The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Cancer is an indifferent disease that happens to be very indiscriminate in its choice of victim. John Green very efficiently builds a story out of despair and pulls us out of a dismal surrounding, taking us on a journey that is crippling yet beautiful. Green develops the personality of two teenagers who have been touched by this uncaring disease. Hazel Grace Lancaster is a teen girl who has been stricken by cancer from a young age and has come to terms with what her life has become. She meets a young man Augustus Waters, whose character is infused with optimism, lacks cynicism and abides hope.

This story holds great meaning to the ones who have been touched by this disease as well as the ones around them and it holds out like a beacon light of hope that earnestly implores them to hold on to hope, positivity and happiness in the darkest of times while they prepare for the worst. The book has a very positive and driving tingle to it as it metaphorically and directly inspires us to live in the moment, look out for the beauty in pain because "that's the thing with pain, it demands to be felt", life passes in almost like a fugacious flicker of the screen, its ephemeral. It invigorates us to not settle for dismay and not give into darkness and monotony. The story encircling these characters gives us an insight of their life which is immersed into laughter and tears and reveals that the most beautiful moments can be birthed in the darkest of times because "you die in the middle of life, you die in the middle of a sentence". The tribulations of life shall not be given the power to stop us from feeling contrasting yet elementary human emotions like grief, anger, excitement, love, joy, et cetera accurately represented by Gus' metaphorical perspective of handling cigarettes. "Grief does not change you Hazel, it reveals you" as they create a "forever within numbered days" and blissfully sail through their life, preparing to cross the bar.

The story is a illuminent monument for those who have won as well as lost their fight against cancer as it highlights the unruly damage done to their dearest. The victims try to conceal their pain, depression and hopelessness on account of the bitter and quiet truth that foreshadows inevitable events as they endeavour to shield their loved ones and minimise their hurt through feigning enthusiasm as well as donning smiles and strength when possible. Overall, this John Green novel has no precedent as it draws to us a picture of characters that could have similar struggles and could be very much existent in the real world.