What I Read: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

" The fault, Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."

                                                                  - Shakespeare

One of my goals for this year is to read at least 50 books. I know I could do it if I put my mind to it.
My one problem is that its already the first week of February and I've only read 2 books. But that's 2 freaking good books. One of these is The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

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This story is written from the point of view of Hazel Grace, a 16-year old cancer patient. She was forced by her parents to attend a support group where she met Augustus Waters, an ex-basketball player who lost his leg to osteosarcoma and was in remission. And their love story began.

I would like to say upfront that this is a tearjerker. No, not the kind of book that pulls you down to the abyss of depression. Instead, it brings the kind of sadness that is bittersweet. The kind of book that makes you feel melancholic, that makes you want to point an accusatory finger to the universe and say, " How could you?!". This is the kind of book that punches you hard in the chest and reminds you that only fools think life is fair. And yet, it will also leave you with the hope that maybe, in this cynical world, pure love can still exist.

Yes, I cried a few times. A few clever lines made me laugh, too. Its well-written. No wonder this will have its movie version which will be shown June of this year. But I find this book a little pretentious, too. A lot of cheesy lines. There are some lines that I just don't get, scenes that should have been given more emphasis. There are times when I felt like Hazel and Gus don't sound like normal teenagers at all. They talked really deep, like they have walked this earth a million years.  But come to think of it, they are not normal teenagers. They have cancer. They have been through a lot. What they've been through may have taught them lessons we, who have not threaded the road they are forced to take, can only imagine. But I would like to look beyond those cheesy, where-did-all-that-wisdom-came-from lines that seem to be so unbelievable coming from 16 and 17-year olds and just feel the emotions of falling in love.

So, is this book perfect? No. But, has this book made a lasting impression on me? Yes, it did.This is one of my favorite John Green. One of the books that I will read again if and when I will ever need a good cry. For me, this is a 4 out of 5 stars. Not bad, not bad at all. So I'd say, give it a try.

I will leave you with my favorites quotes from this book. These are just a few because you will find a lot of them. Read up and fall in love. ;)

" I enjoy looking at beautiful people, and I decided a while ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasure of existence."

" I fell in love the way you sleep: slowly, and then all at once."

" What a slut time is. It screws everybody."

" You gave me a forever within the numbered days."

" The world is not a wish-granting factory."

" You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers."