Rating: 3.5 / 5

My second review goes to The Fault in Our Stars, believe me, I'm surprised too. Anyway, I finally got around to reading The Fault in Our Stars and I’m glad I wasn’t as disappointed as I thought I would be. The book, maybe due to the movie, got sooo much buzz I was sure there had to be a catch, and while I agree it IS a really good piece of work, I still think it was blown juuuust a tad out of proportion. With that being said, I’m still glad I read it, it’s a sweet book- I'm not sure how many people would agree.

Truth be told, the title, by virtue of it being anything but random won me over. It comes from a line in Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar where Cassius says, "The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings." which seems to suggests that Cassius thinks that it's not fate that dooms men, but instead their own failings so basically we are too blame for all the bad things that happen to us. Obviously John Green disagrees- and I do too! Sometimes bad things happen just because- eg, the kids in the book didn't get cancer because they did anything wrong, it's just how it is and it's a fact that cannot be undone by any act on their part. (Bad things happen to 'good' people all the time- the reverse is also true). I'm really eager to have this discussion with someone, especially from a religious point of view, the idea of predestination and the notion that our actions cause a reaction/ripple effect into our future. But I digress. As you read on, you realise the beauty of the message in the title is that they can still live and make their decisions despite the fault in their stars, even when they know the inevitable fate that awaits them. Its pretty encouraging.

I don’t want to say it’s a book about cancer, or kids suffering WITH (notice I don’t say ‘from’?) because it is not. I don't even think the characters would agree with me, they wouldn’t say they were suffering per se…just living; it's one of those things they're living with. Anyway, yes cancer plays a significant role in the lives of the characters and there's an unspoken sadness about the book being about kids who will inevitably die young, but the book is so much more than that.

Kids with cancer, I expected waterworks-I had been warned to expect waterworks. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve shed my fair share of tears because of words on paper about things and people that seemed to me more real than anything and anyone I’ve had the good fortune of encountering. So imagine my surprise when I closed the book and it dawned on me that I had not been accosted by the tears I was sure I would shed. The book savvy friends that recommended this book each vowed that they themselves had read parts of the book behind a haze of tears. Either they lied or I’m a stone-cold unfeeling reader!

There’s a realness to this book that no doubt is what most people like about it, myself included. No rainbows and bunnies, no greener grass, no sugar-coating, maybe a silver-lining or two but that’s debatable. There is just truth- reality in all its brutality. “The world is not a wish-granting factory”. There’s a bit which I particularly loved about the universe wanting to be noticed and how it rewards the intelligent in part because they are able to give it the attention it craves (or something along those lines). It feels kind of true doesn’t it? Those more attuned with their surroundings and take time to be AWARE of anything and everything around them seem to be at a slightly better place, physically and emotionally, than people that go about their lives in a straight line, buried behind a “busy” life , focusing on only the red objects they see and so on. We are but pawns my dear reader.

One of the characters, Augustus, has it in their mind that for their life to have been worth something, they have to be remember by many, they must have accomplished a great feat, been a great person, made a great sacrifice, you catch my drift. I took a rather nihilistic view on this-so did the main character (and narrator) Hazel…to a certain extent. She puts it aptly, go read the book. While the Christian in me believes we were all created for a purpose and our lives have somehow already been written out (I have some reservations on this but that takes us back to the faults being in our stars debate) I do not think that purpose necessarily means greatness and I fear for people who live their lives in search of greatness because they ultimately miss out on what the world really has to offer, it goes back to the universe wanting to be noticed, all the the non-red objects.

John Green knows how to write, I’ll give him that. The book has a lot of quotable lines which I’ll spare you, just Google them- there are probably a ton of bumper stickers or “Encouragements” that the book has given rise to. I will, however, give you this, Augustus’ proclamation of love…waah, beautiful. The cloistered hopeless romantic in me was cooing all over the place with this one. Guys take notes.

But more than anything, and I’m sure many would agree, it is an epic epic love story, I’ll leave it at that.

Until next time, stay golden dear reader.

Stop. Listen.

Something a friend of mine put up a couple of days ago that I haven't been able to stop thinking about...Listening is something we rarely do, we're in the business of 'hearing' and in that process we filter so much that half the time what was intended is not what was registered. This is what she had to say....


My Thoughts : Stop. Listen.:

Stop. Listen.

Consider these two responses

Person 1: I have a lot going on in my life right now... I'm not sure I can handle that as well.

Person 2: I don't have time for such nonsense.

Which of these two people would you immediately understand and/or identify with?

Who do you think has 'more reason' in their answer?

If you're thinking person 1, you're wrong.
The answer is: neither of them.

You see, words have over time acquired certain implications and meanings that they may or may not have had when they were first created. There's no way of knowing for sure, this thing goes back to the creation of language....long, long, looong ago.
So why would you give Person 1 sympathy or understanding and not give the same to Person 2?

Don't you think that they're both saying the same thing? Or is it because Person 2 said 'I don't have time' and 'nonsense' that we immediately jump to conclusions?

Look, both of them are really saying, 'I can't do that' OR 'I won't do that'. All Person 2 did was go ahead and add how they felt about what they were being asked to do. They were being brutally honest.

And what does brutal honesty get you? Nothing good, most of the time.
And we wonder why people would rather lie.

So what am I saying here?
I'm not sure I really know myself. Perhaps it's just that we need to take time to stop and listen more often than not.

Maybe then people would not need to continually repeat themselves.
Maybe then people would begin to feel heard.
Maybe then...maybe.

Stop. Listen.

PS: I'm very proud to say that the pictures and edits are my own. Quotes have been attributed within the edits :)

UCUlawresearchproject: Steve Jobs on Creativity: Here are a couple of quotes from Steve Jobs on creativity which you may find interesting...

"Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things."

"good artists copy; great artists steal' -- and we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas."