After an car wreck kills the rest of her family, 17-year old
Mia must choose between staying and coping with her enormous grief, or leaving
her body and joining her family.
Normally I don’t like books that deal with death. I like
escapism rather than realism. But this book was beautifully done. In the
audiobook format, I really got a sense of Mia’s voice and the character came to
life under actress Kirsten Potter’s portrayal.
While this book was haunting and tragic, it was also quite
beautiful. We meet Mia as the catastrophe occurs, and then through flashbacks,
learn her story and become quite attached to her as she decides whether to stay
or go. This book will make you take a long look at how you value family, love,
choice, and life.
Miles Halter is mostly friendless and obsessed with famous
last words. He’s more than ready to leave his safe life at home for boarding
school at Culver Creek and experience what the dying poet Francois Rabelais
called the “Great Perhaps.” At Culver Creek he meets his roommate Chip “The
Colonel” Martin, and sexy, unstable Alaska Young. These two, their friends, and
the adventures they seek will change Miles’s life forever.
Maybe if I had gone to boarding school, my high school years
wouldn’t have been so comparatively tame. This book includes drinking, alcohol,
and sexually explicit situations. Naturally, it’s both a banned book and a cult
favorite. It also contains a deep and reflective look at world religions and
values. Not to mention an intense look at the value of life.
It’s safe to say that John Green is a king/giant/awesome
dude in YA literature. This is his debut novel from 2005, and while I didn’t
love it, I can completely understand why it was so well received. Maybe it’s
just that I didn’t particularly like Alaska, while our main character Miles
adored her. I did however enjoy its frank portrayal of the transition from
youth to young adulthood, and importance of finding yourself within that
transition. Plus, it’s quite hilarious at many moments and deeply thoughtful at
others (which I suppose captures my teen years quite nicely).
Hazel Grace Lancaster is a 16 year old terminal cancer
patient. She spends a lot of time reading her favorite novel, An Imperial Affliction, and thinking
about death. Her mom, worried that she’s depressed, sends her to a cancer
support group. There, Hazel meets Augustus Waters who is in remission from the
cancer that took his leg. And while Hazel and Augustus know better than anyone
that their lives will end in oblivion, they decide to live while they can.
This novel began with an authorial insistence that a story
in and of itself can make an impact. And then it proceeds to prove that
statement to be completely true. I laughed, I cried (several times), I loved, I
felt closer to life, and I just kept reading. As you know, I’m obsessed with
books that make me feel something beyond myself. And this book performed
wonderfully.
I’ll admit I was hesitant to read this book at first because
it practically screams depressing. And sure, Hazel and Augustus could be
terribly depressing and boring. While they do tend to wax a bit existential,
when faced with death, instead of being a drag, they’re quirky, deep, and
wonderful. They’ll make you reconsider your own perspective on life and death
and want to go hug everyone you love.
The love story between Hazel and Augustus can’t be described
as anything but epic. Life is a little more precious when death is your third
wheel on every date.
While John Green is quintessential YA, I loved that this
book didn’t fit the YA mold in one major way: Parents tend to be non-existent
or ineffective in most YA. In The Fault
in Our Stars, Hazel’s two best friends are her parents, and she worries
more about what will happen to them after she dies, than she fears actually
dying. Augustus’s parents are also very present in the novel.
This is a book you won’t want to miss. If you’re still on the fence, listen to John Green read the first chapter here:
