Book Club Essay: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Book Club Question: How are a character's decisions affected by the situations they are put in, and how does that relate to decisions we make in everyday life?

       In The Fault In Our Stars, there are many different depressing situations that each character was put in.  Each character was confronted with a conflict, either internal or external or both, and was forced to find there own resolution to it.  Each character had their own ways of dealing with these problems and their own ways to escape.  For example Hazel had cancer and would watch lots of TV to escape.  Augustus played lots of video games.  The author of An Imperial Affliction drank.  The author, John Green, showed no mercy when it came to speaking the truth about these fictional characters' feelings and thoughts.  There was no holding back and that is one of the ways that makes this book so relatable and touching.  Everyone experiences sadness and everyone attempts to escape it, even if only for a little while.  Another relatable part of this book is that the characters never find a way to get rid of the pain, they only find a way to live with it.
       I think that Augustus and Hazel, who were both dying, lived very much in the moment.  They weren't sure how much longer they had to live so they made the most of it.  This is also true for their parents.  They didn't know how much longer they had with their children so they tended to give them more freedom and cherish every minute.  Augustus and Hazel enjoyed every moment they had together and never took it for granted.  This is something that many of us who are not dying might need to work on.  It is hard to not take some things in life for granted.  This book shows that even something as simple as having enough oxygen in your lungs should be valued because there are some people that wish only for that.  Towards the end of the book Hazel begins to fully understand how lucky she is to have gotten as much out of life as she had.
       The characters decided to hide things from their loved ones to keep from hurting them.  This is in a way a selfish act that was done with selfless intentions.  They do not want to make each other's life any worse in any way possible because it has already been hard enough.  Though sharing important things with your loved ones even if it might hurt them is almost always the right thing to do.  For example Augustus felt the need to not tell Hazel that he had been diagnosed with cancer almost everywhere in his body.  Hazel's mom kept the fact that she had more to her life then just her daughter with cancer for over a year.  Neither Augustus nor Hazel's mom wanted to hurt her so that's why they kept these things from her.  This is very relatable because everyone hides stuff in their life in order to protect people they care about.  The author of this book used the story of this cancer patient to inspire his readers to live life to the fullest and appreciate every moment.

Reading Response #2 to Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

       I am currently reading Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.  So far I am really enjoying it.  It is really intriguing and I can't wait to see what happens next.  This book is about a girl who was killed in a car accident.  She "relived" the day of her death everyday for about a week.  The day would always start the same but go differently depending on how her actions changed.  This day was basically repeating itself with drastically different outcomes each time.  I think this was happening in order to help teach Samantha a lesson.  She realized how much what she did affected other people.  She learned that she needed to change her actions.  For example, Samantha and her friends had been bullying this one girl, Juliet Sykes, for years.  They called her names and harassed her a lot.  Then on the day of Sam's death, Juliet would kill herself.  The different way that Samantha acted affected the way she would kill herself.  Samantha learned that she needed to figure out a way to make it right with Juliet and to force her friends to stop bullying her and see what a a kind, beautiful person she is in order to save her life.
       I really like this book because it talks about the issue of bullying in a more interesting way that really connects with the reader.  I think it is books with messages like these that can really make a difference in the way people treat each other and in our society.  It also shows just how drastic of measures is needed to get people to change their ways.  I mean Samantha had to die and repeat this one day over seven times in order to realize how terrible a person she was being to some people.  It took so much just to get her to even think about acting differently.  I predict that she will wake up from this repetition once she has made things right.  I cannot wait to see what will happen next.

Reading Response to Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

       I am reading the book Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver.  I am about half way through and so far I am really enjoying it.  It is an interesting book about a popular girl who gets into a car accident and is killed.  Though she keeps reliving the day of her death over and over again.  She can change the outcome of that day by her actions, but so far even if she hasn't died she repeats that day over again.  She is getting extremely frustrated and annoyed with having to do this day over and over again.  The same basic things keep happening to her and she doesn't know how to get out of this cycle.  She needs to be able to tell someone and she wants answers badly.  Though she can't talk to anyone because she is scared they will think she is crazy.
      During the day she was killed the popular girl, Samantha Kingston, was mean and unfair to multiple different people.  I think that the reason she is reliving this day over and over and over again is so she can learn to treat people that may not be as popular and pretty as her with respect.  She also needs to learn to stand up to her friends when she disagrees with their actions.  They can be really mean to people and she goes along with it in order to avoid being the one they taunt.
      I think a lot of people can relate to Samantha.  People treat others poorly when they see other people treating them poorly because they are scared that they will become the victims if they don't.  This is understandable, but needs to be changed.  Everyone should learn that people who bully others have a very low self esteem and aren't very comfortable with themselves.  We need to learn to stand up to our friends if they do something that we don't think is right.  We need to face our fears and help other people that are being disrespected because if we were in their shoes, we would want help too.

