NO SPOILERS! (So if you haven’t read
the book you can still read this post, and oh do you mind me asking why haven’t
you?!)
I once
wrote a post about this guy who was an 18 years old (then) amputee. We met
during his follow up at the Orthopedic clinic one glorious day (to be frank I
had no idea if that day was glorious, it could be gloomy for all I remember).
If my memory served it right, he was the last patient that Friday therefore we
talked longer than my previous patients (we allocated approximately ten minutes
to interview patients who were recruited into our study – The Quality of Life among
Lower Limb Amputees). To see the correlation of the character in review and him, read till the end. :) I did not just tricked you into reading this whole thing.
Into the book:
Augustus ‘Gus’
Waters just could not believe his eyes! One day he went to the support group and he saw Hazel Grace
Lancaster (who insisted on being called just Hazel and bear a striking
resemblance with his late girlfriend Caroline who succumbed to brain tumor ). Gus, eleven months in remission from
osteosarcoma and Hazel, three years in remission for thyroid cancer with mets
to lungs with long term oxygen therapy . He was seventeen and she was sixteen.
To sum up the book: two teenagers, young and
in love, fighting the big C, and tragedy came like an uninvited house guest (might I warn this is NOT a
spoiler as it was clearly written at the book’s cover)
The plot:
all right. Predictable but still enjoyable.
The
characters: lovable ( and that's why it hurts so much as according to Mr Green, it hurts because it mattered)
So should I read the book? I guessed you ask. Answer: YES!
Have you a great book that made you smile and all 'awwh' (well not all the time obviously) but stabbed you right at the heart? As I was reading, I
wonder how it was possible to finish since I had been having lump in my throat,
tightness in my chest as I continued (but I did!). Oh, the feels. And that was why you must read it, because of the feels.
During Pediatric
rotation just few months ago, I was posted at the Oncology ward where I met an
eleven years old boy who has been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (Stage III,
in relapse, on palliative management). As I listened to his mother (and
occasionally the father – cos he was tending to his son at the moment and no, I
did not interrupt them, they let me) telling his story right from the
beginning, I couldn’t help but feeling helpless, so tiny. This experience
somewhat affected me as I could imagine it vividly like nightmares
you tried so hard to forget, but they just wont let you)
Back to my
first paragraph, young boy, amputee with a prosthesis, bright and optimistic, tall, lean and rather good looking (minus blue eyes) &
of course his did not have a terminal disease but hey, I believed I once
crossed stars with our very own Augustus Waters.
 |
| Almost casted as Augustus Waters. Too bad, he certainly looked the part! |
Don’t give
it up just yet
Stay grand
for one more minute
-The Fault
in Our Stars by Troye Sivan
Notes:
Written after reading it once, so if I got the figures/facts wrong, sorry.
Watch this space people, I'm back! I certainly hope so.
