TFiOS was one of the first books I read about "sick kids" that didn't make them a prop for others' development and as a former "sick kid" that meant a lot to me.
Same here! I usually try to avoid books or movies about Cancer, because the memories from my childhood can be painful, but I’m glad I read TFiOS as an adult.
Amen! As a disabled adult who was an undiagnosed "sick kid", it drives me NUTS how much of our "representation" is just misery p*rn for healthy people.
I can't believe that was 10 years ago! I remember getting unofficial permission from my rabbi to skip teen youth group to see you and Hank on the TFIOS tour (she was a big fan of the novel, by the way). Since then I've become permanently disabled and the meaning of this story has fundamentally changed for me. Both versions of TFIOS in my life have meant so much to me. Thank you, John.
skipping teen youth group to go see an author on a book tour, with the permission of a supportive adult who likes books, is peak John Green protagonist energy tbh (also, this makes me realize that my rabbi has probably never read a John Green book, but she cries really easily, so it could be very fun to give her one)
@@yaelmorin9017 I'm now curious which of my rabbis from yeshivah might have read John's books, and compiling a mental list of which would definitely enjoy them if they haven't read...
it never fails to amaze me how inapplicable the whole “don’t read youtube comments” thing is for this community. scrolling through the comments here is making me feel so warm and i love love love hearing everybody’s experiences with this book and how it shaped us. we all have a communal third thing!
Yes, I love it so much! And it's not even "the comments will be neutral and will not harm you to read" like in some sections, but I actually get a lot of insight and connection here. Love this community
@@dragonflies6793 yes exactly! Like I activity choose to scroll down and see people's reactions to the video because I know there will be interesting and thoughtful ones :D
the first 3 books really hit hard for me as that young dude who often misimagined girls I liked as something more than just a girl. by the time TFIOS came out I didnt necessarily personally relate to it as much but I still thoroughly enjoyed it as a fan of John's amazingly thoughtful way with words, but I've since lost close family to cancer which kind of recontextualized some of the ideas I read 10 years ago.
I worked in pain management as an MA for a long time and constantly encouraged patients to save their 9’s and 10’s when rating pain. I wanted to talk about TFIOS all the time.
I think about it a lot too (perhaps because I watch all the Vlogbrothers videos as they come out); the highest praise I can give it is that it made me cry in a parking lot. I simply had to finish the book, and it touched me deeply.
When I was a teenaged girl, I think I misimagined myself a lot. So many books and films that portrayed complicated women and girls who strayed from the norm used them as a mysterious and romantic plot-element rather than a character study. It seemed as though the only way, I could get to be complicated or difficult or sad was if I was a beautiful mystery for a boy to try and solve. I was fundamentally shocked to my core by Papertowns. I hadn't really gotten the message with Looking for Alaska (I was too upset about her death to understand anything), but it hit me like a ton of bricks with Papertowns. A wonderful book that sincerely changed my life - in some ways saved it.
I am now 23 years cancer free, and The Fault in Our Stars was the first book I read about sick kids that didn't make me feel bad about being sad. Thank you for bringing that story into the world.
I read TFIOS a couple of years after I started working with pediatric oncology and it has helped a lot understanding the teenagers better. I feel like it changed the way I communicate and treat them. The book was recommended by a teenager in cancer treatment at the time btw, soon after it came out in Brazil. So THANK YOU JOHN!! It’s a very special book.
Sitting here at almost two years in remission from leukemia, distracting myself from tomorrow's routine blood test. Thank you for TFIOS, John. I'll probably never be able to reread it now that it is so personal, but the themes of illness and where to put the blame and making meaning out of randomness will stick with me.
In the same situation, except I'm nearly 3 years in remission from ovarian cancer and my blood test is next month. I wish you peace and for your body to continue working correctly
It was only after I read The Fault in Our Stars that I discovered Vlogbrothers. So thank you John, for not just a story that I live everyday of my life with, but for introducing me to a community unlike any other! Congratulations on 10 years of TFIOS!
this is unreal! only today morning was i telling a friend about vlogbrothers, their work, impact, personal story and branding, and how (re)reading TFIOS introduced me to this world and it’s wholesome organic community made with people from all age groups, all walks of life. i’m not as involved as others here, but even as a homebody all this offers much comfort and belonging that i would wouldn’t get or learn somewhere else. Congrats John! (✿◠‿◠)
Thank you for your books, John. TFIOS was the first novel this dyslexic gal was able to read cover to cover, ever. It's still difficult for me to read, but I'm not afraid to pick up books anymore because I *know* I can do it.
