5 Reasons Why The Fault In Our Stars Changed The Way We See Love Stories

I have not met any single person who hated John Green's iconic take on young love and cancer in his novel-turned-movie, The Fault in Our Stars.  Anyone who has ever read it have declared its love for the book.  Here are the 5 reasons why The Fault in out Stars has changed the way we see romance and how beautifully it shifted our eyes from mainstream love stories:

1. Two young people in love, overcoming the same circumstance.
   While we've witnessed A Walk To Remember and some other films and novels that made the other protagonist suffer from an incurable disease, TFIOS reimagined the intensity of the love between two young people conquering the same circumstances together. You don't just simply see two people suffering from cancer or the other one's recurrence of Osteosarcoma, but you see teenagers growing up, being themselves, and making the days count.

2. Augustus Waters.
   Nobody utters the word "metaphor" the same way as Augustus does. And only he can put an unlit cigarette in his mouth with so much sophistication, without looking off and without being judged. Augustus Waters has turned wooing into an art with tulips, swing sets, Amsterdam, and eases the words "because you are beautiful" out of his mouth so smoothly when he talks to Hazel the very first time. He was precocious and articulate and he was Hazel's rock. He gave her strength and life she thought she could not have in this world.

3. Love stories are for best friends, too.
   Let us not forget Isaac and Gus's friendship in the book. Isaac and Augustus were like brothers, both fond of video games and have each other's backs through thick and thin. In the midst of Isaac's heartbreak and blindness, Augustus let Isaac have the power to let it go and throw trophies and eggs. And not to mention, how Isaac would rather choose to stay blind than not being able to see the world without Gus. TFIOS shows that love stories does not only have to be present in romantic relationships between two persons but can also be seen in friendships too.

4. “Okay?” “Okay.”
   Only Hazel and Augustus can say "okay" like a promise or a vow between two people who are madly in love with each other. It defined the book and it can make you feel how enough an "okay" can be said. Okay? Okay.

5. Great loves can happen at sixteen.
   Most people think that naivety is the ultimate enemy of loving so much a person at a young age. But TFIOS proved that wrong. Hazel found her great love at sixteen and although it was short-lived, it was as electric and eternal as any other. It was the right kind of love at a young age and despite how the situation have cut Augustus out, Hazel still loved him as if he were alive. Augustus will always be her great love.

Certainly we've bawled our eyes out crying over the extreme plot twist we had not seen coming but still, who would've thought that such book would make us laugh, turn us into romantics and make us believers? Only TFIOS can.

Alve Jane Aranton blogs at sheisthepaperbackwriter.tumblr.com.