In Which I'm Disappointed by a Book (Again)
Maybe one day I will come to the realization that all books concerning children with cancer is going to end badly. Maybe one day I will realize that most, if not all, books have unsatisfactory endings, because they are fiction and therefore the author tweaked circumstances to make things turn out and of course the books don't happen like real life happens: that's the whole point.
This weekend's choice book of distress was Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper. And it was so good and put John Green to shame. Are you allowed to say that? When John Green's novel, The Fault in Our Stars, is about a girl and that story is related to the story of a real girl, are you allowed to say it's not the truth? That it's not real, that it's a lie given to the young adult masses?
And this is especially ironic, because in the very beginning of The Fault in Our Stars (in the movie at least, which I've seen more recently), Hazel Grace, the young victim of cancer goes on about how books and movies always sugar-coat the truth - but that her audience should have no fear, her story is Real and she tells the Truth.
And to some extent I must admit TFioS does this. I can't say how without ruining parts of the book, so I won't, but anyone who has read it will tell you that it's a hard book to read, because John Green is too real to let it end in unicorns and rainbows. But - he invents Augustus Waters. Hell, he invents Hazel Grace. And both of these characters seem unrealistic to me, and the fact that their relationship happens seems unrealistic to me. Then again, getting cancer seems unrealistic to me and that happens to people every day. Perhaps I'm just insensitive.
The point is to say that in TFioS all the little miracles happen. Everyone in the story is nice (except the crotchety drunkard, but even he turns OK? in the end) and aiming for the same thing - survival of the sick kids. But in My Sister's Keeper, it seems like Picoult is really aiming to describe real life - where decisions are messy, there are no right answers, everyone seems to have different motives, and morals and ethics get confused, and love is truly complicated. TFioS has tricky situations but ultimately they just end in sadness, pure and deep, and the book is effective because the audience is allowed to feel that. MSK makes you sad; but also deeply confused, caught off-guard - ridiculously true emotions.
This weekend's choice book of distress was Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper. And it was so good and put John Green to shame. Are you allowed to say that? When John Green's novel, The Fault in Our Stars, is about a girl and that story is related to the story of a real girl, are you allowed to say it's not the truth? That it's not real, that it's a lie given to the young adult masses?
And this is especially ironic, because in the very beginning of The Fault in Our Stars (in the movie at least, which I've seen more recently), Hazel Grace, the young victim of cancer goes on about how books and movies always sugar-coat the truth - but that her audience should have no fear, her story is Real and she tells the Truth.
And to some extent I must admit TFioS does this. I can't say how without ruining parts of the book, so I won't, but anyone who has read it will tell you that it's a hard book to read, because John Green is too real to let it end in unicorns and rainbows. But - he invents Augustus Waters. Hell, he invents Hazel Grace. And both of these characters seem unrealistic to me, and the fact that their relationship happens seems unrealistic to me. Then again, getting cancer seems unrealistic to me and that happens to people every day. Perhaps I'm just insensitive.
The point is to say that in TFioS all the little miracles happen. Everyone in the story is nice (except the crotchety drunkard, but even he turns OK? in the end) and aiming for the same thing - survival of the sick kids. But in My Sister's Keeper, it seems like Picoult is really aiming to describe real life - where decisions are messy, there are no right answers, everyone seems to have different motives, and morals and ethics get confused, and love is truly complicated. TFioS has tricky situations but ultimately they just end in sadness, pure and deep, and the book is effective because the audience is allowed to feel that. MSK makes you sad; but also deeply confused, caught off-guard - ridiculously true emotions.
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