That's great to hear. We have a lot of dyslexia in our family, and I've seen up close how difficult it can make reading, and I'm really glad you don't fear books anymore!! -John
I remember sneaking around to read TFIOS at because my parents thought it was too inappropriate due to one scene… but I was twelve, so as any sane stubborn teenager would do I snuck the copy they hid at the top of my fridge and read it until 2am anyway. And I’m glad I did, because TFIOS, like all books, have a way of touching and understanding that humanity is a beautiful mess, which was important especially in middle school at the time. Thanks, John
I will never forget the line "I was saving my ten". That helped me recontextualise pain and is still to this day one of the most useful sentences I have ever read.
I read your first three books (and got into Nerdfighteria) when I was a teenager, and the whole "imagine others complexly" thing truly changed... my entire development? So thank you for that
I really relate to this - I joined Nerdfighteria when I was 13 and I've been here ever since (I'm 22 now). It's definitely shaped how I look at the world and the people who inhabit it
Today as a young adult I frequently have friends and even casual acquaintances tease me about my constantly pointing out nuance/ complexity/ context when they’re trying to be annoyed at some person/Group. I can almost hear Hank and John saying “the truth resists simplicity” in my head, like, daily. They really informed who I am as a person too!
so grateful for the fault in our stars for making me fall in love with reading at the age of twelve. now i am eighteen and read around 50 books each year and i cannot imagine my life in the pandemic without books. thank you john
I found so much comfort in Hazels character. I remember reading the book in my freshman year of high-school after a friend told me the characters reminded them of me. What I did not expect when I read the book was to see so much of my sister in Hazel. My older sister died in 2008 at the age of 12 years old from a brain tumor. I remember the day she came home from the hospital after her 3rd and final brain surgery like it was yesterday. My parents sat me and my brother down and told us she was going to die. In what should have been a disheartening moment I remember thinking, 'why be sad when that is the last thing my sister would want'. Until the final days before her death (when she spent most of her time sleeping) my sister never stopped smiling, making jokes, and trying to make everyone happy. She was sarcastic, smart, inquisitive, and genuine. Even while her vision began to fail and she lost control of the left side of her body she made us happy. She made us smile. Hazel's ability to love, to see the world as magical, and to make others feel as though they could do the impossible reminded me that life is too short to not be happy. Hazel reminded me that even when a loved one dies, life goes on. Thank you John for writing one of the most influential books of my life. I do not have enough words to describe how amazing you have made me feel.
The fault in our stars really resonated with, in a way no other book did, since I also have a chronic physical illness, and the ways you described illness, and peoples experiences with it, were similar to mine . As cliche as it may sound, the fault in our stars became my imperial affliction, predicting my life events before they happen.
Every once in a while, I remember that I spent my Make-a-Wish with you at the TFIOS premiere, and the memory makes me so happy. (Every once in a while, I comment about it on TH-cam so I’m not alone in my celebration of my past.) Thank you for writing a book that opens up an important perspective to so many. Having read TFIOS before, during, and after I had childhood cancer allowed me to transition from one to another with more grace and understanding of myself and others than I frankly deserved to possess. ❤️
The book that shaped my teenage years, I remember reading it when I was 11, hiding from my mom. So glad I did that. The story has enriched me and helped me understand myself beyond what I can express.
It's funny, my best friend at the time draged me to the movie for her birthday and I remember being all, 'why is everyone so obsessed with this' before I headed in ... And then I cried like 90% of anyone who's seen the movie, and then I read the book and then the other books, and then somehow stumbled over to this corner of TH-cam. It's wild to me that if I had never watched that movie I wouldn't be a part of this community. If I ever see her again I'll have to thank her, this truly is a wonderful space. Thank you. 🌌🌻
I.. held off on reading it for a few years, because it would hurt too much (my father was diagnosed with cancer in 2014, he died last May) Then ended up reading it on public transport around the time the film was released and cried my eyes out at both, but it was a healing experience, so thank you for that, John and everyone involved with all this
I am so glad you were able to have such a healing experience with TFIOS. In nerdfighteria, when some one passes away, we have a saying for them: Rest in Awesome. May your father Rest in Awesome. and thank you for being here to share this moment with us. DFTBA!
