Funny how all the jumbled, unorganized words in your head seem to form easily on another's page. In that moment, it's dawned on you that you're not the only one with these particular train of thoughts and it's refreshing, almost like a breath of fresh air to find someone who doesn't know you but yet knows exactly how you feel because they feel it too. It lights a fire.....a spirit of kinship with someone you may never know. It's odd and a lot of you may not comprehend this but if you do, then you should know exactly how it feels when an author puts your feelings into words and they get it right, word for word.
This was exactly how I felt when I was through with this novel. Very few books have captured my attention from the very first pages and I assure you that this wasn't one of them because I found it very boring at first. To be honest, I abandoned it for a while but for some reason, I continued reading and now here I am, all done and ready to tell you all about it.
A little heads up here people as this review would contain some spoilers.
This is a book that talks about life, love, death, grief and virtually everything in between. No emotion present in this book was downplayed as each one was observed to the fullest. The book concentrated on the everyday struggle of cancer patients whilst trying to combat their disease.
There were three cancer patients in particular that the author focused on; Hazel Grace, Augustus Waters and Isaac. I really couldn't pick a favorite character between Hazel and Augustus because both of them were peaceful opposites, absolutely unique in their differences. While I was endeared to Augustus's personality, I can't deny I reasoned more with Hazel to some extent plus, their chemistry was undiluted, they both knew what they wanted and had absolutely no time for puppy love as they only lived once and sadly,very short.
Hazel was blunt, intelligent,calm, dogged, fierce and a tad bit pessimistic. I really can't fault her for this last trait I outlined because when you're someone walking about with a literal burden, slowly counting the days till you die, not being able to experience the freedom of having a normal life, knowing fully well that your existence happens to be a strain and burden on your loved ones but they love you too much to care how much it costs to take care of you, I don't think you'd really look on the bright side of things anymore.
Augustus as I mentioned earlier on was a polar opposite of Hazel, while they found common ground a few times because of their not too many similarities, their differences still stood out. Augustus was warm, kind, selfless, cheerful, firm in his decisions, equally calm and intelligent but my favorite attribute of his, was his optimism. As a matter of fact, his cheerful nature and optimism certainly rubbed off on everyone including me, the reader. I do remember him telling Hazel Grace that she should not let her pessimism define her reality when she argued that sometimes, she's not being pessimistic but realistic. With Augustus, I did see a different side of Hazel that I also loved and it was really sad what fictional fate decided for him in the end.
Augustus never wrote Hazel your typical high school love letters, he believed more in showing what he felt and that he did to the fullest but when he did write something to her or for her rather, it was way better than a thousand love letters put together. His emotions were bare to whosoever read them and trust me, you won't need a soothsayer to tell you that he absolutely loved that girl.
When I say this author didn't mince words when reiterating the thoughts in my head, this is a solid example because the things Augustus Waters said here have been in my head for a long, long time and though I may not have gotten all my answers, it helped coordinate my thoughts, at least for the mean time.
Alas, a lot of you may wonder why I haven't mentioned Isaac all this while but then, he's someone I'd describe as a passively active character in this novel. He was Augustus's best friend and just like Hazel, a loner. His freedom from cancer came at a cost that prompted his girlfriend's abandonment, I honestly do not fault her for this as a lot of us would do same if we were in her shoes but I do fault her for becoming a total phantom in regards to him knowing fully well how attached he was to her. Augustus once again came to the rescue, his little show of support, though small and physically insignificant warmed my heart a great deal.
Before I conclude, I'd like to pinpoint one last thing. At first, I considered the title of this novel somewhat abstract. I thought it would be one of those books where the title is a riddle with it's meaning buried under layers of further riddles but what the title of this book literally implied was in plain sight. It applied to all the humans in this novel but was more pronounced in one man in particular; Hazel's idol, a fictional writer inside this fictional masterpiece. Hazel found solace and companionship in a book her idolized author had written.
Unfortunately, meeting this author was more a nightmare than a dream come true for Hazel and at this point, a principle that had taken root in my mind was further strengthened; every human, no matter how perfect they seem to be, have their flaws. They have their fair share of pain and chaos in their lives and it would be totally foolish of you to expect utmost perfection from them simply because you look up to them.
On that note, I'd like to wrap this up by saying that I'd readily recommend this book for anyone and everyone; any day, anytime. You might find it a little boring at first but trust me when I say it's a big 10/10.
All images used are screenshots from my e-library.