{"id":1936,"date":"2012-02-28T19:29:09","date_gmt":"2012-02-29T00:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/?p=1936"},"modified":"2012-02-28T19:29:09","modified_gmt":"2012-02-29T00:29:09","slug":"book-review-the-fault-in-our-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/2012\/02\/28\/book-review-the-fault-in-our-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: “The Fault in Our Stars”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" Cancer has become popular in today\u2019s media from movies like The Bucket List<\/em> to books like A Walk to Remember<\/em> and My Sister\u2019s Keeper<\/em>. In fact, cancer as a topic in entertainment media has become popular to the point where it seemingly has become its own genre with its own stereotypes. Stories that deal with cancer are usually tearjerkers that are full of “cancer-patient wisdom”, as well as a message of living life with all you’ve got. W\uf702ith shows like The Big C<\/em> and movies like 50\/50<\/em>, however, the entertainment industry has begun to try to find humor in tragedy, and in The Fault in Our Stars<\/u>, John Green does just that, to the point where a reader may find him- or herself sobbing and laughing at the same time. Green manages to show that there is as much joy and laughter in a tragedy as there is hardship and heartbreak.<\/p>\n

There is Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16-year old-girl who nearly died at the age of 13 of thyroid cancer, but survives thanks to a (fictional) drug called Phalanxifor. As with many of John Green\u2019s characters in his novels, Hazel is smart; her sarcasm and wit are what make her so likeable.<\/p>\n

Then there is Augustus Waters, the sexy and clever 17-year old boy who is also severely ill, but has a good way of hiding it. It is seeing Augustus Waters at his sickest and weakest when one is truly drawn to him; with his tough exterior, cleverness and insight, readers’ hearts will break. It’s seeing characters in their sweetest and funniest moments, and their worst, their rock-bottom, their most painful moments, that makes this novel so heartrendingly real.<\/p>\n

To call The Fault in Our Stars<\/u> either a \u201ccancer\u201d or romance novel would not do it justice. In terms of age group, I wouldn’t even consider it a young adult novel. While it is a book about young adults, Green\u2019s honest and witty writing, as well as his beautifully crafted phrasing, can attract any reader. It not only delves into the romance between these two teenagers, the tragedy they must face because of their illnesses, and the plans they achieve together through the Genie Foundation, but also asks the big, existential questions — ones that question the universe, the afterlife, and whether the universe really “just wants to be noticed” or not.<\/p>\n

What makes the Green\u2019s novel such a tearjerker is not the tragedy of cancer alone, but to see these characters being portrayed in such an honest and realistic way. They\u2019re not \u201cheroic sufferers.\u201d They\u2019re not \u201cfountains of wisdom,\u201d as John Green mentions in an Entertainment Weekly interview, but teenagers coming into terms with the fact that they\u2019re living a \u201cforever with numbered days.\u201d Green allows his readers to enter into Hazel and Augustus’ \u201clittle infinity\u201d and, by the end of the novel, wish that their infinity would never cease.<\/p>\n

You will laugh, you will cry, and once you finish this book, you will wish it never ended.<\/p>\n

It’s one of those books.<\/p>\n

Rating: 5\/5<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cancer has become popular in today\u2019s media from movies like The Bucket List to books like A Walk to Remember and My Sister\u2019s Keeper. In fact, cancer as a topic in entertainment media has become popular to the point where it seemingly has become its own genre with its own stereotypes. Stories that deal with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":703,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[312,370,1134,1261,1364,1507,1552,1863],"class_list":["post-1936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","tag-book","tag-cancer","tag-john-green","tag-literature","tag-media","tag-nerdfighters","tag-novel","tag-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/703"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}