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| Christian Review of The Fault in Our Stars |
Christian Review of
A Fault in Our Stars
by John Green.
Spoiler Alert!
I got this book in a grab bag of kids’ books from my thrift
store. Since I was unfamiliar with it, I thought I’d read it before deciding
when and if it would be appropriate reading for my young daughter. I have since
discovered that the book was also made into a movie – which I have not seen and
am not reviewing here.
The main characters in The
Fault in Our Stars are a teenage girl, Hazel Grace, and her boyfriend,
Augustus Waters. At the beginning of the story, Hazel is terminal, but Augustus
is in remission. By the end of the book, his cancer has recurred, and he has
died, and she does not have very long left to live. Their friend, Isaac, is
also suffering from cancer, and in the course of the story is blinded by the
disease, and his girlfriend callously dumps him for being blind. Much of the
story’s action centers around the support group they all attend in their
Episcopal Church basement. The characters are all nominally Christian, but their faith
seems to be a very thin veneer over their lives, one that is more cultural than
deep and profound.
The book focuses largely on Hazel’s obsession with a book, An Imperial Affliction by Peter Van Houten. (The book itself
is a literary device of the author of The
Fault in Our Stars – you can’t really go get it from your library). An
Imperial Affliction is a book about a girl with cancer, which abruptly ends
with the main character’s death, leaving many unanswered questions. Hazel is
obsessed with finding out how the book’s author envisioned what would happen to
the characters after the end of the book. She shares this obsession with
Augustus who then uses his “wish” (granted by a cancer charity) to transport
them to meet the book’s author in Amsterdam.
There they find that the book’s author is a huge disappointment, but they fall
in love with each other. They return to America for the final stages of
Augustus’ illness, and his death.
John Green is a very skilled writer, and presents the story
eloquently. I found it a very compelling read, full of thought-provoking
phrases, concepts, and symbolism. It might be a very helpful book to read to
understand the psychological struggles of young people going through this
experience – and experiencing this great trial with only a superficial
Christian faith, or none at all.
I have very conflicted feelings about this book. The book
examines the very real emotions and doubts that children and their parents deal
with when suffering such a tragic, terminal illness. Throughout the book,
witnessing the existential crises of the young characters, I was really pulling
for them to find meaning, Truth, and, yes, God, in their struggles. And they themselves
were looking for these things diligently.
In the course of the book, the characters swore a lot,
referred to sex crudely, drank illegally, and had sex on their second date.
There was no concern over whether risking pregnancy while terminally ill was
fair to the baby they could conceive if their protection failed. There was no
concept – at all – not even a passing thought– that sex should be in the context
of marriage (other than a flippant remark in another context that Christian girls should "save it
for marriage"). To the author’s credit, the sex scene was not titillating or
graphic.
I suppose that many folks believe that books for young
people must have this sort of content to be “authentic” or “real.” But, the
fact is that many authentic young peoples’ lives are not filled with these
things, and filling Young Adult genre books with these things actually serves
the function of encouraging young people to make these things “normal” in their
lives, too. What reader of fiction has
not gone out and tried a new food or a new experience after reading about it in
a book?
I can understand a person who is confused about life and
angry about being ill, might engage in all the above behaviors in the course of
a search, so I was not overly concerned about this as an adult reader. But,
since as a family we do not have the habit of swearing, or of thinking of sex
as a thing that should happen on a second date, I would be greatly concerned at
my daughter reading such things and deciding such behaviors were "okay."
The book’s characters theorized about whether eternity
existed, some believing in an afterlife, some not. They were affiliated with a
Church, and went to a cancer support group in its basement. Augustus’s funeral
was at a Church. But, they seemed to not worry much about whether God existed,
much less to reach out for any personal relationship with Him (except with the
symbolic representations of him). Sadly not a single adult in the book provided
the children with the support or guidance that might help them understand
life’s ultimate meaning.
A concept that runs throughout the book is "hamartia" - which many Christians will recognize as the Biblical Greek word for sin - but in this book it is translated as a fatal or tragic flaw, often outside a person's control. Cancer is referred to as an hamartia.
A concept that runs throughout the book is "hamartia" - which many Christians will recognize as the Biblical Greek word for sin - but in this book it is translated as a fatal or tragic flaw, often outside a person's control. Cancer is referred to as an hamartia.
