The Fault In Our Stars by John Green: A book review by Sasha Goncalo

 

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green tells the story of Hazel, a terminally ill teenager. She longs for a story separate from her cancer journey, but in reality, there is no way to escape the harrowing experience of dying. Hazel starts off as a recluse, afraid to make social connections because of the consequences her death would have on her living loved ones. She goes as far as to compare herself to a grenade waiting to go off in the faces of her loved ones. When Hazel thinks she is about to die she accepts her grim fate but ends up narrowly escaping death. However, she slowly learns not to let her inescapable end tarnish the life she has left to live.

Hazel’s mother convinces her to go to a support group for cancer patients. An activity Hazel usually despises, but this time she meets Augustus Waters, a cancer survivor himself. They quickly become friends, uncovering more about what it means to live while dying. Augustus always wanted to leave a mark on the world before his death but realizes that often people's marks are scars. Through Hazel, he recognizes that truly triumphing through life is to not leave a scar on the world when you leave. He believes that listeners are true heroes, not doers. Do you agree with Augustus's realization? 

I suppose that in the long run no one will be remembered at all. Every human will die at some point and in a few hundred years it is unlikely anyone will know of you at all. At some point the Earth as we know it will be gone, and possibly all life with it. In that way,  no one will leave a permanent scar because nothing is truly permanent. However, people a few generations after you will be around to feel what you did in your lifetime. That being said people are not the only beings on Earth. Depending on your perspective, simply existing as a human means being a parasite to the Earth. People are intrinsically selfish in the sense that most want to live comfortable lives at the very least. In that sense, a lot of inventions or people's marks on the world, as Augustus would say, have been helpful. That being said there are many inventions that have affected others negatively. In the end, I do not agree with Augustus because if everybody tried to make as little of a mark on the Earth as possible then humans would still be living in caves or maybe even be extinct. How boring would life be if your only goal was to be forgotten as soon as you died? It is possible that I misinterpreted Augustus’s message, but what do you think?

I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to think about complicated questions about life and death. Although death is often a taboo topic The Fault In Our Stars does a great job of discussing it through Hazel, who has no choice but to contemplate her family members going on without her. Her family realizes that it is important to talk about death and comfort Hazel by talking about what is going to happen after her death and what her parents plan to do after her passing. I think this book shows that although uncomfortable it can be important to openly discuss death. It is going to happen to everyone at some point, so it is crucial to understand what is going to happen when it does occur. The truth is that no one has complete control over how they are going to die, which leads to a huge plot twist in the book that I could not spoil in this post. If you want to find out you should read The Fault In Our Stars. The only thing I did not like about the book was how abruptly it ended. 

Thank you for reading,

-Sasha