I think I got to about the 10th page of the Fault in Our Stars before I sighed and closed the book firmly shut. Another Cancer book, another lot of tears to be shed, err no thank you I thought. I don’t want to be lured into the melancholy, glum reality of illness, of death, of making me realise how fortunate I am. I moaned to my sister greatly for lending me this book, as she is my go to Library these days but nevertheless she insisted I continue.
So against my prejudgment I did. Was I given false expectations? After all this is book that has already reached the dizzy heights of becoming a New York Times number 1 Best Seller. Was this to the novel’s merit or simply a result of the so-called ‘nerdfighters’ ardent support of John Green. This fandom that surrounds this author can be no more evident than when searching these young book lovers’ Tumblr pages, not least because of the authors omnipresence on this particular social-media website. Maybe it was, paradoxically, so unhipster that it has kind of become hipster to like John Green.
Fortunately for me I approached this book as a new comer to ‘nerdfighteria’ based solely on the recommendation of my sister.
Unanimously the first question people will ask you after you have read this book is ‘Did you cry?’ And to their disappoint I have to say no I did not, although I did feel a lump in my throat at chapter 21, you’ll know what I mean if you have read it.
For me this book is not about a love story between two star crossed lovers, this is a story about two stars that crossed. I didn’t get absorbed into Hazel and Augustus because they were in love rather I was absorbed by the optimistic way they fell in love knowing it would end. Would you happily fall in love today if you know, in a finite amount of time, whether that’s months, a year or several years, your heart will break? Although sadly this happens to everyone, or maybe I am the oddity here.
It got me to think about life,“Some infinities are bigger than other infinities’’. That doesn’t make life just or fair, and highlights that indeed there are a lot of Faults in our Stars.
But don’t let these faults define you, “You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you.”.
So after all my moaning about reading a sad, death story, what was my verdict. Yes, I think you should read this book, and do cry and do take time out of your normal day to day lives to read a story that will inevitably make you sad, but once finished, never forget, that there are Faults in those bright, shiny stars, and if blessed with a non-faulty star, just remember to live.
It also evoked a big emphasis on false interpretation. You see a boy with a cigarette in his month, as the narrator does you think, smoker, philanderer with the belief that he has a care free attitude to the world. In fact, and if you have read this you will know, it’s a metaphor. Gus metaphorically showcases the power he has; nothing is quite what it seems. The image of the renowned Rene Magritte painting, ‘Ceci n’est pas une Pipe’, is employed in the same way. Nothing is what it seems; one image does not convey the whole truth, the real story.
John Green dedicated this book to Esther, another girl that had a faulty star, a friend and someone that aided this book’s creation. The story is fictional but the beliefs and emotions it conveys and inspires are real. Perhaps the most important thing we should take from this novel is its message that hope can thrive in a world filled with so much pain and harsh inevitability; that to be the best person you can you must grab every ounce of hope and belief and make them infinite.
To find out more about Esther story check out, This Star wont go out.
Happy belated Esther day everyone!
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