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Wednesday 6 March 2013

Some infinities are bigger than other infinities

I've never felt the need to write a post about a book before. I read a lot (I was always that child with her nose buried in a book at family parties, and always need a great big pile of books to take on holiday with me), but there's not really been a book I've ever seen as significant enough to blog about before. Until I read a book that led me to cry like an absolute baby on the train back from Edinburgh a few weeks ago. This is something that NEVER happens to me. I didn't cry when I saw Les Mis, I didn't cry when I read One Day, I didn't cry when I saw The Notebook for the first time (I have cried at it once but that was only because I was having a VERY BAD DAY). I'm just really not a crier. So if that doesn't prove just how powerful John Green's The Fault in Our Stars is, I don't know what will.



The book is a story about a 16 year old called Hazel, who has been living with terminal cancer throughout her teenage years. She meets a boy, a 17 year old called Augustus who lost his leg due to bone cancer, at a support group who changes her life. Despite her reservations about getting too close to people when she has such a bleak future ahead, Hazel just can't help but fall for Augustus. 

Yes, its a book about cancer. But, its not really a book about cancer. Inevitably you can't have a book narrated by a girl with a terminal disease without there being a lot of emotion involved, but this isn't a book about dying by any stretch. Its a beautiful story about life, love and wishes. Despite Augustus only having one leg and Hazel having to carry an oxygen tank around wherever she goes, they're still just normal kids, albeit a lot more deep and philosophical than your average teenagers but that's just one of those side effects that comes with their disease.

When I first picked up this book, part of me was thinking I'd gone a bit mad bringing my work life into my bedtime reading. I work as a Learning Mentor for teenage cancer patients being treated in Yorkshire, and so unfortunately I know all to well just how horrible the world of teenage oncology can be sometimes. So many people ask how I can do my job and cope with being surrounded by such a sad situation every day. And, honestly, most of the time I really don't see it as a heartbreaking place to be. I work with some of the loveliest patients who, despite being faced with awful treatment and an incredibly scary disease, are still just completely normal in every other sense of the word. Its not a depressing place to work, its actually pretty uplifting most of the time, and that's exactly how it is in The Fault in Our Stars.

Seriously, give it a read. I challenge you not to fall in love with Augustus Waters.

23 comments:

  1. I've heard so many good reviews about this, think its going on my 'to-read' list!

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  2. Okay, you sold it. I hold you completely responsible for any tears of mine that may fall though!!!

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  3. This is such a lovely lovely post and weirdly i picked this book up and put it down several times in Waterstones this morning as it was incl in the buy one get one half price and i didnt get it. I came away with nothing in the end but when i have finished Grace, i shall be buying a copy!!!XXX

    Ps, loving the spots :) xxx

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  4. Oh and the HEADER!!! How did i go and miss the bloody christing header! I love it!!!!! So much!!! xxx

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  5. I'm a massive crier, and am even worse with books than films (I've had some strange looks whilst bubbling away on the beach on holiday haha) so this is probably going to destroy me! It sounds like a lovely book though, I'll need to have a read once I get through my current pile of books! xx

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  6. Haha! My friends were crying about this book the other day. Bless

    Xenia
    xox

    xensimagination.blogspot.co.uk

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  7. I never cry :-/ my friends joke that I have a stone heart....I will def read this!! Love the new blog look ;) X

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  8. oh and btw once I've got my blog design all done and dusted I'll be grabbing your blog button as it's one of my fave blogs:) X

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  9. That sounds like a fantastic job, how did you get into that? I am the exact same as you- I cry at NOTHING- not The Notebook, not One Day, not Les Mis (ok maybe I cried at Lilo and Stitch but COME ON!), but I wept at this. And continued to well up for days whenever I though about it. Genuinely one of the best books I've ever read! x

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  10. I need to read this! I think I actually have it on my kindle.
    I have a challenge for YOU - read Me Before You by JoJo Moyes and I challenge you not to sob buckets! xx

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  11. i'll have to get my hands on this, i love the authors vlogs! they absolutely crease me up! but i'm a little worried because i cried at everything, i absolutely howled at one day, so i doubt i'd be able to recover from this. x

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  12. I have been wanting to read this for so long! It seems like such a good book (in a really sad way...)

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  13. Little bit sad... but it's a great book!
    //Airin

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  14. I'm a serial book-crier hahah, I had people on the train asking me if I was okay when reading the latter parts of One Day! This is on my to read list, once I've finished Murakami's 1Q84 trilogy. Sounds so good. x

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  15. Sounds like such a sad book.

    I've just come across your blog, and am now a new follower :)
    www.fashion-underdog.blogspot.co.uk

    Emma
    x

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  16. I need to read this book! I keep seeing people reading it and not catching the title and every time someone's reviewed it I lose who's blog it was on! But now I shall remember, I'm always a bit lost in endless crazy book recommendations from friends who study literature but just wanted to find one for myself! Sounds like you do a wonderful job, some of the most inspiring stories are the simple ones where people carry on living in the face of such scary situations :) x

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  17. My flatmate was reading this last month and wouldn't shut up about it! I think I'll give it a go once I've ploughed through my uni reading lists (which might be a while away - uh oh)

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  18. AMAZING book!! Couldn't put it down and sobbed like a baby reading it!! I just posted a review of it on my blog the other day too!!

    www.chrissylilly.blogspot.com

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  19. I've been looking for a book to read, will surely check this one out. :)

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  20. This is on my list to read, but I've got a few others to get through first.

    I read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes a few weeks ago and I cried like a baby for a few hours after I finished that. I am known to cry at the drop of a hat though. But that book affected me a bit more than usual.

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  21. I'll add this book to my list, I was that nerdy little bookworm too, I was constantly reading! Right now I'm reading Great Expectations which is going well but The Road is a book that really affected me I weeped like an infant (although I am a bit of a crier anyway)
    http://www.bandasaur.blogspot.co.uk/

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  22. Hey hun
    I just found your blog and I love it!
    really nice lay out!love the variety of posts
    and your nice images!
    Check my blog if you want and maybe follow if you like it
    xoxo from Greece

    www.fashionrailways.com

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  23. I'm looking for a new book, about to finish mine, may pick this up. The one I'm reading is a weepy though, 2 in a row a good idea?
    Lauren
    livinginaboxx

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