I remember underlining about 75% of the book when I first read TIFIOS as a middle schooler. I must have reread it 5 times. It provided me with so much to cling to and consider during a time of my own physical and mental illness. I felt that my support system was often telling me that my sickness was happening to me for spiritual betterment. In hindsight, I can understand why my loved ones needed to make meaning out of my experience to cope. But it made me feel conflicted nonetheless. All these years later, my relationship to illness and suffering is still growing and changing throughout every chapter of my life. But the idea that illness isn’t morally good or bad, it just *is,* revolutionized my worldview for the better, and still shapes it today. Plus, it lead me to nerdfighteria, which I genuinely can’t imagine my life without. Thank you, John.
I have a TFIOS experience similar to many that others are sharing here. As a disabled teenager I was blown away by TFIOS because it felt like maybe I was not alone in the dislocation and otherness and like deep deep uncertainty that came with being a young person who was very very unwell. Hazel made me feel understood - and your conversations in TFIOS and Turtles all the way down (and your many conversations about illness here) have simultaneously validated and expanded my understanding of what it means to be a sick person in a healthy world. Thank you John your books mean a lot to me. I really wouldn't be the same without them.
Do you still have the book with all the nerdfighter signatures from all over the world? I remember being part of the group that put it together way back then!
It’s almost 10 years since I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes- the fault in our stars meant so much to me as a newly diagnosed pre teen and teen and it still holds such a special place in my heart. Thank you for putting that story into the world
Yesterday also would have been my mother in law's 65th birthday. She's been gone since June of 2008 and died of lung cancer. A lot of the things you're talking about in this video really hit home. I saw my wife and a lot of her family try to make sense of everything. They talked about my mother in law's "struggle" and "fight" and even went through the "well, she did smoke a lot" dialogue. It was surreal and exhausting and just added another layer to the grief of watching someone you love waste away. "The Fault in Our Stars" really hit home when I read it years ago. I think it helped me and I know I appreciated it's perspective and message. My wife, however, found it a little TOO close to home and personal and just couldn't enjoy the book even through she said it was well written. I think it was too "real" for her given the subject matter. I don't know if this comment has a purpose other than to say that I appreciate all you do, John. I appreciate your books, you viewpoints, your stories, and your time. Thank you for all you do. I can't speak for anyone else, but the work that you do has great value.
that means I've been vibing with nerdfighteria for 10 years???? I was a whole child when I first got here???? the passage of time continues to terrify me. also thanks for the insight you've given me about illness. it has helped me come to terms with my own illnesses, both physical and mental c:
I was going to say that you eventually get used to the passage of time, but I think actually what happens is that you gradually notice it less. But when you do notice it, so much time has passed since the last time you noticed that it still hits you pretty significantly. That said, in the words of the Steve Miller Band (as I date myself) There's a solution: Time keeps on slippin' into the future, so Fly like an eagle 'til you're free.
Wow. I remember watching John stream himself J-squiggling thousands of pages for months on end. At one point he read Prufrock for us, I think from a preview of the book, and I was so excited that Hazel and I had the same favorite poem. I finished it in a few days and had to leave my senior year chemistry class to cry in the bathroom. Saw you both on tour for the first time a few days later. Hard to believe I've lived a decade of my life since then, but I'm grateful for the joy and comfort ya'll have given me in that time, particularly during my extremely vulnerable teenage years. DFTBA
I read Prufrock at university and felt it was familiar but could not for the life of me remember that I had read it in TFIOS two years prior. Thanks for finally solving that mystery for me :D
What did John have to say about Prufrock? I've only read the Anthropocene Reviewed, but studied Eliot this year and the nihilism/ hopelessness of his poetry really impacted me, especially as I'd lost someone around that time. Would love to hear John's take :). In fact, Anthropocene rev'd was somewhat of an antidote to Eliot...
10 years? Wow. When I received my copy on publication day I promptly read it cover to cover 3 times. It made me feel a way that I can't really explain, and because of that I haven't read it since. But I have bought several copies as gifts, and have been known to move it to "recommended" sections of book shops (if it wasn't already there!) Because I believe everyone should read TFIOS at least once, to feel that certain kinda way, that we can't really explain.
You are so right - I was 45 reading this book and I had and have never been moved in quite that way.... it's a good feeling, it's a hard feeling, it's a very strong feeling..... and I'm so glad I had it !
I so vividly remember getting on a Skype call with my friends in high school to open our copies and see what color sharpie signatures we got! So glad I came across this community so long ago.
