I read John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars because Maura insisted that it was very good
and that I would like it (she also said I’d cry, but more on that later). After
months of “encouragement” from her, and after seeing previews for the movie, I
finally decided, on a bit of whim, to start reading it. Much to my surprise, it
was, in fact, very good, and I did, in fact like it (though I did not, in fact,
cry).
The Fault in Our Stars follows
stage-four cancer patient Hazel Grace Lancaster, a sixteen-year-old girl who
has been kept out of high school for several years due to her disease and lives
every day with the knowledge that she may not see another birthday. She is a bright,
but reclusive adolescent, who holds a GED and takes literature classes at the
local community college, and who fears nothing more than hurting those she
loves most when she dies. Hazel spends most of her time at home, watching
reality television re-runs and re-reading her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, written by the
reclusive Peter Van Houten. She rarely leaves home, except for doctor visits, class
a few mornings a week, and to go to the weekly support group meeting for
adolescents with cancer that her parents force her to attend. It is at support
group that Hazel meets Augustus Waters, a charismatic, seventeen-year-old, who
lost his leg to a cancer that is in remission. They build a deep bond that
blossoms into love. Together, they imagine a sequel to An Imperial Affliction and, along with Hazel’s mother, travel to
Amsterdam to meet their favorite author. But for a stage-four cancer patient
there is little prospect of a happy ending. Both Hazel and Gus know that their
time together is numbered, and they fight against fate to make the most of each
day and fight off the oblivion that threatens their existence.
For a
book written for young adults, this is a highly intelligent novel. It is
intricately crafted, developing deep themes and metaphors, and uses
foreshadowing expertly. Green has set up An
Imperial Affliction, his novel within a novel, as a foil for The Fault in Our Stars. At times, Hazel and Gus would delve
into deep, existential questions, and at other times they would
enthusiastically discuss the quotidian with just as much metaphysical
consideration. I found their conversation regarding the designation of
breakfast foods as strictly breakfast foods even more enthralling than their
consideration of what happens after death. Hazel and Gus’s meta-fictional
conversations about what happens to the characters in An Imperial Affliction are somewhat reminiscent of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. (Stoppard’s
exploration of what happens when characters in a play are not on stage offers a
much deeper consideration of fiction than Hazel and Gus’s desire to find out what happens to the
characters at the end of their novel. In many ways, Hazel and Gus’s desire to
find out what becomes of their fictional friends undermines the meta-fictional
process itself, in that they are not seeking to understand fiction but rather
are seeking more from a plot that has ended in a very deliberate and literary
way. But that discussion would be more appropriate in a different setting.)
My only
criticisms of the novel are that it takes too long to move from climax to
resolution and that Green overuses capitalization of non-proper nouns for
emphasis. Regarding my first criticism: Green could have brought his novel to a
conclusion much more quickly, without throwing in some of the extra subplot
resolutions that were not, in my mind, needed. He allows the emotions that he
has built up in his readers at the climax to dissipate before finally bringing
the novel to a close. My other criticism is made as an editor who works with
the Chicago Manual of Style. Words should not be capitalized unnecessarily or
excessively. I understand that Green uses capitalization as a way of creating
meaning, but he good have made been a little less liberal with his caps key,
and the effect would have been greater. Only the truly important things would
have stood out, and those things that really weren’t that important would not
have seemed more important that they were.
Overall,
The Fault in Our Stars is a very enjoyable
and “short” 340 pages. I say enjoyable in the sense that it is very easy to get
caught up in the plot. At times you may not want to put the book down. I do not
mean that it is enjoyable in the sense that it is happy, because this is a sad
novel. I would recommend picking up a copy if you have time. I haven’t seen the
movie, but I hear that it is good, too.
JCM
27 June 2014
