“My
thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.”
- John Green, The Fault in Our Stars
Many
books talk about the meaning of life that's driven by death, but few
books talk about the meaning of life that's driven by being alive. I
think The
Fault in Our Stars
is one of the few books that belongs to the later, and it is a very
good book.
I
discovered this book, when a friend of mine, and his fiancee ventured
to watch a movie called The
Fault in Our Stars.
He told me about it, and via the internet, I found out the movie is
based on a critically acclaimed novel. After reading the short
description about the book. I decided to purchase and read it,
because the premise sounds interesting. Why do I find a YA romance
novel, about 2 teenagers with cancer interesting? Please allow me to
explain my thought......
Let's look at it this way. It has taken me 5 minutes to write this paragraph. If the internet statistics is reliable, this means, while I wrote this paragraph, 540 people have died in this world, and I wonder how many of those dead people are younger than I. I can't help but ponder, why does life say those 540 people should die in the past 5 minutes, while I should continue to live? Is there a meaning to all this? This book, The Fault in Our Stars seems to be talking about these questions. Of course, I didn't really expect to find big answers to every big questions about life in one novel. That would be expecting too much, but I was pretty sure this book wouldn't say the meaning of life is 42.
Let's look at it this way. It has taken me 5 minutes to write this paragraph. If the internet statistics is reliable, this means, while I wrote this paragraph, 540 people have died in this world, and I wonder how many of those dead people are younger than I. I can't help but ponder, why does life say those 540 people should die in the past 5 minutes, while I should continue to live? Is there a meaning to all this? This book, The Fault in Our Stars seems to be talking about these questions. Of course, I didn't really expect to find big answers to every big questions about life in one novel. That would be expecting too much, but I was pretty sure this book wouldn't say the meaning of life is 42.
I
remember as I opened this book, on the second page under “author's
note” section, the author said made-up stories can matter. I deeply
agreed with him, that was a good start. We should not underestimate
the power of stories. A few hours later, I finished reading this
book, and here is my review.
Synopsis:
Hazel
Grace Lancaster, aged 16, suffered from thyroid cancer. She received
a miraculous chemical treatment which kept her cancer under control,
buying her a few years. However, she was still very sick. Her mother
recommended Hazel to join a cancer support group, to meet other
teenage cancer patients, and make some friends. Initially, Hazel
disliked the cancer support group, but life is strange. A teenage boy
named Augustus Waters appeared at the cancer support group. Hazel and
Augustus hit it off immediately, and they were about to rewrite each
others' stories...
What
I think about this book:
I
deeply enjoyed this book. I finished this book (312 pages) in one
day, because I couldn't put it down. I was sucked into the story, the
characters' lives and their world. I found the writings in this book
easy to understand (probably because it is a YA novel), but that is a
good thing. Green's style of writing allowed me to pay more attention to the story, instead
of spending time to decipher verbose sentences. The story in this
book is simple, but it also had a lot of twists and turns that
surprised me. There are a lot of humors in this book, I particularly
enjoyed the exchanges between Hazel and Augustus, they were tinged
with dry humor, they brought out a lot of laughter from me.
People
have written stories about people battling terminal illness. People
have also written stories about people falling in love. The Faults
in Our Stars is refreshing, this is not a typical romance story.
Neither is this a story about perseverance against terminal illness.
Let me just say, this is a story about being alive. The
characterization in this book is brilliant. The characters are
vividly portrayed. Readers meet these characters, as they witness
these characters' joys and struggles. I particularly admired the
portrayal that Hazel and Augustus had a deep understanding they lived
on borrowed time (shouldn't we all?), so everything they say or do is
genuine, filled with raw honesty. Some might say the characterization
is unrealistic, because Hazel and Augustus seem to be overly wise for
their age. But I think suffering can make people grow in wisdom, so
it can be realistic for Hazel and Augustus to have wisdom beyond
their age.
In
the end, I did not find big answers to all big questions about life
from this book. After all, a truly powerful story is one that makes
people ask questions instead of spoon-feed people with answers. As I closed this
book, I was reminded of something that's lost to me, due to my busy
and mundane lifestyle. I am not going to share what I got out of this
book, because I believe this is the kind of book where everyone will
get something different out of it. So what are you waiting for? Get
your hands on this novel and enjoy it, it's a good book.
P.S.
This book is categorized as YA fictions, but I am not sure if this is
suitable for young people under the age of 14 (or 15), because there
is a sex scene and some use of profane language.
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