The Fault In Our Stars | John Green | Book Review

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green Book Review

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

My musings 

So here we are again. Yes, you got me right! Reading realistic young adult fiction is really my thing and I can't deny this fact anymore. All the books which I read in this genre have a reputation as a heartbreaker. So *The Fault In Our Stars" isn't an exception to the genre, it too drew right through realism to give us all the unsettling but beautiful feeling of being alive and in love until death comes in the play.

Storyline

Hazel Grace knows that she is going to die, if not today then maybe in months or a couple of years. She, her family, and her friends all know this terrible fact that she is going to die young. She was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at the age of 13 and she survived and came off at the age of 16 now. And she is still surviving and breathing. A miracle drug is an ultimate savior for her, usually, this drug doesn't work on 70% of patients with cancer though in her case mercifully it worked and she keeps on breathing through a cannula as her "Lungs sucks at being lungs" She has to carry with her an oxygen cylinder wherever she goes, she named it Philip. So life isn't a bit normal for her. 

Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death.But, in fact, depression is not a side effect of cancer. Depression is a side effect of dying. (Cancer is also a side effect of dying. Almost everything is, really.)

 

From : The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

From the day she was diagnosed with cancer, everything about her and her world changed. Cancer hasn't just affected her but everything around her. At the age of sixteen, she doesn't have any social life, she spends her time reading great books and binge-watching the marathons of reality shows and it worries her mother all the time that Hazel is having depression which is a side effect of cancer.

Hazel's mother made her join a weekly cancer support group wherein the literal heart of Jesus, she walks in the world of infinite through her eyes, when she sees Augustus Waters for the first time. He was unblinkingly staring at her. 

Look, let me just say it: He was hot. A nonhot boy stares at you relentlessly and it is, at best, awkward and, at worst, a form of assault. But a hot boy . . . well.

From : The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Soon that awkward but tempting situation between Hazel and Augustus turns into a staring competition which undoubtedly she won. Augustus Waters has a great muscular physique, charming face, and an unavoidable and highly intriguing crooked smile. He has a cool and zealous attitude and a metaphorical philosophy which is his hamartia until it is surpassed by something else.

 Saved the kids,” he said. “Temporarily,” I pointed out. “All salvation is temporary,” Augustus shot back. “I bought them a minute. Maybe that’s the minute that buys them an hour, which is the hour that buys them a year. No one’s gonna buy them forever, Hazel Grace, but my life bought them a minute. And that’s not nothing.”

Review

This is about life, death, illness, love, friendship, heroism, and how a sixteen-year-old is supposed to deal with the fact that she will die young and leave all the people whom she loves devastated. It is depressing and agonizing for one to accept that he/she is going to die and until death does not come they will fight heroically. 

Even the greatest fighters cannot fight for days while the one who is fighting cancer is always battling and grappling not with just cancer, but literally with every choice and thought. It is about the parents and friends who have to cope with the fact that the one who they love and know is going to die young. It is the ugliest feeling in the world to see your children die in front of your eyes and find yourself completely helpless in the situation. No matter what you do you can't save them. 

I put the car in park and looked over at him. He really was beautiful. I know boys aren’t supposed to be, but he was. “Hazel Grace,” he said, my name new and better in his voice. “It has been a real pleasure to make your acquaintance.” “Ditto, Mr. Waters,” I said. I felt shy looking at him. I could not match the intensity of his waterblue eyes. “May I see you again?” he asked. There was an endearing nervousness in his voice. I smiled. “Sure.” “Tomorrow?” he asked. “Patience, grasshopper,” I counseled. “You don’t want to seem overeager.” “Right, that’s why I said tomorrow,” he said. “I want to see you again tonight. But I’m willing to wait all night and much of tomorrow .” I rolled my eyes. “I’m serious ,” he said.

From : The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

This is about a boy who desperately wants to leave a long-lasting mark on the world before he dies. He philosophies heroism a lot, mostly while playing video games, he sacrifices his life to save others.

Everything about this book is real, especially the disease. Instead of giving you the hackneyed bullshit about dying gracefully, the author John Green makes you feel how Hazel's lungs are struggling to breathe and how she is battling and grappling with continuous physical and mental pain. The author makes us see all the disgust and misery which comes with this disease. 

Recommendation

It is not a cancer book. It is a personal book of the author, he used to work with cancer patients. So it was his dream to write such a book. This is a book about the young who go through cancer and how it affects their family and friends, and how it affects the mental and physical condition of cancer patients. And how a little love of someone can make your limited life infinite. So this book is recommended to everyone. Just read it.

- Abhi Panwar

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