Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault. Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind. (From Goodreads)
I know, I'm about a year late with this one. I had it on pre-order since September 2011 and somehow wound up with 3 copies once it was released. I was so looking forward to it. But then it showed up and I didn't feel prepared. I've read all of John Green's novels and I was vaguely aware of the premise of this story and I knew it would affect me greatly. This is the kind of novel that you need to have time to mull over, to absorb, to really think about because it quite possibly contains the secrets of the universe. Plus, I knew it was going to be emotionally intense.
So it took me almost a year to pick up. I still wasn't prepared, but I refused to let it be 2013 without having read this book. And now I'm like - well, I've read it, although I may have already blocked out some of the harder parts about reading this book. I cried so hard I couldn't see the page. It broke my heart over and over again. Although, it's also quite hilarious. I'd be laughing while sobbing and then I'd feel like a horrible person for laughing while the characters are hurting and then I'd wind up sucked into some kind of emotional hurricane. But all of these things are completely worth it.
Because somewhere, I'm sure, the secrets to all you wish to know can be found in these pages. Somehow this story is so much greater than we'll ever know, because everything in this story is lager than life. You just feel like a better, more understanding human being after reading John Green's books, and The Fault in our Stars is no different.
John Green is probably the most quoatable human being alive. There are such beautiful quotes that can be found plastered all over Tumblr. The quotes are relevant out of context, but so much more meaningful once you understand where they are coming from. There was one quote that I hadn't seen before I read the book that struck me while I was reading:
"The world went on, as it does, without my full participation, and I only woke up from the reverie when someone said my name."There's just something about this. We go on with our lives, but we are really only grounded and fully present when we are tethered to other people. Other people make us truly alive.
