Looking at The Fault in Our Stars

Personally, I don’t think there is another book that explores the topic of life and death in such a philosophical way as “The Fault in Our Stars” does. On the surface, it may just seem like another one of your cliché young adult novels, where the main characters have to fight for their love and eventually come to some grand epiphany by the end of the book. But upon deeper introspection, I’ve found that Green uses numerous literary techniques that even Wright seems to deem crucial to making a book worth reading.

One quote from the book that always finds its way back into my brain reads, “Some infinities are bigger than other infinities.” Perhaps it is the mathematical aspect of the quote that I enjoy pondering, or it may just simply strike the right chord whenever I contemplate our limited number of days. Either way around, I am almost certain that Wright would be proud to know that this book prompts reflection, even years after I initially read it. I also believe it would be unjust to talk about why “The Fault in Our Stars” is worth reading without mentioning the moral compass that the book demonstrates to us readers. I mean, for goodness sake, the book revolves around cancer. As Wright likes to put it, literature enables us to better understand man, and what better way to understand man than to see characters as they await their deathbed? Call me morbid, but I think that it is rather refreshing to read about death in a manner where one is expectant of it, as opposed to fearful.

My Past Literary Journey

In all transparency, I will admit that I am not a natural reader. Partly because I struggle to find a book that piques my interest, and partly because I lack the patience to allow a plot to develop. In my literary past, I have found that my particular interests lie in contemporary novels that feature aspects of the real world, as well as dystopian works that leave room to contemplate what our society could end up being. I suppose I enjoy works that allow me to easily see parts of my life in the characters and scenarios featured on the pages. For instance, the book “Paper Towns” by John Green revealed a more spontaneous part of life that I hadn’t really considered before. While the ease of connecting to a book that features elements I can resonate with is reassuring, I have decided to step out of my comfort zone this year. I want to challenge myself to explore titles that are far from the life experiences that I have. For this reason, I have chosen to read “The Cat’s Eye” by Margaret Atwood, which is set in mid-twentieth century Canada, as well as “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair, which features early-twentieth-century reformation ideas. With a bit of reading and a lot of reflection, I hope these books will help me to expand my mind and consider lives different from my own.