Because I missed out a Friday blog post a while back, I've decided to write an extra blog post this week, and it's basically a review of my favourite book at the moment: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.
I only discovered John Green at the end of last year when a friend introduced me to the world of YouTube vloggers, and told me about this book that one of these "vlogger people" (as I used to refer to them) was going to release. Now I have to admit that when I heard the words "young adult fiction", I inwardly groaned, because as an English Literature student and at the age of nineteen (as I was then), I had packed up all my young adult romance novels and placed them in a box under my bed. I wanted to read "intelligent and intellectual" novels. Basically no more teen romances. I was too old for such juvenilia- or so I thought. (Of course, I wasn't counting the hundreds of trashy adult romance novels that I acquired over that last year in attempts to reaffirm my belief in true love after a bad break up. That was therapeutic. Totally justifiable behaviour...) But I had come to the conclusion that young adult fiction had no place in my heart or on my bookshelf anymore. I was an adult. And if people in my seminars asked me what I had read that week, I could hardly tell them that I was reading books about teenagers in love; especially when I should have been reading something intellectual like Shakespeare... Which having said all of the above, basically consists of teenagers being in love (blah blah blah) Ha, Shakespeare, the Renaissance poet of love or one of the founders of the young adult fiction genre that has given us such "delights" like Twilight...? *Shakes fist at Shakespeare*
But that said, after listening to a reading of the two chapters online, I decided to put aside my prejudices about young adult fiction, and I pre-ordered The Fault in Our Stars. And I'm so glad I bought that book.
Without giving away any spoilers, (because people hate that when I do... you know, like accidently telling a close friend the end of a Harry Potter book before she's had the chance to even read the book... Yeah, I've never done that... *insert awkward cough*), the story follows the life of Hazel, a teenage girl diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her first person narrative is as equally witty and funny as it is tragic and sad, but the combination of tragedy and comedy make the experiences of the protagonist real and unforgettable.
I literally couldn't put this book down. Every time I laughed, a minute later I found myself crying. About a month ago, I wrote on here and on Twitter that you should read a book that breaks a little piece of your heart, and I also commented that those were the best books. They are the best books because they end up affecting you and changing you. That's why books are special; they not just a useful way of telling good stories, but they are also powerful devices that enable words to connect with the reader in unique ways.
That's why you should read a book that breaks a little bit of your heart. If it does that, then the novel has done it's job.
And this book, The Fault in Our Stars, has done just that. It's transcended the stereotypes of the young adult fiction genre, and it's definitely worth a read.
~ I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, then all at once. ~
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green
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