The Fault in Our Stars (John Green) Chapters 6-10

FM:  This segment takes us from the point in the story where Hazel finds out that she has been invited to Amsterdam with Gus to the point where they are about to touch down in Amsterdam.  On the surface, it would appear that not much drama has happened in 64 pages of text in terms of plot (one notable exception being the mysterious argument between Gus and his mom before his departure for the trip.) Mostly, it has been character development.  This brings up the question:  Is this primarily a “girl’s book”?  The Twilight series has certainly been derogatorily accused of that, and so has the Sookie Stackhouse series (“True Blood”) by Charlaine Harris.  Even “The Hunger Games” has not been immune.  Is there just not enough “Action” in this story to hold the interest of a typical teenage boy?

CJ:  The mystery around the argument inside Gus' home prior to leaving is an intriguing cliff hanger, part of what pushed me to read on to the end.

FM:  This question is interestingly addressed in chapter 10, with Gus being absolutely enthralled by the blood-fest Spartan-vs-Persian movie shown on the airplane while Hazel mostly observes him.  (‘I took my head off his shoulder for a moment to get a break from the gore and watched Augustus watch the movie.  He couldn’t contain his goofy grin … even though the good guys had just lost, Augustus seemed downright joyful.   “…how many fictional people died in that fictional movie?  Not enough,” he joked.’)  So, are teenage boys really so shallow that a book with the kind of depth that this one contains bores them?  Is John Green intentionally “writing for girls” here, or just focused on creating the best story possible (with admirable success, I might add!)?  I think the answer to these questions, as usual in questions of this nature, is somewhere between Yes and No.

CJ:  Green did a good job conveying Gus' first experience of flying. The reader can almost see the sheer excitement in his face (and be reminded of their own first flight).

FM:  The problem with the typical teenage boy is that he’s so typical! (And, yes, I write as one who used to be a teenage boy!)  The whole insidious “reading is for sissies [or for girls]” idea is part of a much deeper social ill. [Soap box alert!]  Anti-intellectualism – or just intellectual laziness – is a problem that is not new, but seems to be on the rise currently.  Those who embrace it are grooming themselves to be Lower Class – the very ones who will be rioting for their “rights” – the advantages of being Upper Class – a decade or two from now; rioting for Equality between those who prepared themselves for Success and those who prepared themselves for Failure.  The young people who are reading books like “The Fault in Our Stars” are the ones who are preparing for Success, and I applaud them. “Readers are Leaders.”  I just hope it isn’t only the girls!

 CJ:  Applause for the soapbox!!! As one who was once a teenage girl, I find this piece occasionally on the sappy side, but then I don't think I was a typical teenage girl. I don't think either of my teen boys would find the story engaging simply because their character is not deeply nurturing and they don't have a life experience that would draw them to the story. Maybe I'm wrong, but I see this one ending up in the "girl" category.

FM:  One of the deeper messages that Green is conveying here is an understanding and empathy with people afflicted by major health issues, cancer in particular.  People do stare.  (‘I could feel everybody watching us, wondering what was wrong with us, and whether it would kill us, and how heroic my mom must be, and everything else … he said, “Listen, sorry I avoided the gate area.  The MacDonald’s line wasn’t really that long; I just … I just didn’t want to sit there with all those people looking at us or whatever.”  “ At me, mostly,” I said.  You could glance at Gus and never know he’d been sick, but I carried my disease on the outside, which is part of why I’d become a homebody in the first place.’)

CJ:  I do agree that there is much more to this book than a love story. It helps those of us on the "staring" side to have some insight into the thoughts that go on in the minds of those who are fully aware they are under the looking glass.

FM:  As for the “Action” in this section of the plot, it mostly revolves around whether Hazel will get to go on the Amsterdam trip after all, or whether the flaring of her health issues will prevent it.  With her, we get a real scare when her devastating headache seems to indicate more cancer; but even when it turns out to be a side-effect of her existing condition, we are left in doubt about the trip.  We really are left wondering at that point in the story whether the plot will contain scenes in Amsterdam or the crushing disappointment – for her – of not getting her Wish.  And yes, thanks to John Green’s mastery of his craft, it does mean something to the reader!

 

Next week:  Chapters 11-15