The Fault in Our Stars -- John Green

Overall, what kind of feeling did you have after reading a few paragraphs of this work? Midway?

I've resisted reading TFiOS because I have a tendency to flee from trendy, of-the-moment fiction. It took me years to read the Twilight series, and anything with Oprah's branding on it guarantees I won't be reading it for awhile. It's not that I won't get around to reading The Latest and Greatest, but I often let years go by so that the bandwagon can pass and I can read the novel in relative peace and obscurity. In this way, I didn't read The Fault in Our Stars when it was published in 2012, and if I'm being totally honest, the timing for reading anything romantic... Well, let's just say that my personal life has had a little rough sailing lately, and the Very Last Thing I want to be emotionally vulnerable to is a love story. 

I opened to the first page a bit reluctantly, but within a few paragraphs, I was hooked. I didn't stop reading until an hour later, when I came to the bookmark alerting me that I'd read the assigned chapters for this week--all seven of them. Here are some slightly emotionally-messy thoughts and feelings after reading:

1. I sort of hate that John Green writes a female, adolescent, wise narrator so well. Hazel Grace's voice is so authentic. I always wonder how a male writer can write a young female narrator so effectively. I'm jealously cynical of such creative genius.

2. For someone a bit uncomfortable reading a love story, I feel a little better that cancer is also included. How sick and demented is THAT feeling? Haha -- but really. All cynicism aside, I think Green has chosen an unusually beautiful way to address love (and the truth of falling in love), while also acknowledging the often brutal reality of life's unexpected disappointments. 

3. I love that Hazel's parents are decent, loving, supportive people. Hell yes to some positive parental representation in a YA novel. (if we're not allowed to curse on these blogs, Dr. Sty, please forgive me)

Happy reading, my friends!

Final Thoughts: Literary Associations and Huxley's Brave New World

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (through ch. 17)

What characters do you find yourself relating to the most? Why?

When I read Brave New World as an adolescent, I was most drawn to John the Savage. I remember thinking that Bernard was a decent guy, but the women were all unlikable. Rereading BNW now, almost twenty years later, I am surprised at how much I sympathize with characters I found abhorrent before... I think I want to be John the Savage, but I am afraid I am more like Bernard. I have just finished chapter 17, so I don't want to offer spoilers, but I relate more to the misery of disappointment in Linda and the ignorance of apathy of Lenina. I don't feel like I AM either woman, but I don't judge them as harshly as I did when I first read BNW. And I find myself wishing that there was at least one woman who resisted the machine of civilization, you know? Because in BNW, Bernard, Helmholtz, John and (to an extent) Mustapha can see outside the conditioning to the higher-level issues, but none of the women can. It's depressing to see the two extremes: Lenina, who is ignorant but beautiful, and Linda, who somehow maintains ignorance even when faced with the opportunity for personal growth. It is painful to read these women. I wish there was a female John or Bernard or Helmholtz.