“Everyone in this tale had a rock-solid hamartia: hers, that she is so sick; yours, that you are so well. Were she better or you sicker, then the stars would not be so terribly crossed, but it is the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong than when he had Cassius note, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / But in ourselves.” Easy to say when you’re a Roman nobleman (or Shakespeare!), but there is no shortage of fault to be found amid our stars.”
The story is heartfelt and hopeful, awash with metaphors and ironies of life and death. I’ve got a few heartbreaks and felt much like dying when I lost the person I love. But I know I am still far from fully understanding what it feels like to really lost someone… and never get a glimpse of him/her again.
This book almost brought me to tears. And I’m still having a heavy heart long after I finished it.
“Hazel is different. She walks lightly, old man. She walks lightly upon the earth. Hazel knows the truth: We’re as likely to hurt the universe as we are to help it, and we are not likely to do either.
People will say it’s sad that she leaves a lesser scar, that fewer remember her, that she was loved deeply but not widely. But it’s not sad, Van Houten it’s triumphant. It’s heroic.
What else? She is so beautiful. You don’t get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she is smarter than you: You know she is. She is funny without ever being mean. I love her. I am so lucky to love her. You don’t get to choose the ones you hurt in this world, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.”
I think like Augustus. Like him, I wanted to make a difference and make a long lasting impact to the people around me. I want to be remembered when I’m gone. I want people to have good memories when they think of me. Who doesn’t, right? Everyone wants to be remembered.
But yeah, sad but true, the marks that humans leave are too often scars. That when we finally go, the people we leave behind, more than anything, would be hurt and choose to move on. So maybe, just maybe, it’s better to give love and be loved deeply with the only people that matter in our lives.