The book has a couple of men who symbolize God (according toFAQs on the author’s website) – one a character in An Imperial Affliction known as "Dutch Tulip Man"– and the other the author of that book, Peter Van Houten, . These
men were SO exceedingly unlike the God of the Bible that I didn’t even realize
their symbolism until I read the author’s explanation after finishing the book.
The young people diligently search the book to find the meaning of life and death,
with Hazel even referring to it has her “Bible.” The symbols depict God as
either impotent, or worse, wounded, despondent, angry, alcoholic, pathetic, and largely malicious
toward creation. At the beginning of the
book, Hazel believes that if she could just connect with the author of the
book, she could die happy. By the end of the book, Hazel has completely and
angrily rejected this man who is the book’s symbol for God, and instead has
effectively made her beloved, dying boyfriend into her “god.”
The parents in the book were excellent, caring parents in
every secular meaning of the word. They truly loved their children, did
everything they could to help them and to communicate love to them, and care for their psychological health. But
other that the occasional vague feel-good reference to God, the parents were as
spiritually rootless as the children, and so were unable to help in the ways
that truly would have mattered the most.
At the end of the book, the characters sort out their own
answer to the meaning of life, death, and suffering – which the book depicts
(among other things) as eulogies that the teens write for each other, in
advance of death. The book’s conclusion seems to border on nihilism – that the
most we can hope for in a well-lived life is to not injure each other too much. No eternal purpose in life is really envisioned, as the existence of Eternity itself seems to be a matter of opinion among the characters. The final lesson seems to be that it is up to each person to figure
out what the meaning of life is for them
– and there are no right or wrong answers. No thought is given to the Revealed
Truth that Christianity offers us. Instead, sentimental opinions about
human kindness are offered to replace it.
Whether to let a young person read this? Tough question. If
they tend toward depression and despondency, this book’s nihilism might tip
them over the edge. The book’s endorsement of swearing, vulgarity, and
premarital sex might encourage them to also take these things casually. Since
those things were done by sympathetic main characters, it is very easy to see
these actions as okay, or even right “in their circumstances” –which is of
course, an extremely dangerous conclusion. The book might pull the teen toward
Atheism and/or Nihilism. But, if you are a parent whose child is drawn to this
book, you might read it at the same time they do, and use its text to open up
great discussions with them on these very issues, and help them find the very
real answers that God offers us on these questions. A good parent read-along might be
(in addition to the Bible, of course) TheProblem of Pain by C.S. Lewis. I don’t think it would be wise to allow any
young person to read The Fault in Our Stars without any parental guidance or assistance. Indeed,
a lot of adults might even be spiritually damaged by reading this if they lack
a strong Christian faith.
All human beings struggle with the questions of life’s
ultimate meaning, the reality of a God who Loves us, the purpose of suffering,
the reality of life after death. For many people, the teen years are a time
when this struggle is most pronounced (others deal with this question at other
stages of life). And, of course, a terminal disease amplifies these questions
for all of us.
This author's gifts give him a HUGE potential to reach out to young
people and help them find the Ultimate Truth. He is an extremely skilled writer,
and has a great way with kids (my own daughter LOVES his Youtube Crash CourseHistory videos – and begs to watch them despite the swearing. Sadly, I can’t always permit it – because of the
swearing and occasional political commentary in some episodes.) He has the potential to do a lot of good in this
life with his gifts. I can only conclude that it is possible that he himself has not yet developed the
kind of deep spiritual life that provides the Saints with heartfelt, unshakable
answers to life’s most difficult questions. Not “easy answers” but the kind of
certainty of God’s Love that allowed these Saints to embrace martyrdom without
hesitation. I pray that John Green might
progress in his own spiritual journey, to a certainty of the Goodness and Love
of God, and His Resurrection so that we might share in His Eternal Life. And,
with that experiential knowledge of God, might use his great gifts to reach out
to young people and help them.
Edited August 2021:
Long after writing this post, I encountered another resource I would recommend.If you are looking for a way to discuss these ideas with a young person, but in a way that encourages his or her faith, I would encourage the Movie, Until Forever, on Redeem TV . It is a true story about a young couple in love who are dealing with cancer. It is portrayed very well, with a positive faith message.