Reading Response to The Difference Between You and Me by Madeline George

       This book is really interesting.  It is about two young girls that share a "forbidden love".  I have enjoyed reading it even though it is a little strange.  One girl, Jesse, cuts her hair with an army knife, and wears large rubber rain boots.  She has about two friends and doesn't care much about what people think of her.  The other girl, Emily, is student council vice president, very popular, really pretty, has beautiful soft hair, and a boyfriend.  These two kissed each other by accident and then sort of met up weekly from there on to hookup in secret.  Jesse would be fine if the whole world knew about them, but Emily on the other hand had a lot to lose and wanted to have a good reputation.  These girls are so different that they disagree on almost everything.  They especially disagree about a large company's involvement with their town.  The will to prove the other wrong about this company has given Jesse more confidence.  She finally earns the guts she needs to tell Emily that she is tired of hiding so they can't 'see' each other anymore if she wants to keep it a secret.
       In this book, The Difference Between You and Me by Madeline George, Jesse is blinded by her love and excitement as well as confusion and guilt for her relationship with Emily.  She doesn't notice how great the two friends she has are, and how they are there for her when Emily is not.  Jesse wants to tell her friends about Emily, but decides against it for Emily's sake.  I think it is for the best that their relationship didn't work out because Jesse deserved more respect then she was getting.  Her best friends, Esther and Wyatt, treated her so much better.  Emily felt that she had a power over Jesse just because she was pretty and popular, and Jesse believed her in a way.
       It was interesting to read this book because it has a slight hint of a Romeo and Juliet theme going on with the forbidden love and the meeting in accident.  I wonder if this is what the author intended or if just a coincidence.  Whether if it is supposed to have a Romeo and Juliet theme or not, it is still a great book and I would recommend it to students in middle or high school, or anyone that likes a little realistic fiction.

Reading Response #2 to The Street by Ann Petry

       The book I'm currently reading called The Street by Ann Perry is very slow-going so far.  It has a ton of description which can be good and bad.  I think description needs to come in moderation, because too much dialogue can be confusing and too much description can be boring.  There is not a lot to talk about that is happening in the book because there is no major conflict or major character flaws appearing just yet, even though I have been reading it for about a week.  I'm not sure I'll be able to finish it because it is taking forever to read.
       One character trait that is present in the mother, Lutie Johnson, is that she is slightly overbearing towards her son and wants to protect him from everything.  I think this theme is very interesting because it is timeless.  All mothers are going to be overbearing and protective of their children at one time or another, because they simply want what's best for their babies.  Though most all children, especially in today's culture as well as books and movies, always seem to rebel against this affection or simply misunderstand it for cruelty and therefore grow apart from their family.  This is something that every child goes through and so does Lutie Johnson's son, Bub.
       Bub is attempting at making some "extra" money for he and his mom by shining shoes on the streets.  Lutie is always saying how "they can't buy this" or "don't waste your money on that" because they are not rich.  They are one of the many small families trying to survive in Harlem in the 1940s.  They didn't have a lot of extra spending money.  They barely had enough for food and rent.  So Bub thought the least he could do was help out a little buy making a few cents each day after school.  Though his mother did not approve of this.  She believed that boys who shined shoes on the street would never aspire for more and end up living on the streets all their lives.  Of course she wanted way more of her child so she slapped Bub when she found out what she was doing.  This confused Bub and made him sad and angry, because all he was trying to do was help yet he still got reprimanded.  Though once Lutie explained they figured things out and he understood.  This is a lesson for all children that parents just want the best for you, even though sometimes they can be confusing and aggravating.

Reading Response to The Street by Ann Petry

       I've begun to read The Street by Ann Petry, and so far it is a really interesting book.  I have barely gotten to the second chapter so there is not a huge conflict or anything, just a setting of the scene and stating the already existent problems, such as money and a child and its education.  These are common problems of most people in today's society so this makes the book more relatable to begin with.  This book though is a fictitious story about an African American family (a mother and a boy) who live in Harlem.  They lived with some family, but the mother decided that that was not a good environment for her young son, so she went looking for another apartment that they could move into.  This small life change would hopefully help her son grow into a prosperous young man instead of a drunk like some of his other family.
       The theme of doing what is best for your child and not for you is present here.  I think this is an important idea and difficult concept of parenthood because when you become a mother or father, it is no longer about you or what you want.  It is about what you child wants or needs.  The mother in this story knew that she had to get her son to a better home so she spent what she had worked for and saved to buy them an apartment.  She didn't think twice about it.  Even though this was her money and she would have been fine to stay living where they were living, she decided that the best thing to do for her child, rather then her, was to spend that money and move away.
       As I said, I have barely gotten to the second chapter so there is not much more in the story just yet. This book seems very good so far and is extremely descriptive of the setting.  I find that most stories lack a decent description of the setting, so that makes this book even better and fun to read.  I would recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction, especially that takes place in New York.

Reading Response to Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult

       I just started reading the book Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult.  This book is a little strange so far and I'm having a hard time getting into it.  I think that it is unlikely that I will finish reading it.  The story line confuses me and I am not completely sure what is happening right now in the book.  From what I can understand the main character, Paige, had a hard time living with her father once her mother left them.  She left home as soon as she turned eighteen to go make it on her own.  She was struggling and finally found a job at a diner where she met her future husband, who happened to be her first customer.  Paige dreamed of saving enough money to go to art school.  She was an extremely talented artist that had the ability to draw people's secrets into their portraits.  Paige drew portraits of the customers in the diner and the manager hung them up.  I am not very far in this book so no massive climax or problem has occurred other then the fact that she is on her own and barely making a living.
       A theme that seems pretty clear in this book is the people leaving their families to go do what makes them happy.  I support doing what you love and following your dreams, but I don't think you should have to completely abandon your family to do this.  Though there are some specific circumstances where you may want to get as far away from your family for whatever reason but overall I think the right thing to do is to include, or try to include your family in your life and goals and dreams.  They should be supportive of you no matter what.  That's what they are there for.  It is also a tad selfish to abandon your family for yourself.  They need you just as much as you need them.  There is no bond stronger than that of family and people need to keep that in mind.  You will always be connected to your family in some way whether you want to be or not.
       I find it sad that Paige ditched her father, whose wife had already left him.  Maybe when I get farther into the book I will discover the reason why the women in his life don't like him enough to want to get so far away from him.  Or it might possibly have nothing to do with him at all, just with their dreams.  I hope that Paige will be able to reconnect with her father at some point, and I am interested to find out what happens with her future customer and life as a diner waitress.