The Fault in Our Stars

Everytime I'd hear Rihanna singing, "We found love in a hopeless place..." I'm reminded of John Green's melancholic and humorous novel, The Fault in Our Stars.

It was sadly "hopeless" in the sense that our protagonists know they aren't gonna live for long and that they cannot do anything about it. Our star-crossed lovers Hazel Grace Lancaster, a sixteen-year old thyroid cancer patient and Augustus "Gus" Waters, a seventeen-year old amputee, are clearly aware that one of their feet is already in the grave.

Hazel Grace doesn't really socialize with other teens and she is usually forced to attend the support group where other cancer patients and survivors are sharing words of encouragement. For Hazel, this routine is even more depressing. She'd rather stay at home, watch America's Next Top Model marathon, and read "The Imperial Affliction" over and over again. The support group might be the unlikely place to find Mr. Right but Hazel Grace found Gus in that place she hates.

The title of the book was inspired by the famous line thrown by Cassius in the play Julius Caesar written by Will Shakespeare. It goes like this: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

What would you do if you are caught in that very limited space between life and death?

For Hazel and Gus, they'd just live their dreams! With all the cancer perks (as they call it), they'd fly into places real and surreal. Aware but not minding that time is running out fast. One of them can "game-over" all of a sudden.

In death, we write eulogies for the departed. But what is the use of those kind words and praises if the person's already gone? The dead won't hear it. Neither would he cry on that heartfelt message nor laugh at the fun mockery. Nothing from the dead.

But I'd like to give John Green a shout-out for reminding us that there is always a way to show love!

It's never too late to say "I love you" or "I'm sorry" or "Thank you." No matter how hopeless it may seem, there is still something sunny that comes along! Everyday may not be good but there is definitely something good in every day.

Even if we don't become heroes before we die or even if we do (in our own ways), what makes the period of living on earth worthwhile is to know that we matter to a life of, at least, one person. 

The Fault in Our Stars is not about cancer. Hazel is not her cancer; Gus is not his, either.

The Fault in Our Stars is about an eccentric girl and an aggrandizing bastard who found true and electric love in a hopeless place— that "infinite" space between life and death.

Read it, okay?


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