The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The novel, The Fault in our Stars by John Green starts with a 16 year old girl named Hazel. She originally had thyroid cancer but it spread into her lungs. Her parents then encouraged her to attend a support group for people who have cancer; They believed that it would help her share her feelings and understand that she isn’t alone in her situation. At the start, Hazel didn’t enjoy being surrounded by people who had the same struggles and worries; that was until she met Augustus Waters. Augustus (or Gus) is tall, handsome, smart, and confident. They started hanging out pretty often along with Gus’ best friend Issac who also has cancer. It did not take long for Hazel to realize that she had found the person she admires and loves. The more Hazel and Augustus had hung out, the more they figured out how much they had in common; they both love to read, are very poetic with their actions and words, and they both know the struggles of having cancer. Throughout the rest of the story, there are a few ups and downs with the things getting in the way of their relationship. Will they work it out? You’ll have to read the book to find out.
This book brings me such joy. The words are articulated so well and the use of allusion with a book that doesn’t even exist ties into how similar Augustus and Hazel are emotionally. A quote I love that expresses this is “‘Pain demands to be felt,’ he said, which was a line from An Imperial Affliction.”. The main theme of The Fault in our Stars is how love connects with suffering and being together no matter the circumstance and it’s beautiful how the quotes are exactly connected to their experiences and boundaries in their relationships especially romantically.
Even though I think that this book is incredibly emotional and heart-wrenching, I have heard from some people say that the representation of cancer in this book is inaccurate. Creating the right portrayal of a disease or any group of people in general is important, especially if you know that content will be accessed by a lot of people. So before sharing information about something you personally don’t relate/connect to, remember to do your research.
My final rating is 4.5/5
No Comments Yet