For my one
of classes this semester, I am taking a teenager literature course. So get
ready for 19 reviews on teen books coming your way. Our first book genre was
contemporary teenage literature, and the require book was John Green's The
Fault in Our Stars.
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| I purchased my copy from Amazon.com. |
I cried
during this book, of course. Surprisingly, not as much as I thought for a book
about teens with cancer. It took me awhile to make a connection to Hazel. I
haven’t gone through any of the life experiences she had. I haven’t had much
experience with death or mortality, which I think is why it took me awhile. I
didn’t relate to her experience of facing down your death and accepting it. I
could, however, relate to her love to America’s Next Top Model marathons. I
used to watch that show whenever the marathons were on, often with my mom. It
was that experience that made it easier to get in her head. Thinking about what
a parent would do if you died would be incredibly hard, particularly when dying
is certain as it was with Hazel. Imagining my mom, after I died, coming across
a Next Top Model marathon, was just terrible to think about. I have a tendency
to be morbid and think about what would happen if I died, or a close family
member died, and I almost always end up crying. I don’t know if I would be
nearly as mature or stoic about it as Hazel often was. I have a lot of
emotions, and I feel them intensely and then get over them. I think it would be
so incredibly hard to have a family member, especially one so young, be ill
like that. To be constantly thinking that this could be your last day, or your
last Next Top Model marathon, would be so hard. The part where Hazel’s mom said
that she wouldn’t be a parent anymore really got to me.Having to imagine when
your daughter will die, knowing that it will happen would be so painful. The
book and the situation was just so different from my life and my experiences,
but I still felt along with the characters and empathized with their situation.
The
instances with Augustus’s friend, Isaac, were not my favorite parts. I
understand that there needed to be a character that had cancer and didn’t die,
but still had something crucial taken from him. His and Hazel’s friendship just
seemed contrived to me, because I wouldn’t go hang out with my husband’s
friends by myself, even though I’m friendly with them. Also, his girlfriend
leaving him was incredibly realistic to me, and it sucked for him but I
understood. As a teenager, I don’t think I could have committed to just dating
someone who was blind, and he was already talking about forever. Her leaving
seemed harsh to the reader, but was absolutely true to what a teenage girl
would do.
Also, who
names their child Augustus? I thought this every time I read his name, because it was just so ridiculous. I
actually looked it up because I thought the name was so absurd. Apparently,
it’s ranked #696 out of baby names in the United States. Which is actually higher than I thought it
would be, but not high enough to warrant being a name of a major character in a book.
I
absolutely expected and dreaded the book ending in the middle of a sentence
when Hazel dies, as her favorite book does. Thank goodness John Green didn’t do
this, because I probably would have thrown the book against the wall. I
appreciated not knowing exactly when, or how Hazel dies. As a reader, I know
she’s going to, but I don’t have to experience that heartbreak so soon after Augustus.
The author,
John Green is well known for his talent to write incredible young adult
fiction. His ability to link common words together to create beautiful,
meaningful sentences that resonate with so many people is what makes him a
great author. The line that stuck out to me the most, as well as the many other
people on the internet that have it tattooed on their body, was this: “I fell
in love the way you fall asleep: slowly and then all at once”. It’s just such a
good line, and such a meaningful metaphor, because that is how you fall in
love. Slowly you grow more attached to another person and one day you just
realize it: you’re in love. His
willingness to write about characters that aren’t the norm is to be celebrated,
and it can be celebrated because so many people can relate to them, even though
the characters are so different. To me, this is what makes his books stand out.
I also
related to a quote about knowing what you believe when you grow up Gus said, "I thought being an adult
meant knowing what you believe, but that has not been my experience.". My
beliefs and ideas are constantly changing still, probably even more so than
when I was a teenager just because I've been exposed to so much more after high
school. Telling young adults that it's ok to change your beliefs and that
doubting yourself is perfectly normal is a great message to give.
Now, there
were some aspects of the book that I didn't like. I think lots of teenagers
think that they talk like John Green writes his dialog, or wish that they
talked like that to their friends. But I remember as a teenager thinking that
people who actually tried to talk like that were weird. It's an idealization of
the way that teenagers actually are, and can seem kind of insincere to me at
times. It kind of takes away from how pretty the words sound when I realize
that there's no way I could ever make them sound that good in real life. That
kind of dialog is what happens in my head when I rehearse fake conversations to
myself, not what actually comes out of my mouth. His sentences are the perfect
thing to say, which normal teenagers think of hours after they actually want to
say them. I think this is why people like his books so much, but it almost
detracts from them a little for me. The characters, while clearly flawed, have
the perfect flaws and fall in this perfect love, and that's not how real life
is.
Overall, I
would still highly recommend this book to teenagers, as well as most John Green
books. If you had told me that I should read a book about a girl with terminal
cancer who falls in love with another cancer patient, there’s no way I would
think that I could enjoy it. Writing about a topic like that should be
depressing, which his book is, but it’s also so full of joy and appreciation
for life and experiences. Hazel’s parents keep pushing her to experience and do
more, even though she is going to die. Getting a college education and never
getting to work is incredibly depressing, but so much less depressing than just
giving up and doing nothing. For them, there’s always a little bit of hope.
This is what to me the book was about: the idea that life is always worth
living. I think as more teens these days struggle with depression, bullying and
pressure, this message is so important.
