I just started reading The Fault in Our Stars. Everyone I have talked to has said it is such a good book. The language the author uses is so snappy and witty. I feel well educated just reading the book. However, it seems odd. Most teenagers around Hazel and Augustus's age do not talk like that on a regular basis. Some of their language seems above their years. I have to wonder if they are talking like that simply because the author is well-educated and likes that sort of banter, or if she is trying to portray the wealth of knowledge that comes with dealing and experiencing situations beyond your years, like cancer? I want to believe it the latter. Personally, this sort of dialog intrigues me and keeps me reading with the inability to stop. I crave more of this conversation in my daily life. While I am by no means dumb, I rarely have moments where I am alert enough to talk in this manner. The Fault in Our Stars keeps death in the back of the readers mind, but the vitality of the characters screams life.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
The Fault in Our Stars...
I just started reading The Fault in Our Stars. Everyone I have talked to has said it is such a good book. The language the author uses is so snappy and witty. I feel well educated just reading the book. However, it seems odd. Most teenagers around Hazel and Augustus's age do not talk like that on a regular basis. Some of their language seems above their years. I have to wonder if they are talking like that simply because the author is well-educated and likes that sort of banter, or if she is trying to portray the wealth of knowledge that comes with dealing and experiencing situations beyond your years, like cancer? I want to believe it the latter. Personally, this sort of dialog intrigues me and keeps me reading with the inability to stop. I crave more of this conversation in my daily life. While I am by no means dumb, I rarely have moments where I am alert enough to talk in this manner. The Fault in Our Stars keeps death in the back of the readers mind, but the vitality of the characters screams life.
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a note on the language of the characters: I notice it too. I think these two have been set apart by their difficult experiences.They both spend a lot of time in their own heads, so I think they are less swayed by the rush of conversations around them. They read all the time, they spend time with parents and doctors. It changes everything about them. Also, John Green has said that he likes to write about smart kids. I don't think he means kids that always get As. I think he is just more interested in people who follow their own paths, even in high school. I get the impression that he was like that--and these two are lucky enough to have found others who follow their own path. The way they talk is one of the ways Green can mark them as different, I guess. And I still look for people who follow their own path, I admit.
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