L.I- To read a novel and critically analyse, and evaluate aspects of it.
Title: The Fault in Our Stars
Author: John Green
Genre: Fiction (based on a real person)
Pages: 313
Hazel Grace is a 16 year old girl who has cancer. She has had cancer for the past three years. All this time she has to carry an oxygen tank around everywhere she goes. She decides to join a support group at their church with kids the same age as her who also, have cancer. She meets some friends there and sets off to find her favourite author in Amsterdam with her new, one legged boyfriend Augustus Waters. They fall deeply in love and promise to stay together until death does them part, but unfortunately, that’s what happens. Luckily, romantic, poetic, and metaphorical Augustus Waters left her clues to find a love letter, just before he died.
I think that the moral of the story is basically, what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger, and what does, makes your closest friends and family stronger. In this story there are a few quotes and metaphorical things that create an emotion and a theme for the reader, like “Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.” and “Are you serious?! You’re smoking while you have cancer?! Are you trying to kill yourself?!” exclaims Hazel, shocked. “It's a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing.” replies Augustus. Also “I wanted to know that he would be okay if I died. I wanted to not be a grenade, to not be a malevolent force in the lives of people I loved.” Like this, there are many, many other metaphorical and emotional quotes that build up the picture and feelings, just like a musician accenting different parts of a melody to create emotion.
This story takes place in Indianapolis, Indiana, where Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters live. Until they leave to Amsterdam to meet their favourite author. In Amsterdam they go to the Anne Frank house for a tour, to Oranjee (a famous restaurant) and obviously meet Peter Van Houten ,their favourite author, at the author’s house. Even though author turns out to be a horrible person the trip isn’t a complete waste of time as they share their first kiss at the top of the Anne Frank house.
Hazel Grace is a very smart, and funny girl. She has a very likeable personality.She more of a listener rather than a talker and all she wants is for her parents to be happy, which is hard when all they ever have time for is her, because if she suddenly has a lung problem once again they must be as close to her as possible. Her lung problems have happened too often for her parents to be able to stay too far away. She isn’t very active as she only has one and a half working lungs so she gets breathless easily. Hazel has short hair, once again, because of cancer, and a thin tube running from her nose to her oxygen tank that never leaves her side. She is quite romantic but not quite as romantic as her boyfriend Augustus. Unfortunately she is very self-doubtful. She is humorous, but in a smart way. She thinks very logically, and metaphorically, and understands that she is going to die sooner than others. She isn’t the type of person who believes in miracles, but she isn’t depressed. She is funny, but her jokes are never mean, to anyone, or anything. She is the type of person you would want to have a lasting friendship with, as she never gets boring, and she’s the kind of person you don’t meet everyday, but you would like to.
This book was very detailed, but not in a boring, everlasting way. There were parts of the story where there was an unsolved mystery and the author, John Green (a genius), left little suspicious clues to follow and to predict what happens, but the really great thing about the language in the story is how metaphorical it is. I guess you could say that the story is like a dark hallway with many open doors, but you never know where you are going until you’re there. There are many unexpected twists in the story and they keep the reader captivated.
Overall the novel is amazing. The author, John Green, has once again completed a masterpiece. This story has been a huge success with people of all ages, although the main audience was teen girls. I love the language used in this novel and how everything about it has been thought out perfectly. If I could go back in time and read this book again, I would. All the characters personalities and stories fit together perfectly like a puzzle and if one piece was different the puzzle would be incomplete. This story makes you think differently about life and everything on Earth. I found this novel faultless and inspirational, and I am not the first to think that.
By Oksana
