The Le Teen Café Review Corner: The Fault In Our Stars

*MAJOR SPOILERS ALERT*

“That’s the thing about pain. It demands to be felt.”

Life may seem hopeless, worthless or unfair sometimes. But if we live in a world where happiness is the only option, where would that bring us? That is not life. That is a dream come true. After all, the world is not a wish granting factory.

John Green wonderfully explains how life works in The Fault In Our Stars. But the characters were different. They have a kind of disease you would probably curse yourself, others or even God just by knowing you have it. Cancer. The worst kind. It literally displays the word “death” to you. No person could definitely want this. And here comes the story of Hazel Grace who has lung cancer (terminal, if you might ask) and Augustus Waters, who happens to have one prosthetic leg, has Osteosarcoma, a malignant bone tumour, though he seems to have mostly recovered.

Claiming both themselves as the side effects of cancer, or even death itself, Hazel and Augustus begins to develop feelings for each other. It all starts one day in Hazel’s support group. A normal day, with people with their own types of cancer. Terminal or not, they settle there in a circle in the literal heart of Jesus where they meet every Wednesday in the basement of a stone-walled Episcopal church shaped like a cross. They all sit in a circle right in the middle of the cross, where the two boards meet, where the heart of Jesus would have been. Then all of a sudden, there is Augustus -–a very appealing 17-year old teenager who makes Hazel’s simple life extraordinary.

It goes good, well, for people with cancer at least. They have time together with Isaac, who lost his girlfriend as soon as he lost his eyes, in Amsterdam to see a famous author: Peter Van Houten. All is okay. All is going fine. Then one afternoon in Amsterdam, Augustus brings news like a grenade blast. BOOM! It spreads like a wildfire like the cancer spreading to his entire body. Just when we thought Hazel was the person who has little time in the world, here comes Augustus. Again. Surprising us. We have never been so wrong, and we have never shouted at a book that loud.

We hated John Green for a second. He did not play it fair. Through this book, he had a shot gun that aimed right exactly at that very sensitive part of our hearts. Why, of all people, does it have to be Augustus? Augustus was the one and only boy next door kind of guy who was remarkably intellectual and loaded with words and thoughts that apparently can be compared to stars. Our peace of mind suffered shorty after Augustus’ death. The Fault In Our Stars had done something bizarre to us. This book, though the plot was not really that powerful and didn’t keep us on the edge of our seats, focused on something more important to its readers.

The lives of Hazel and Augustus gave us a hint on what life truly means. Life cannot be seen deeper into its soul than a sighted person ever could. Meaning, life will always have its way, whether it is in your favour or not. Life is benevolent yet omnipotent. Because of Green’s depth of thoughts, readers will have a new and immense perspective on life and death.

I would definitely recommend this book--junkies and to all. This might just make a grown man cry because all of us will definitely know that life indeed does not give you everything you’d ever hoped for. Pain is simply there to give you experience that would fill you up in your lifetime. Pain is the thing that makes you who you are.

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings." --Caesar


-Guest Barista Czarina-

Image: TFIOS cover (Dutton Books)