21st Century Schizoid Man

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

(a small review)

Let me begin with a simple question:

Have you ever searched these two words together on Google - "spoiler meaning"?

Go ahead and search it. Then read the example sentence in the first definition

It really is a sad thing- now that you know that there are going to be spoilers in this text so take your non-spoiler loving ass back to whatever non-spoiler loving(read: uninteresting) persons do. Thank you.

Interesting people read on, higher things await us.

I think today's world is quite convenient. Everything comes in little packages, with instructions on top. Sometimes these packages do get mismatched. Get delivered wrong. Somebody picks up something that doesn't belong to him.So they do get handed off to the wrong person.

So I got this package labelled "young adult". Now a paradox at best, soul-wise I am as much "young" as much as I am an "adult" antically. Not that I actually believe in these labels but as I always say, one of the roles of being a twenty-first century schizoid man is having bullshit constantly hurled at your face and knowing how to dodge it. And I came to know this right away when I read the first twenty pages of Twilight, that this "Young Adult" package wraps a lot of bullshit.

I will inspect this package I got for you peeps:

The cover: An eye pleasing and catching azure backdrop set with two black and white clouds announcing the title and the author respectively.

Stance: Works okay with me. I can spot the book from a mile in the bookshop this way.

The Font: Chalk font? Seriously? I can imagine the though process of that stupid guy in Marketing who did that.

Stance: Looks okay though. Not a problem.

~Let us read the back first now because that is the right way to read book covers~

We will inspect it one by one

Seriously who gives a fuck? The Zombie Survival Guide was on that list, 50 shades was on that list, twilight was a fucking 235 weeks on that list.

Now the Synopsis

"Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten."

Now this heart rending line- "never been anything but terminal"

-seems like Chandler wrote this one from his grave.

"gorgeous plot twist" Whoa! which ostentatious Muhammed Ali-esque copywriter iswriting this shit? You better go back to selling lingerie mister.

Now I can be as well as reading this off the cover of Mills and Boons shitty romance#345 and I wont read any more from the cover because I am really bored, impatient and I don't give two fucks to the blurbs these paid reviewers collude to write.

Before we move on I think you have a fair idea of how much I like this book even before I have started reading this book. You can well say that I am a prejudiced and biased bastard which I very well accept and in my defence I only have to say that it has taken me more than twenty years and countless number of times of fucking myself the wrong way to harbour my prejudices, so please bear with it for a while- It doesn't end the way you think

Q: You may very well want to ask what problem do I have with these YA books?

A: I feed on morosity and seriosity and all these YA books scream happy and fappy to me.

So being the sourpuss I enjoy being so much, I half suspected that it would be another one of those crappy novels where it is all glib and stupid pre and post serious life threatening disease "love".

I WAS WRONG.

I thought that the author would try to deal with Cancer in an (artificial) sensitive way that is in fact very insensitive that would make me cringe in frustration and would make me want to stab the author.

I WAS WRONG AGAIN.

This book actually made me laugh which is good, made me a little sad at times which is brilliant and made me think which is like a fat bonus after a good paycheck.

I used to think that either young adults are really stupid or the ones who try to make mass produced grub for them to chew on are. This book wonderfully restored my faith back in a breed called adolescents. I am atleast reassured that they are not reading all putrid feculence.

Back to the book- Hazel Grace Lancaster is a cancer stricken 16 year old who is surviving due to an experimental drug called Phalanxifor. Contrary to this popular picture of the heroic brave cancer victim smiling amidst his Cancerness and fighting cheerfully this "brave" battle of a looming death, she is a pretty normal teenager who loves to watch America's next top model episodes back to back. She is nothing except terminal and anything but cheerful - Remember that.

So her parents make her join a support group presuming that she is depressed

There she meets this boy named Augustus Waters and as the synopsis reads there is a "gorgeous twist" in the plot.

Sounds like a clichéd romance doesn't it? Well it isn't and is definitely worth a read. I wont say that it was the most wonderful read ever on such a topic neither did it transform me into a John Green fanboy overnight. Neither I will get a tattoo like this: