The Fault in Our Stars - Beautiful and Bittersweet

There is something desperate about the way people fall in love. It's as if the limited days we have on this earth are even shorter than we are told and we try to compensate by falling into things without hesitation.

What if falling in love was not even an option? What if our lives were cut shorter than we'd hoped and all those possibilities were taken from us? What if we were to find someone when it was too late? How do we cope with knowing that we found them only to lose them soon after?

In a beautifully tragic telling of one girl's struggle to cope with her diagnosis, we see the world through the eyes of a dying cancer patient. Hazel Grace Lancaster has bought a little time through a miracle called Phalanxifor, but she still copes with the fact that it may not be enough time to live a full life. Her mother insists that she attend a Support Group to help Hazel cope, and it is in this support group that Hazel meets Augustus Waters, the friendly, charismatic, and extremely good looking boy who will bring her back to life.

Their friendship is something that cannot be explained through words. It can only be felt. They found each other when they needed each other most and they fell in love in the only way that life allowed, "slowly, and then all at once."

I judge books by the quotes I take from them.  It's like what people say about friends, "Quality, not quantity," but to be honest, the more quotes that stick with me, the more I like the book. I usually write down these quotes so I can remember them always and go back to them without having to remember the page (though that's not too difficult since I pretty much memorize exactly when the quote takes place). I began recording the first few quotes that grabbed me, starting on page 12 (9 pages in). I soon realized that The Fault In Our Stars was bursting at the seems with quotes that I would want to come back to again and again. That's how I knew this book was going to change me. I don't know if this change will last, but I guess that's why I keep all my books, so I can read them again and be forever changed...again.

I fell in love with The Fault In Our Stars the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once. (To quote this already highly quoted line.) This is the second of John Green's books that I've read (the first, Looking for Alaska, grabbed hold immediately and never let go) and his writing still amazes me. The simplistic way in which he focuses on the characters themselves and the events surrounding their own tragedies makes the characters real to me. He doesn't need to describe every room, every sunset, every detail about a person's face for you to understand the story behind it all.

I began reading yesterday at 5:00 and only stopped to eat dinner. After, I never put the book down. Unless you are an avid reader like me, I cannot explain to you how Hazel and Augustus' story took hold of me and lodged itself within my heart, refusing to loosen its grip. I laughed. I cried. I cried while laughing. I laughed while crying. I finished at 2:30 in the morning and stayed in that position, rereading passages and sobbing for another hour while I tried to tell myself it was just a story. The only problem is, it's not just a story. Somewhere out there, there is a Hazel Grace Lancaster and an Augustus Waters, trying to survive for themselves and for each other and that just rips my heart out.

I seem to be pouring my heart out too much. You could think I'm an idiot for crying so much over a fictional story, but please read this book, as so many already have. Let John Green open your eyes to what is most important, to live and love and be loved. Don't let life's difficult lessons keep you from experiencing the full range of emotions that only we are capable of feeling. Open your eyes and your heart and live.

Maybe okay will be our always.