Book Review: The Fault In Our Stars
The Fault In Our Stars shares the life of Hazel Grace, a sixteen year old with lung cancer, who deals with more struggles than your average teenager. Jodi Picoult hit the nail on the head when she described the book as, “Electric...filled with staccato bursts of humor and tragedy.” As the reader follows Hazel Grace to a cancer support group she meets Augustus Waters, a boy just older than her, who is cancer free after recently amputating his left leg. Hazel and Augustus go on adventures, big and small, and are on the roller coaster that is teenage love while trying to hunt down Hazel’s favorite author Peter Van Houten. Peter is the author of a book called An Imperial Affliction and Hazel has read this novel many times, each time trying to predict what happened in the end since the novel ends mid-sentence. Augustus wants to help Hazel in her quest to meet Peter Van Houten and discover from the author himself just what happened to the main characters. The only problem was he now lived in Amsterdam. “Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.” (Page 157) On their journey they fall deeper in love. Also while on the trip, Augustus breaks down and confesses to Hazel that his cancer is back and when they return they are forced to face reality once again.
There is a lot of symbolism in this book but my three of favorites include Augustus’s cigarettes, An Imperial Affliction and grenades. The first day that Hazel and Augustus meet, Augustus proceeds to put a cigarette between his lips. Before he has a chance to light it Hazel expresses her disgust, telling Augustus, “Oh my God! Even though you had freaking cancer you give money to a company in exchange for the chance to acquire yet more cancer. Oh, my God. Let me just assure you that not being able to breathe? Sucks. Totally disappointing. Totally.” She quickly learns that she misunderstood Augustus’ motivation. “They don't kill you unless you light them.... And I've never lit one. It's a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing.” This represents his attempt to conquer something and have control over his life, particularly because he hasn’t had much control over his illness in the past. I recognized a pattern that Augustus pulled out a cigarette whenever he was nervous, a symbolic way for his to remember to face his fears, cancer being as the biggest of them all. When they return home from their Amsterdam getaway, with disappointment from Peter van Houten, Augustus calls Hazel for help in the middle of the night. He tells her that he is at the gas station, trying to buy cigarettes, and for her to come immediately. When she arrives, she finds that he has lost control of his body and urinated and vomited all over himself. Again his need to obtain the cigarettes as a means of exercising control, despite his body failing him, lets us see deeper into Augustus’ struggles and his raw emotional state.
Another symbol used throughout the novel is a grenade, representing suffering and death. Hazel even refers to herself as her parent’s grenade and expresses her feeling that she is a burden on them. As a surprisingly mature teenager and a very realistic person, she does not want anyone to have high hopes when it comes to her cancer and survival. She knows she is going to die and she wants everyone else to come face to face with it and hopefully spare them the suffering of lost hope. She explains to Augustus, as he tells her about his previous girlfriend who succumbed to cancer, that one day she will explode and will injure him too. Once Hazel learns that Augustus is sick again the directional force changes and she sees him as the grenade, effectively having the power to destroy her. The grenade also makes an appearance when Isaac, a friend from the cancer support group, and Augustus are playing video games one afternoon. In the game, Augustus throws himself on a grenade to save children and sacrifices getting hurt so he can feel a sense of the success and heroism that he so deeply desires. After Augustus dies, Hazel reads a letter that he sent to Peter Van Houten which questions the idea of a person being a grenade. In the letter we see that Augustus comes to the conclusion that in life it is inevitable, and in some cases it is worth, suffering for others. Hazel is obviously extremely upset when he passes away but realizes it was worth her time meeting and learning from him. Both Augustus and Hazel practice heroism and learn about sacrifice through each other's tragedies.
An Imperial Affliction, Hazel’s favorite novel and what she refers to as the Bible, is about a teen named Anna who has cancer. Hazel loves the book because it provides her with comfort and it relates to her battles. It has always annoyed Hazel that the author decided to end it mid sentence. She researches the author and discovers that he fled to Amsterdam after the novel was published and has not written anything since. She explains to Augustus that she would love to know how the book ends but it is impossible unless she talks to the author herself. Hazel has written a letter but Augustus took the initiative to fly them to Amsterdam, using his “wish” and to show his care for Hazel. Augustus miraculously reveals he tracked down Van Houten's assistant, Lidewij, and through her he's managed to start an email correspondence with the reclusive author. He shares Van Houten's letter with Hazel, and she devises a list of questions to send Van Houten, hoping to clear up the novel’s ambiguous conclusion. Hazel is most concerned with the fate of Anna’s mother. She figures that if Anna’s mother survives her daughter’s death, then her own parents will be alright after she dies. Van Houten eventually replies, saying he could only answer Hazel’s questions in person. He invites her to stop by if she is ever in Amsterdam. The characters and their fates clearly mean a lot to her and she treats them as if they were real people. Peter tells Hazel quite unapologetically that the characters simply cease to exist when the novel ends. The book becomes a huge symbol for life after death of those close to her and the unknown of what will happen to her loved ones when she passes.