The Fault in our Stars was the first book that I fully read and finished in years. In all my High School and later College classes, I never enjoyed reading the required material. Especially in English class, even if I found the story interesting, simply being REQUIRED to read completely ruined the experience. And most of the time I only skimmed. The classes practically killed all enjoyment of reading for me, and so I used video games and TH-cam as my main source of entertainment. But just recently I took an overseas trip and knew I wouldn't be able to use electronics on the flight. So I chose to borrow and read this book, and in only 3 of the 5 hours on the plane, I finished 3/4th's. Reading this story had reignited my interest in literature, and now im constantly looking for new novels to read in my spare time. Thank you, John
I wanted to write about how special this story to me, but I'm so bad at translating my thoughts and feeling into words, so I'll just say that I'm really grateful to you for this story. as well as every other story you've written. thank you for giving this stories to the world.
“You’re so brave” people tell this to my daughter all the time. “I couldn’t give myself a shot.” Thing is, they would find a way because they would literally die without it. Drives me bonkers too. Also, I like how your shirt is the same color, or close to the same color as TIFOS.
That is really obnoxious. I've certainly had really awful events or pains in my life that I thought I couldn't do, but I didn't have much choice so I did them and made it through. Humans can do hard things when the alternative is death. But a shot? I get shots all the time. When you have a chronic condition that requires shots, the needle is the least of your irritations.
The fault in our stars is my comfort book. There are a lot of little things , very small sentences ,lost in the sea of words in several pages of that book that speak to me . I love rereading it and finding new things every time . Words cannot describe what an amazing experience this book has given me. I'm very grateful that you wrote it ❤️
TEN YEARS AGO ARE YOU KIDDING ME I remember feeling like I was a long-time vlogbrothers subscriber THEN and how happy I was to see you reach a larger audience through tfios, and now to think that it's been another 10 years and I'm still here and you're still here ... I'm getting teary
I first read TFIOS in one of my many hospitalization adventures. It might seem like a very depressing scenario to be reading such a book in, but I am in fact thankful for the fortunate timing. It changed the way I viewed my own illness and helped me learn to see it not as something that defines me, but as just another card dealt to me by the metaphorical dealer working for the insane casino we call life. Thank you for the lessons you tought me in TFIOS and in your other books and videos. P.S. My mind struggles with thinking about how long 10 years are. I feel old.
I can’t even begin to express how much this book has meant to me. It introduced me to YA novels as a whole, and to your books specifically. It made me curious enough about you to find this channel, to find Hank, to find crash course, to find Esther Day and by extension Geekycon. At Geekycon I met my best friend and discovered how much I love her hometown, and plan to move there in the next couple of years! It has quite literally changed my life, and influenced me for the better. Thank you, John, for being a quiet nudge pointing me towards a future I didn’t even know I was looking for.
I was diagnosed with brain cancer when I was 16 (I'm 33 now but they didn't expect me to survive more than 5 years). I remember listening to you reading the first chapter of this book (pre-publishing) and I couldn't stop bawling. This was the first book that actually UNDERSTOOD what it was like. Every last bit of it was incredibly bang on (especially the feeling of being a ticking time bomb for your parents 😭). I cannot thank you enough for this beautiful book which made me feel like I wasn't alone and made others aware of how this feels! THANK YOU!!!! ❤
TFIOS brought me a lot of comfort as a teen when I was diagnosed with a progressive/incurable disease. As a homebound high schooler, it was a balm for all the pain caused by the religious model of disability and feeling “other” in my local community. Reading about young characters who didn’t need to be perfectly angelic to make meaningful lives amidst serious illness felt like a relief, like someone out there understood and I could exhale. Thank you.
I distinctly remember reading TFIOS at midnight on my laptop, because I was too impatient to wait for my preorder to come in the mail. As a chronically ill teen (and now adult), I saw so much of myself in these characters. Illness is isolating and it made me feel like I'm not alone. I'm forever thankful for this book.
What a plot twist I've known about your channel for years but I never knew it was you that wrote the Fault in our Stars which is INSANE, truly God given talent.
