Rating: 5/5
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The Fault in Our Stars- John GreenI could tell you why I wanted to read a book about a girl with cancer so badly that I purchased two copies for my Library and one for myself as soon as I found it on the shelves at a local bookseller after weeks of extensive searching.
I could tell you why I was crying for roughly the entire second half. I could tell you why I still pick it up and read entire chapters at a time, or maybe just a few lines. But I won't. Within its pages, one character states that once a book enters the hands of its readers, it does not belong to its author any more Of course they wrote the words; they created the characters and the world. But what you take away from the book will not be simply what they wanted you to: because you're not the author. Your life, your experiences, the things that shape your views of the world and everything in it will be different from theirs, so what you take away from it will always be unique. This is why I won't say what I took away from this book. I won't tell you anything more about the plot than what the book jacket reveals: that it's about a girl named Hazel whose lungs fail at being lungs and a boy named Augustus with one leg. Two kids who met at a cancer support group, changing their lives for good. Of course, if you've heard of or seen the movie, you likely know it's much more than that. I will admit that TFiOS is the cancer book I've been waiting to read for twenty odd years. So go. Pick up a copy. Find a quiet spot. Keep the tissues handy. I hope you take something special away from this gem of a tale. |
"A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted at the end. You live several lives while reading."
- William Styron |