Let me begin by saying I was a bit reluctant in reading this
book. I still remember the first book I read
with ‘Cancer’ in it. I fell in love with it. So my main fear was that this book
would be just another imitation about a teenager who has cancer and falls in
love right before she dies. I was scared of reading something that would ultimately
make me dislike and disinterested in reading my first book again. If you’re
wondering what book it was here it is A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks.
In the end I gave in partly because my younger brother was reading
another one of John Green’s novels. He loved that book and I figured okay let’s
give A Fault in Our Stars a try. The other reason was that everywhere I went
I saw the book with its original cover or the book and movie tie-in. So I got my own copy and read it. All of these
preconceived notions that had formed in my mind became irrelevant.
This book wasn't and will never be just another book about a
teenager with cancer who falls in love and dies. Like Nicholas Sparks A Walk
to Remember, John Green’s A Fault in Our Stars spoke of more than
just that teenager love and illness and death. This novel brought to life an
idea that still inhabits many people. It’s this need that we all have to be remembered
to leave a mark in this world. Yes, it is done through the eyes of a sick teenager,
but that in itself shows you how much this idea can become so important. Even though Hazel wasn't the one that wanted
to be remember because she truly grasp that she would be remember. She knew Augustus
need to be remembered was impossible, but her purpose was to show him that he
would be remembered. He would live on in the people that loved him.
Both of these books had in common something other than
cancer. They serve to show how much of an impression on person can leave in another’s
life. I’m not sure how many of you read
this book already but Hazel has a line in it that will stay with me forever
“…..You
gave me a forever within the numbered days and I'm grateful” (pg. 259-260)
One meeting was enough to touch her and leave her with a
mark. We all seek that forever, but we forget that we really don’t know how long
we have. You have to grasp what you have and enjoy it. That’s you’re forever. I’m not sure how many of you read this book
or how many of you will read it because of this review. All I can say is that it’s important for
young and old to read it because it teaches not to lose sight of what’s important,
to make the now important.
