"Almost everyone is obsessed with leaving a mark upon the world. Bequeathing a legacy. Outlasting death. We all want to be remembered." -Augustus Waters
John Green's The Fault in Our Stars is a story of kids with cancer but NOT about cancer.
Read more about my insights about The Fault in Our Stars (Book & Movie) after the jump!
*Just a disclaimer. This is what I think about the book and the upcoming movie. This is definitely NOT a review cause I don't want to spoil too much for your reading/viewing pleasure, but more of what I think about the story. So yeah, a piece of Yannie about John Green's literary masterpiece. If you want a more detailed information about the book or movie, go Wikipedia away! :)
"I believe the universe wants to be noticed. I think the universe is improbably biased toward consciousness, that it rewards intelligence in part because the universe enjoys its elegance being observed."
Above is a quote from the book as stated by Hazel Grace Lancaster's Dad. I dunno but something struck me upon reading that line--YES! I do believe that the world really wants to be noticed. Besides, who doesn't want attention nowadays? People everywhere trying to come up with different types of gimmick just to be viral and to give people something to talk about even for just a few seconds. It got me thinking, what would be my mark in this world after life? What memories would I leave behind someday? Are those good, fun memories? Or just tales of how b*tchy I was and how I ruined too many people's lives before? Hmmm...
So due to the hype and just because I super love Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, I grabbed a copy of John Green's highly-famous novel, The Fault in Our Stars last week at Fully Booked Greenbelt 5 (shout-out to the very friendly staff at FB GB5 for even putting some jacket covers on the books I purchased!!!!) and started reading it just a few days ago. And can I just say that this book took me to a roller-coaster ride of emotions.
You can't help but fall in love with Hazel Grace Lancaster (or simply Hazel Grace as what Augustus Waters fondly calls her), a teenage gal with a very dysfunctional lungs. Unlike any other Young Adult novel heroines, she doesn't have any bow and arrow or a powerful magic wand to get through life everyday--she has a mini oxygen tank and a nasal tube which she basically drags around with her every time in order to breathe properly. She's no Katniss Everdeen or Tris Prior, which helps you feel like she's real and you're reading the thoughts of a real person as you read through the pages. I guess the simple yet diverse characterization that John Green did with Hazel Grace is superb! He really was able to create a character that drives away and manipulates your attention as she goes through every chapter. She's engaging and she involves you in her own life and love story and that's what makes Hazel Grace very lovable and easy to relate with. (She's an America's Next Top Model fan too, yeah!)
And Gus(Augustus Waters-the love of Hazel Grace's life)? He compliments Hazel in so many different ways that you can't help but to naturally fall in love with him. As I was reading the book, Gus swept me away with his sweetly weird self and his intelligence and how he's fond of metaphors. Damn, he's one fine sexy boy. He's not a Vampire nor a Werewolf, or a Wizard with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, he's a 17-year old kid with one leg and a very big heart. Not to mention how he's very intelligent as Hazel is! Gus is not that strong to sweep you off your feet but he has the charisma to make you wish you were Hazel Grace. Seriously, John Green made him so real that you will feel that you've known him for so long. I love how Green made him the hero Hazel Grace needs.
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| "I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you." -Gus to Hazel. |
Story follows how Hazel Grace discovers love with the persona of Augustus Waters. Two ill-fated kids with cancer who's trying to live a normal teenage life with support groups, reality shows and reading interesting novels. They find strong connection and interest with each other as they continuously discover what life's got instore for the both of them. Gus wanting to give Hazel the surprise of her life, pulls off a very grand act that brings them to travel Amsterdam to seek answers and satisfy Hazel's curiosity about how the story of her favorite unfinished book, An Imperial Affliction ends straight from the author himself. By finding answers, the two found their infinity within numbered days. And after a nostalgic travel, the two are faced with dealing with the main antagonist in the story--Death. Not cancer, cause as how they put it: death is a side effect of cancer.
I found myself "kiligg" over Hazel and Gus' witty exchange of their cray opinions and ideas about life, about their favorite novel (An Imperial Affliction), about Hazel's plight about as why the egg is always a typecast for breakfast staple and how Gus is so supportive of her crazy ideas. One of the reasons why this book captured my heart is that I genuinely felt the love and affection of the characters in the story. The chemistry is not forced and it's not trying to be cheesy just to make readers swoon. No over-the-top lines but weird, deep intelligent lines that compliment Hazel's thinking. And by Hazel and Gus' weirdness, an infinite world of forever was created. Where you can't help but be hooked.
I just love how the story's very in-your-face and modern. A serious topic about counting the days until your death but John Green managed to not dwell on the main characters' disease and created a world outside cancer that anyone cancer-free can easily relate with. A world where you will feel the two main character's freedom and happiness. And even makes you forget that Hazel's lungs are very weak and Gus only has one leg. The charm of the story's too strong it overpowers any negativity you can think about the characters' situations. The ending's not a surprise cause you definitely know what's going to happen even before you started reading but still, Green manages to surprise you with how he narrates the story from Hazel's point of view. Excuse me as I ugly cry.. And if you have already read the book and you didn't tear up, you must be made of wood or something..
This story measures the length someone would go for true love. It will warm your heart and dare you to be as fearless and hopeful as Hazel and Gus. Their story gives you a reason to live life to the fullest and appreciate the little things just like the capability of your lips to smile, your legs to walk or your lungs to breathe. Hazel and Gus made me realize how lucky I am to be able to just breathe freely everyday without having the burden of dragging an oxygen tank to support my lungs. How fun it is to run in circles with my two fully functional legs. If these two could live life beyond cancer, why can't we healthy people be happy with our own bodies? I love how they didn't dwell on the fact that they have a disease that could take away their lives anytime. It gives you hope. Really. The feels is just too overwhelming. If they can live past through cancer, what more can hold us back from achieving our goals? What's stopping you from doing what you want for your own happiness? What's keeping you from traveling, taking up a new course you've been dying to learn, telling someone you love them? If Gus and Hazel were able to reach their forever within a numbered days, why can't we?
I felt guilty somehow reflecting on what I've learned in this book. Made me realize that sometimes, the things I worry about is nothing compared to what other people are worrying. Here I am always problematic what to wear everyday just to please and impress other people while others are worried if they'll get through the day and see another tomorrow with their loved ones. It's a very Yannie thing to do to put too much drama and complications in simple stuff, and I am seriously tearing up once again while typing this. Life is beautiful. And I don't even need to see through the eyes of Gus and Hazel to see that cause the good life's already in front of me. I am so loved. Yannie is so, so loved. Despite all the hate I'm getting everyday, I can't deny the fact that someone up there, (Yes, HIM!) adores me! I have a somewhat tolerable face with two perfectly working eyes, a body that sometimes blows up due to excessive eating, legs that enable me to jump, walk fast and run... Not perfect, but what more could I wish for?
Just like what Gus said at the near end of the book, "You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, but you do have some say in who hurts you". Words of people who mean nothing to me can't hurt me and I do hope you guys are keeping your heads up as well if hate's being thrown at you right now. For how many times you've heard me say this but--LIFE REALLY IS BEAUTIFUL! There's just too much beauty in this world that needs your warm appreciation. And I agree with the book, some infinities are really bigger than other infinities, but that doesn't mean you don't deserve and can't reach your own happiness and forever, yeah?
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| Photos from The Fault in Our Stars' official Facebook page. |
I am so excited for the movie that's already coming up in theaters in a few months! Shailene Woodley is the perfect Hazel with her very sweet voice and lovely charisma and despite not being blue-eyed as stated in the book, there can be no more perfect Gus than Ansel Elgort. The trailer just gives so much feels and goosies and I admittedly raped the replay button when it came out.. Check out the official trailer below.. Made me cry specially when I heard One Republic's "What You Wanted" on the background..
So what do you guys think of The Fault in Our Stars? How many have read the book already? How many are yet to read it? Are you going to read the book first before catching the movie? Shailene and Ansel forevs, yeah? Lemme know your thoughts and see you at the cinemas, little infinities! Okay? Okay.
XOXO,
YANNIE :))
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