I read The Fault In Our Stars in a few hours. Once I started, I couldn't put it down because I was constantly wondering what would happen to Hazel and the other characters. I figured that someone would die because most of the characters have cancer but my predictions were wrong. If you enjoy sarcasm, adventure and romance then you should definitely read this book. You should expect to fall in love with John Green, the characters, to cry and laugh throughout the story. Although I do not relate to the characters regarding their cancer, Hazel and the others have taught me not to fear death, to be in the moment, tell your family you love them and live each day like it is your last.
There is a lot of symbolism in this book but my three of favorites include Augustus’s cigarettes, An Imperial Affliction and grenades. The first day that Hazel and Augustus meet, Augustus proceeds to put a cigarette between his lips. Before he has a chance to light it Hazel expresses her disgust, telling Augustus, “Oh my God! Even though you had freaking cancer you give money to a company in exchange for the chance to acquire yet more cancer. Oh, my God. Let me just assure you that not being able to breathe? Sucks. Totally disappointing. Totally.” She quickly learns that she misunderstood Augustus’ motivation. “They don't kill you unless you light them.... And I've never lit one. It's a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing.” This represents his attempt to conquer something and have control over his life, particularly because he hasn’t had much control over his illness in the past. I recognized a pattern that Augustus pulled out a cigarette whenever he was nervous, a symbolic way for his to remember to face his fears, cancer being as the biggest of them all. When they return home from their Amsterdam getaway, with disappointment from Peter van Houten, Augustus calls Hazel for help in the middle of the night. He tells her that he is at the gas station, trying to buy cigarettes, and for her to come immediately. When she arrives, she finds that he has lost control of his body and urinated and vomited all over himself. Again his need to obtain the cigarettes as a means of exercising control, despite his body failing him, lets us see deeper into Augustus’ struggles and his raw emotional state.
Another symbol used throughout the novel is a grenade, representing suffering and death. Hazel even refers to herself as her parent’s grenade and expresses her feeling that she is a burden on them. As a surprisingly mature teenager and a very realistic person, she does not want anyone to have high hopes when it comes to her cancer and survival. She knows she is going to die and she wants everyone else to come face to face with it and hopefully spare them the suffering of lost hope. She explains to Augustus, as he tells her about his previous girlfriend who succumbed to cancer, that one day she will explode and will injure him too. Once Hazel learns that Augustus is sick again the directional force changes and she sees him as the grenade, effectively having the power to destroy her. The grenade also makes an appearance when Isaac, a friend from the cancer support group, and Augustus are playing video games one afternoon. In the game, Augustus throws himself on a grenade to save children and sacrifices getting hurt so he can feel a sense of the success and heroism that he so deeply desires. After Augustus dies, Hazel reads a letter that he sent to Peter Van Houten which questions the idea of a person being a grenade. In the letter we see that Augustus comes to the conclusion that in life it is inevitable, and in some cases it is worth, suffering for others. Hazel is obviously extremely upset when he passes away but realizes it was worth her time meeting and learning from him. Both Augustus and Hazel practice heroism and learn about sacrifice through each other's tragedies.
An Imperial Affliction, Hazel’s favorite novel and what she refers to as the Bible, is about a teen named Anna who has cancer. Hazel loves the book because it provides her with comfort and it relates to her battles. It has always annoyed Hazel that the author decided to end it mid sentence. She researches the author and discovers that he fled to Amsterdam after the novel was published and has not written anything since. She explains to Augustus that she would love to know how the book ends but it is impossible unless she talks to the author herself. Hazel has written a letter but Augustus took the initiative to fly them to Amsterdam, using his “wish” and to show his care for Hazel. Augustus miraculously reveals he tracked down Van Houten's assistant, Lidewij, and through her he's managed to start an email correspondence with the reclusive author. He shares Van Houten's letter with Hazel, and she devises a list of questions to send Van Houten, hoping to clear up the novel’s ambiguous conclusion. Hazel is most concerned with the fate of Anna’s mother. She figures that if Anna’s mother survives her daughter’s death, then her own parents will be alright after she dies. Van Houten eventually replies, saying he could only answer Hazel’s questions in person. He invites her to stop by if she is ever in Amsterdam. The characters and their fates clearly mean a lot to her and she treats them as if they were real people. Peter tells Hazel quite unapologetically that the characters simply cease to exist when the novel ends. The book becomes a huge symbol for life after death of those close to her and the unknown of what will happen to her loved ones when she passes.
I read The Fault In Our Stars in a few hours. Once I started, I couldn't put it down because I was constantly wondering what would happen to Hazel and the other characters. I figured that someone would die because most of the characters have cancer but my predictions were wrong. If you enjoy sarcasm, adventure and romance then you should definitely read this book. You should expect to fall in love with John Green, the characters, to cry and laugh throughout the story. Although I do not relate to the characters regarding their cancer, Hazel and the others have taught me not to fear death, to be in the moment, tell your family you love them and live each day like it is your last.