Letting Others Love You

The fault in our stars is the story of Hazel who meets Augustus.  Now Hazel may be a cancer patient and Augustus may be an amputee (as Wikipedia succinctly puts it), but this is not a book about cancer, cancer patients or “overcoming life with cancer”. This is a book about Hazel and Augustus who meet, have something in common and fall in love.

I don’t mean to sound ignorant, the book does deal with the emotional consequences of having cancer, both in regards to the direct consequences to Hazel’s life but also the effects Hazel, as a mortal human being has on others as she reminds them so visually of her mortality.

So this is a book about loving people even though you’re going to die. Hazel tells her story of meeting Augustus and it is a small tale of two people getting to know each other, being scared, pulling away all while falling in love –  as you do. They bond over a fictional book created for the purpose and at times I found myself wishing I was reading the fictional book rather than the fault in our stars. The fictional book is just so deep and just understands cancer and it reminds the reader of when you read just the right book at just the right time.

The Fault in Our Stars was not the right book for me at this time.  It felt contrived at times. Hazel and Augustus are very quirky in a way that feels unreal at times and unfortunately removes something from the perspective the book could have been. However books never really owe their readers anything.  But give in to this book. Read it on its terms. The plot twist may be so predictable that it can hardly be described as such, but it still made me cry in on a public train. And if that’s not the warmest recommendation I can give a book I don’t know what is.