The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

I know that this is so 2012 but I wouldn’t have read this book if there wouldn’t be a movie adaptation coming soon. The amount of facebook shares of the movie poster  is quite panicking too.

While I’m on my way on being a YA book believer, I felt betrayed upon finishing The Fault In Our Stars. Before I talk about why I’m a little disappointed on this, let me first mention that I did not purchase the book with my own money (good grief to my grumpy pockets right now). But it leaves me no right to rant so much about the story line and overly used quotes. I’ll honestly review it for a just a teeny bit anyway.

If we omit the profound dialogues of the characters, the outline of the story tastes bland to the tongue of my mind.

Here’s a love at first sight story of two ridiculously genius-speaking and beautiful but not twilight-sparkling cancer patients, Augustus and Hazel. Both are trying to be heroic for each other but will eventually  gamble their lives to know what comes after the story of An Imperial Affliction, the heroine’s favorite book. Unfortunately, its author Peter Van Houten turns out to be a jerk but the life-gambling-Amsterdam adventure wasn’t all for nothing. Because from that point on, their innocent love story turned steamy-but-not-to-the-point-of-getting-aroused-while-reading-it (unless if you have an amputee fetish). *spoiler alert* Just when you thought that their romance is in full bloom, John Green’s going to stab your heart by killing one character you wouldn’t expect (except that I kind of did). And the story ends on a letter about the Hazel Grace we already know. 

I’ve crossed my fingers that The Fault in our stars wouldn’t remind me of the movie “A walk to remember” on which I remember not crying; I was too young to understand how it feels. The plot twist of  The Fault… reminded me of the movie “Magnifico” instead; I feel like I’ve put on a blank face while reading it.

My final thoughts: I believe tragic stories doesn’t always have to end it death. However, I realized that maybe this isn’t supposed to be a tragic story but merely a romantic one. To be fair to those who love it, I think The Fault In Our Stars is good for its target audience. I could understand why it’s a well-loved book. A heartwarming love story that although not everyone can relate with, anyone can sympathize with it.

John Green didn’t hit the spot on my heart with this one, perhaps on Looking for Alaska?

Summer Night

Memory of a you and I,
swam together in the night
With blue appearing green
water through the yellow light.

It’s so fresh in my mind
like I saw it yesterday;
when my hand touches yours
underneath the tiny waves.

I’d cling to you when I
can’t reach the pool’s floor.
Like how I’d cling to you when I
want to love you more.

Alive as I held on to
the edge of the pool.
Alive as we hold on to
our love as a whole.

 I remember catching beams of light on the side of the pool and there I knew I’d wrote a poem about our Bataan trip. Obviously I don’t really know how to swim. Obviously I don’t really know the rules of poetry too. Any tips? 🙂

Everyday by David Levithan

I apologize for skipping April. It was kind of meh month for me, but I’ve been reading books lately. The quest is still on.

Everyday by David Levithan is another YA book lent to me by my YA fan friend. Like any YA books I’ve read, I don’t really get hooked on the first few chapters. I like the concept though. A, the protagonist lives his everyday in a different body, family, lifestyle. The moment he wakes up, he’s in a body of someone else. You might wanna question where does the soul of the body’s owner floats to, it is unknown. Even A, has no answer for this(however, the fact that he doesn’t know it became an important part of the story too). The moment the clock strikes at 12:00 am, A leaves the body and take over another, whether he likes it or not. And no, he can’t choose a body, gender, physical appearance, or habit. One thing that is very convenient for the story is that A could only take over the body of the same age. Say he is 16 now he could only take over a body of a 16 year old too and it is weird for me that his life really started at new born age. He must only live for a day the way that person lives his/her day. Must not do anything unusual to disrupt that person’s life. But what happens when he get attached to someone? What happens if he fall in love on that person’s girlfriend. Not his but the body he’s possessing for a day. Just one day. The story revolves on that.

I have no high expectation on this. I took this really lightly. Caught off guard, some quotes are shooting quickfire through me. One of my favorite lines is this :

People take love’s continuity for granted, just as they take their body for granted. They don’t realize that the best thing about love is its regular presence. Once you can establish that, it’s an added foundation to your life. But if you cannot have that regular presence, you only have the one foundation to support you, always.

I do like the simplicity of being with the person you love (not specifically a lover or partner only) . But I’m also guilty of asking for more than the presence.

I wanted love to conquer all. But love can’t conquer anything. It can’t do anything on its own. It relies on us to do the conquering on its behalf

I appreciate the loads of cheese on this story. But I also like the way A sees the world differently in different bodies he’s been to. It’s like reading multiple short stories all leading to one common goal: seeing Rhiannon(and there comes more platter of cheese). I wanted to dig deep into this but what could I expect, it’s a teen age boy in love. What the heck else is going to matter on an in love person?!

Upon finishing the book, I was able to see the outline of the story very clearly. I fell on the trap Levithan had set. It was a very effective plot that leads the reader to that kind of ending. And before I write a spoiler here, I’m only going to admit that I let some tears drop at the last part. It was touching specially when I heard the sweet yet sad background piano music playing from a drama tv show. My father was watching tv at that time. Awesome timing. So many feels. Just like the melody there, “Everyday” is a sweet and sad or sad in a sweet way.

It’s an easy book with somewhat relatable characters. Go read if you fancy young love with quotes that doesn’t require a proper age to relate with. 🙂