The Fault in Our Stars | Book Review

I first read this book last year with full intentions of making a review after. Honestly, the first few lines I typed were sitting in my drafts folder for a long time now. I can’t seem to pull it altogether because I’m afraid what I’ll say is not good enough. I love this book so much that telling the world how I felt while reading it is like exposing my very heart to them. Yes, this book is that good. So, in order to actually write the review, I reread the book and this, what I’m currently typing, is my second attempt to tell why this book made so much impact on how I view life.

SYNOPSIS: Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

When I saw this book sitting in the shelf of my fave bookstore, I immediately read the synopsis written on the back cover. It’s honestly a type of book wherein you already know what happens to the characters in the end of the story and yet, you still want to fill yourself in about what happens in between. 

John Green was able to put humor in between the sad moments of the character’s lives, which in a way is good. It reminds people that no matter how difficult the situation is, we can find ways to go around it, accept that it’s already there and that we can make it through (or probably not). Hazel Grace, Augustus and Isaac are three teenagers who made it seem that despite having cancer, life is beautiful and they chose to live what’s left of their earthly lives the best way they know how.

There are some people though, based on reviews made by others, that didn’t like some of John Green’s attempts at making the scene lighter by inserting jokes. Say, for example, this conversation:

It is utterly acceptable for some people to feel angry or sad at these lines, especially those who experienced to have a loved one with cancer.  At first I kinda felt uncomfortable too, because if it happens in real life and I hear kids having that conversation, as if cancer is just nothing, I don’t know how I’d react.

Every time one of the characters is in the hospital, I feel sad as if they are real people who are going through tough times. I’m weird, no? :p John Green made sure that his fictional characters would connect to real people. There are times though that they speak and act as if they are not teenagers--- which is not really a big deal, but, still... 

“There will come a time when all of us are dead. All of us. There will come a time when there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone ever existed or that our species ever did anything. There will be no one left to remember Aristotle or Cleopatra, let alone you. Everything that we did and built and wrote and thought and discovered will be forgotten and all of this will have been for naught. Maybe that time is coming soon and maybe it is millions of years away, but even if we survive the collapse of our sun, we will not survive forever. There was time before organisms experienced consciousness, and there will be time after. And if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that’s what everyone else does.” ~Hazel

I shed a tear a few times especially during the last few chapters of the book. I read some chapters while at work and I think my "officemates" would've thought I was going insane if they saw me blinking away tears. Errrr.

Augustus’ letter to Hazel Grace is, for me, the most heartbreaking part of the story. He did everything he could to fulfill his promise of making a eulogy for her. He also asked Hazel Grace to write him one. He even attended his own funeral! (Note: His pre-funeral as he calls it. It was done when he thought he was going already.) Okay, asking the love of your life to write you a eulogy is heartbreaking in itself but what if both of you are dying and you don’t know who goes first? I could only comment that the twist in the plot made the story more beautiful. That’s the thing about life, it ends right in the middle of your “life.”

The book might sound brutal or morbid but it’s not. It is tragic, yes, but it is also achingly beautiful as it tells a story of hope, loss, love and life all mixed together. I will not give spoilers here. I will just encourage you guys to read the book so you will understand what I am saying! It is worth your time. PROMISE.

The Fault in Our Stars is, so far, my favorite John Green book. It teaches the readers to be brave inspite of life's mishaps. It would make you feel that you are worth-loving no matter how you look like or who you are. It would encourage you that you can make things possible if only you'll be determined enough to do it. It would remind you that life is short and that you have to live every single day to the fullest.

Favorite Quotes

“My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations.”

“That's the thing about pain, it demands to be felt.” 

“You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world...but you do have some say in who hurts you."

“What a slut time is. She screws everybody.” 

“The world is not a wish-granting factory.” 

“Without pain, how could we know joy?' This is an old argument in the field of thinking about suffering and its stupidity and lack of sophistication could be plumbed for centuries but suffice it to say that the existence of broccoli does not, in any way, affect the taste of chocolate.” 

“You realize that trying to keep your distance from me will not lessen my affection for you. All efforts to save me from you will fail.”

“But I believe in true love, you know? I don't believe that everybody gets to keep their eyes or not get sick or whatever, but everybody should have true love, and it should last at least as long as your life does.” 

“The real heroes anyway aren't the people doing things; the real heroes are the people NOTICING things, paying attention.” 

“Sometimes people don't understand the promises they're making when they make them.” 

____________________________
So, is the fault really in our stars? 
No. 
The fault is in ourselves.

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