The Fault in Our Stars.

So, there's all this garbage going on in my life right now. It's not necessarily happening to me, but I see it happening to everyone else. And this kind of sucks because I can't do anything to help them. So, I'm already kind of depressed and down, so I decide to read The Fault in Our Stars. Now, if you don't know anything about this book- I don't know why you wouldn't. It's supposed to be this great book. They're turning it into a movie, it was on the NYT bestseller list... It's about this girl who has cancer and falls in love. It's suppose to make you cry. I didn't cry. I was pretty close, though. The book just basically ruined my day. 

Seriously. I was in the car when I finished it. So I threw it in the trunk and just stared out the window for the last twenty minutes of our journey. (I was just going to Severance. So I suppose it wasn't that much of an adventure. But whatever.) My family kept asking me if I was okay. And why I read it if I knew it was going to depress me. In all honesty, I'm not sure why I read it. Perhaps I still had a little bit of faith in the YA fiction department. It didn't end how I expected it, but it didn't end any better than I predicted. 

Since the beginning of life, humans have been trying to figure out why we're here. Not collectively as a race, but each individual. Why am I here? Why are you here? This is the second book I've read that has tried to answer this question. (The first was called The Book of Blood and Shadow.)And both times it ends up with a horrible answer like There is no god. And since there's no god there's no afterlife. And since there's no afterlife there's only oblivion. No one's going to remember you when you die, so why try to do something memorable? Anything noteworthy you do will do more harm than good.

 And that is simply not true. 

I'm not sure where I'm going with this. And, quite ironically, my situation can be described perfectly by a quote from this book. 

I suppose I could have written it out instead of putting a picture. But, whatever. 

I'm not going to explicitly tell you to not read this book. 

It sure made me think, and there are a lot of symbolism and metaphors throughout the story. Also, if you care about this sort of stuff, there's some language and a little bit of sex. The content didn't really bother me, though.  But the whole theme and mood of the book is just depressing. The writing itself was excellent. 

If you do read it or have read it in the past, I would love to hear your thoughts about it. Especially if you liked it. 

Needless to say, I will not be seeing the movie... 

- Amanda