Two years ago, I was handed the book The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green, and my reaction was something like “Ugh, not another sob story!” I thought it was one of those cliches that centered around this seemingly strong character who goes through an epiphany and ends up a tragic heroine. Never was I more wrong.
It’s a story of a girl named Hazel Grace Lancaster, a girl diagnosed with thyroid cancer at the age of 13 who’s still alive at 16 thanks to a miracle drug which didn’t work its miracle for about 70 percent of the people, but it did work in her.
So, even though her lungs suck at being lungs, she’s still alive and breathing, with difficulty. She’s been nothing but a terminal case ever since her diagnosis. The doctors are simply finding ways of keeping her alive rather than removing the cancer-ridden lungs and replacing them with new ones.
Enter Augustus Waters. He’s 17, gorgeous, in remission, and frankly, much to her surprise, interested in her. It’s a match made in Cancer Kid Support Group, in the Literal Heart of Jesus (you’ll know what that means when you read the book … you’ll laugh, trust me, you will).
This is the first time I’ve truly been at a loss for words. What am I supposed to say? How can I do this book justice? I can tell you all that it was perfect, the best, most heartbreaking, hilarious book that has touched me like none other. Sure. I mean, it’s been said countless times, in countless reviews, and you know what? They are absolutely, a hundred percent true.
Everything in the book gifted me with so much laughter, smiles and chuckles. Every time I turned the page I was expecting to come face to face with tragedy at any moment. This book stunningly changed my expectations, made me believe in something which did not happen … or maybe did happen.
I hate the fact that while Hazel Grace “fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once,” I just fell … no warning, no time to process the emotions coursing through me, nope, nothing, just a huge endless void-filled fall and then a sudden crash that took my breath away, like literally (no pun intended).
I fell in love with this bound-to-end-in-oblivion boy, Augustus Waters, who stared with bright blue eyes and put the killing thing (a cigarette) right between his teeth, but never gave it the power to do its killing.
So, *deep breath*,
I stayed up the entire night reading this book, half of the night crying, and even after finishing it I couldn’t go to sleep, so the rest of the dawn just pacing in my room with all these haphazard, stars jumping around in my mind finding absolutely no avenue to become constellations.
I hate that I love this book with so much passion that every time I read it or even think about it my brain goes haywire and all I can think of is: Why do I do this to myself? The book is so overwhelming, insightful, beautiful, and raw that it shatters the misconception of tragedy and love. I love the fact that I got to be a part of this novel’s little “infinity” and cherish it for all its beauty. This book is life changing, not only for the characters but for the readers as well. I’m still falling in love with this book every time I have read it over the past two years.
WARNING: This book will cause severe heart obliteration and soul crushing. Proceed with caution.
Why didn’t they add that warning on the cover?