The Fault in Our Stars~

I honestly read this a while ago, but I decided to re-read it. John Green amazes me with his incredible writing that flows so effortlessly from paragraph to paragraph. I know that most of us has either read the book or seen the movie, but for those few out there, I will try not to give away the ending.

The novel is from Hazel’s perspective. She is a 16 year old girl with cancer. Her parents force her to go to a support group, which is where she meets Augustus Waters. Augustus is an amputee who is there in support of his friend, Isaac, who is about to get surgery for the cancer in his eyes that will make him legally blind. Hazel runs into him (literally) and there is immediately something there. Throughout the novel you get to witness their love grow stronger and stronger no matter what they have to go through. As Hazel’s cancer gets worse, Augustus decides to use his Wish to take her to Amsterdam to meet her favorite author, Peter Van Houten. When they get there, they discover that he is actually an awful person and they instead spend the trip together on what I consider a multiple day date. On the last day, Augustus reveals some information that really tests their relationship.

You have to read it to learn what the information is and what happens next, but I can promise you that it will be an enjoyable, emotional, and good read. You will become attached to the characters and find yourself rooting for them in every step that they take.

One of my favorite quotes from the novel is when Augustus comes over and they decide to make an ad to get rid of Hazel’s old childhood swing set. They have fun and laugh at what they can come up with for the ad and then Hazel makes a wonderful suggestion. “Lonely, vaguely pedophilic swing set seeks the butts of children.”

“Okay.”
I chose these two pictures because I honestly want to focus on the text of the book. John Green's writing style is so good that I can't even think of a picture that would significantly impact my understanding. Thank you to the wonderful John Green!

 

 

Every Day~ First Book Response

“I wake up.

      Immediately I have to figure out who I am. It’s not just the body—opening my eyes and discovering whether the skin on my arm is light or dark, whether my hair is long or short, whether I’m fat or thin, boy or girl, scarred or smooth. The body is the easiest thing to adjust to, if you’re used to waking up in a new one each morning. It’s the life, the context of the body, that can be hard to grasp.

      Every day I am someone else. I am myself—I know I am myself—but I am also someone else.

      It has always been like this.”

 

                The opening of this book is so powerful. It automatically brings you into the story because you want to understand what is going on. Here is the story:

                A is a person… well kinda. I don’t really know what word to use to describe A. Every morning A wakes up in a different body as a different person. He has the day to just live their life as they would, which has caused A to see some interesting things. Gender does not matter nor race. The only consistent factor is that the person is always the same age as him.

                As A goes through this routine learning about the person of the day, he meets a girl named Rhiannon. He is in her boyfriends body for a day and he falls in love with her. Every day A comes back to talk to Rhiannon as a different person, and finally tries to tell her the truth. Of course this begins a rollercoaster of events. I feel like A’s main questions are: Are there others like me? How would I ever know if there were? Is it possible to stay for longer than a day?

 

                The writing in this novel can be compared to no other that I have read. The odd story pulls you in and makes you think about being in A’s place. The life of A is so sad… but it is not. Everything bout the plot is complicated but once you understand what is going on, it is a wonderful read. I highly recommend this book to anyone. As long as you don’t try to guess the ending. I guarantee that you will not be correct.

 

This is a picture of a beach in Maryland. When A was in Justin's body, he and Rhiannon decided to go to the beach. This happens to be a key part of the book because the beach in Maryland is where A completely fell in love with her. A's love for Rhiannon drives the story line, which also takes it's place in Maryland.