The Fault In Our Stars

So, last night I finished a wonderfully good book called The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. Now, John Green writes young adult fiction, but his books, and this one in particular, always conquer some big life questions. The Fault In Our Stars is about a 16 year old girl named Hazel, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and boy that she meets at a cancer support group named Augustus (or Gus) who has also battled with cancer. Throughout the story, they battle with the questions of life, death, and love (yes, there is a bit of a love story put in the mix). What struck me so much though is the things that Hazel and Augustus have to  endure, and the kind of questions that they start asking themselves, and how they both deal with death. They both (well more so Augusts) struggle with idea of not being remembered after they die. They wonder if or how they will make some sort of lasting impression on the world, so that after they are gone, that someone will remember them. They also struggle with whether or not their lives, and deaths, have meaning. Also, Hazel and Augusts both share a rather raw, and very honest view of having cancer. They don't fluff it up to be this epic battle that they have fought, or try to romanticize anything about cancer. Something that is repeated in the book is how certain things are just a side effect of dying, rather than a side effect of cancer.

Anyway, this book got me thinking about how I might handle everything if I was in their shoes. How would I deal with the possibility of dying, and what kind of perspective would I have on life, and death, if I had cancer? I don't particularly fear death now, but if I were to be diagnosed with cancer, would I fear it? Would I fight? Would I give up? Would I be angry? Would I just accept it? It's an interesting thing to think about.

Well, I don't believe I can really do this book justice by my little post here. It's a wildly good, and moving story. I will admit, I cried like a baby at the end, but I have no shame! haha

I thought I would end this post with a quote from the book that I enjoyed. In this part of the book, Hazel is sitting on the couch with her father, and she has asked him if he believes in the idea that everything happens for a reason and that in the end we all go and live in the clouds and have a happily ever after kind of story, and at first, he says he is not sure what he believes, but then a few moments later answers with this:

           "That's what I believe. 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. And who am I, living in the middle of history, to tell the universe that it-or my observation of it- is temporary?"
                     -John Green, The Fault In Our Stars