go, they fall in love. But their love is so pure, so untainted.

Death surprisingly, was not the main objective of this book. As one would think when reading novels that deal so heavily with sickness and morality. The book centers around the romance between Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters, a character to whom many have fallen in love with. John Greens flawless prose and philosophical speech help you to really get a feel for the characters, to fall in love with them, cry for them. I root for them, and just want them to get better, to fight the disease that slowly kills them. But John is pretty clear from the start, their fate is sealed from the first turn of the page.

Although this is aimed at teenagers/young adults. The strong writing and delicate prose, is ideal for an older audience too. Anyone can enjoy the beauty of Johns writing and fall in love with his characters. This is a piece of literary masterpiece that will stay with you forever. Whether you like it or not. So many times I cried, I laughed and I turned the pages feverishly, inspired to get to the last page. To find out the fates of his characters. And yet as the fate became grimmer, more darker, I was spurred to read on. I could say so many things, so many empty words. But they all pale into significance, along with that blinking cursor as I try to form an appropriate diatribe. Because, never, in such a long time have I cared so deeply for characters. or a book in my life. And this is one novel that I will carry with me forever.