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For my first post on this blog, I want to start by explaining where the name came from.
"It's a good life, Hazel Grace," is one of my favorite lines from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Despite the horrible things that these characters face, they understand life and how good it is...even when it isn't.
There were many times over the years when I thought I had found my favorite book in Nicholas Sparks or the Hunger Games series or the Divergent series, but it wasn't until I read the beautiful words of John Green that I truly understood the meaning of a beautiful novel. There is something about the way he tells the story of Augustus and Hazel Grace that is so raw and real that it leaves you in tears. Not just because it was sad, but their story was just that beautiful.
Not only did this story become one that I could read over and over again, but it left many girls longing for an Augustus of their own. And who could blame them? He spoke such beautiful words that he could make you fall in love with him just by listening. Not to put Hazel Grace to shame by any means - her words were just as heart-warming (or wrenching) as his.
Some of the words read like this:
"I am in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come day when all our labor has been turned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you."
"That's the thing about pain, it demands to be felt."
"But it is the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong when he had Cassius note, 'The fault, dear Brutus, is not is our stars but in ourselves.'"
"I just held her hand and tried to imagine the world without us and for one second, I was a good enough person to hope she died so she would never know that I was going, too."
"Grief does not change you, Hazel. It reveals you."
"Almost everyone is obsessed with leaving a mark upon the world. But the marks humans leave are too often scars."
"I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."
"She is so beautiful. You don't get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she's smarter than you: you know she is. She is funny without ever being mean. I love her. I am so lucky to love her, Van Houten. You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers."
"It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you."
"Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me forever in the numbered days, and I'm grateful."
"My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations."
"What makes life precious is that it ends."
"Maybe okay will be our always."
"I'm on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend."
AND LASTLY: "It's a good life, Hazel Grace."
This is one story with a movie adaptation that I have not one bad thing to say about. Shailene Woodley (Hazel Grace) and Ansel Elgort (Augustus) did an absolutely perfect representation of our beloved characters.
So, the take home message from this post is this - if you haven't read The Fault in Our Stars, DO IT. It will change your life. Then, when the book leaves you in tears, go see the movie. It's worth it.
Much love,
Shelby
"It's a good life, Hazel Grace," is one of my favorite lines from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Despite the horrible things that these characters face, they understand life and how good it is...even when it isn't.
There were many times over the years when I thought I had found my favorite book in Nicholas Sparks or the Hunger Games series or the Divergent series, but it wasn't until I read the beautiful words of John Green that I truly understood the meaning of a beautiful novel. There is something about the way he tells the story of Augustus and Hazel Grace that is so raw and real that it leaves you in tears. Not just because it was sad, but their story was just that beautiful.
Not only did this story become one that I could read over and over again, but it left many girls longing for an Augustus of their own. And who could blame them? He spoke such beautiful words that he could make you fall in love with him just by listening. Not to put Hazel Grace to shame by any means - her words were just as heart-warming (or wrenching) as his.
Some of the words read like this:
"I am in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come day when all our labor has been turned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you."
"That's the thing about pain, it demands to be felt."
"But it is the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong when he had Cassius note, 'The fault, dear Brutus, is not is our stars but in ourselves.'"
"I just held her hand and tried to imagine the world without us and for one second, I was a good enough person to hope she died so she would never know that I was going, too."
"Grief does not change you, Hazel. It reveals you."
"Almost everyone is obsessed with leaving a mark upon the world. But the marks humans leave are too often scars."
"I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."
"She is so beautiful. You don't get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she's smarter than you: you know she is. She is funny without ever being mean. I love her. I am so lucky to love her, Van Houten. You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers."
"It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you."
"Some infinities are bigger than other infinities. A writer we used to like taught us that. There are days, many of them, when I resent the size of my unbounded set. I want more numbers than I'm likely to get, and God, I want more numbers for Augustus Waters than he got. But, Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me forever in the numbered days, and I'm grateful."
"My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations."
"What makes life precious is that it ends."
"Maybe okay will be our always."
"I'm on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend."
AND LASTLY: "It's a good life, Hazel Grace."
This is one story with a movie adaptation that I have not one bad thing to say about. Shailene Woodley (Hazel Grace) and Ansel Elgort (Augustus) did an absolutely perfect representation of our beloved characters.
So, the take home message from this post is this - if you haven't read The Fault in Our Stars, DO IT. It will change your life. Then, when the book leaves you in tears, go see the movie. It's worth it.
Much love,
Shelby