The fault in our stars was one of the books that made me fall in love with reading. I already loved reading fantasy and science fiction when I read it, but The fault in our stars opened my eyes for a new genre of books. I am forever thankful for that. Reading The fault in our stars gave me a new perspective on what it was to be ill and what grief and sorrow was. At the time when I read the book the first time I had only lost older relatives who passed of old age and I could not imagine losing friends that were young or my age, but it gave me a better understanding of it. I think the book helped me when I lost several family friends to cancer and even when I lost one of my best childhood friends to suicide and depression. Being able to relate to Hazel and Isaac and the pain they felt when they lost Augustus made me feel less alone at the darkest moments in my own grief. Especially the quote "Pain demands to be felt" from the Fault in our stars really spoke to me during the most difficult times in my life, as one of the teachers my childhood friend and I had during the time I read the book also used to say "Det ska göra ont" ("It is supposed to hurt" in Swedish). Thank you for writing this incredible book and congratulations to ten years. And I also hope you get well soon from that flu.
I met one of my best friends at the tour stop in Redwood City, CA! We met there and stayed close ever since then, even as we both moved (independently) to SoCal.
This is kinda on theme- its so wild to hear you break down these massively successful and really powerful books as "i wanted to write about this, and it took me a couple tries," it makes it seem achievable. Legit inspirational
10 years ago, I loved this book because of the teen romance as a 15-year-old teen. Today I love it as a 25-year-old chronic lupus patient. The relevancy and representation matters 10 years ago and today.
This book really did change my life. Like I wouldn’t have done any of the fun things I’ve done, met the cool people I have, found my career path, kept pushing through hard times. And I for sure wouldn’t have started so many random projects that showed me so many amazing people. It really did make me a better person and still does 10 years later.
TFIOS was so, so important to me when it came out ten years ago. My Grandma who was like a mother to me had recently died from lung cancer, and I was fifteen and trying to process the biggest grief I had ever experienced. I felt like TFIOS understood grief and that struggle and held my hand through it. I re-read it over and over that year. My copy of the book is bent and cracked and annotated, and it is extremely precious to me. Thanks for writing a book that 15-year old me need very very badly!
Last semester I got knocked down an entire letter grade for citing TFIOS in a cultural impact paper (in University!). We weren’t supposed to use outside sources but - the paper would not have been the same without it and I would do it again. Yes, I’m an “older” Nerdfighter who went back for a BS during lockdown…no regrets! Love TFIOS!
I protested greatly but professor “had her reasons”. It was terrible only using the text to cite. Blah. Still ended with an A…but…blah! I’d do it again!
I still have your signed poster hanging on my wall from years ago, for I believe what was the TFiOS merch when the movie came out, but ultimately I loved the movie because I lovedddd your book…. Words can’t express the gratitude I have for reading that book in my adolescence and changing my perspective forever on acceptance and heartache, as my 13 year-old self had yet to experience what it was like to be loved so deeply by someone. Thank you John
TFIOS changed the way people see people suffering from illness by changing the lens from pity and sympathy to love and empathy. Thank you so much for a book which a reader will never forget and making Hazel and Augustus immortal in our hearts. Also All the Best for your upcoming project. Can't wait to read it...
Oh, John, it's hard to comprehend that it has been 10 years! I was just 14 then. I watched as you live streamed signing your copies, I was so hyped and your book did not dissapoint. It was the first book I ever cried reading. Knowing that Esther would have been so, so proud. Your books and the Vlogbrothers videos continue to shape me into a better human being today. I got very sick at 17 and while I am now better, TFIOS really captured a lot of the feelings I never knew I would have when I first read the book.- Sarah 💕
Wow. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years! My mom drove me and my friend all the way to atlanta to see you and it was one of the most fun nights. I was supposed to tell you that my English teachers son worked for you and that I started a nerdfighters club in high school, but I was too nervous and ended up saying nothing…. Lol Thank you for all the memories ❤️
I still don't have any firsthand experience with close loved ones and cancer or terminal illness but what I've always adored about The Fault in Our Stars is the philosophiizing about what makes life worth living and meaning making and facing the truths of mortality and also the honesty with which grief is discussed. I related to the grief stuff completely and it just hits to the core in a way so many writers don't quite. The idea that pain demands to be felt and it was a privilege to get to know a person while they were here makes me feel deeply. I'm a funeral celebrant & memorial slideshow editor by career now and i feel it is a privilege to get to know people's life stories even after they are gone, truly. There is something powerful in that and very meaningful in helping people with a piece of their grieving process and helping make sure these life stories are honored and shared. The Fault In Our Stars was so well crafted and I'm so glad it was as successful as it deserved to be. No healthy kids in the book was a perfect choice, truly.
i'm writing my dissertation about TFIOS right now and a lot of what you said about Susan Sontag i included in my paper :) this was really insightful, thank you John🤓
This video hits so hard as a chronically ill person, and I remember reading TFIOS when I was in high school and it hit then too. All these themes really struck me and the experience of seeing chronically ill people confronting these issues without the infantilization that often comes along with it. I totally agree with like, all the points you made in this video. Thank you so much
This is a perfect vlogbrothers video, a perfect explanation of your worldview as a writer, and a perfect argument for thinking about books (and people) complexly
I can’t believe it’s been 10 years ago now? I was gifted it the same year for my birthday, and it became a long time favourite. I’m so grateful to have read it!
I only just finished reading the fault in our stars for the first time this morning. And wow, is it most definitely a fatal fault in being one of the most heart-wrenching, sob-inducing stories I have ever read. The way it artfully crafts a beautiful love story, the poetic feel of the blossoming affection of one Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters, is mind blowing to me. It feels like a dream; I must be dreaming, still. I truly, truly, hate this book so much that I want to throw it against a wall or something. God. Well done, John Green. Well done. Time to read all of your other books and cry some more.
Thank you for creating this community and sharing your thoughts. Also for sci-show, crashcourse and all the stuff you've helped create through complexly. I have learned so much through your work, I can't even begin to recount it but what I appreciate the most is how that learning has made me a better person. So again, thank you. One of the things I look forwards to most in hopefully soon getting out of chronic poverty is being able to give back to this community.
It doesn't feel like ten years but I'm grateful that this story has lived with me for so long. A lot of your writing has encouraged me to examine my perspective inwardly, especially TFIOS, but it's taken time for me to really have the courage to turn that outward - what's the point if you don't share it? That's how meaningful connection is made. For me, understanding other people is how I make sense of things, and I'm not sure how much of that is what I found here, in this corner of the internet, and how much is just me. Regardless, as I get older, I get more out of reading your work. It's a gift, really. I remember reading TFIOS for the first time and thinking sixteen is no age to die. I lost a wonderful friend to cancer just before Christmas. She was thirty years old but I still feel the same - it's no age to go. Thanks again for your book, I'm sure I'll take something new this time re-reading.
Tfios is the book that I could honestly say had changed my life, atleast my teenage years, positively.. It was got me on the reading road which I don't know what I'd do without now , so it will always continue to be one of the most significant things in my life and would forever remain very close to my heart!! Thank you John!
I remember reading TFIOS in college, sitting in the UNC cemetery, reading about death while surrounded by people who died many years before. It was a powerful feeling, and to someone who had started contemplating their own death at a very young age, surprisingly freeing.
10 years Wow! TFIOS means a lot to me because it was around the publication that I felt really part of Nerdfighteria. The anticipation of it coming out and watching you sign all the books and sharing it with nerd fighters in the comments. The book was so special as was the movie (the only film I went to see by myself and had a fantastic time!) and then when you and Hank came to Glasgow and we all sang 500 Miles. So thanks John(and Gus and Hazel).
I was just talking to my partner about how much TFIOS was one of those books I read at exactly the right time in my life. When it came out, I was a 16 year old who was struggling for the first time about what it meant to be human, what it meant to love someone romantically, and what it meant to lose that love. And cancer has always been something I’ve struggled to grapple with, as someone who lost a father to cancer at a very young age. TFIOS seemed to speak to all those things I was struggling with in a way I could relate to as a precocious (and often pretentious), enthusiastic teen. It probably wouldn’t have spoken to me as well if it had come out earlier, or if I had read it later as an adult. But ten years ago, TFIOS was exactly what I needed and it changed my life. So thank you for writing it, John. I cannot fathom how I would have navigated 2012 without it.
Correct. Sneezing is a character flaw. Everyone knows this. But illness is just illness. Unless the illness involves sneezing. Then it's a character flaw. -John
So it’s officially been 10 years since I took my copy of TFIOS to Panera Bread in FL while I only had a few chapters left, and then I finished it there, pausing every so often around the last pages to try and control my breathing so I didn’t cry in public, alone in a Panera Bread, over my empty cup of broccoli cheese soup. 10 years from now I’ll be remembering that I started TAR while hungover at Pick-me-up cafe in Chicago and drank 7 glasses of water while eating French toast.
I caught on to the TFIOS trend probbaly a year after it came out and I'm glad I did. It brought me to this place and I'm so grateful for that. To find people who are similar to you is a great feeling and I'll always remember that this book brought me here 😊 also this makes me feel old too 😆
I read TFIOS only after i started watching vlogbrothers, because "love stories are dumb!". I'm so glad i got over that mental block, and i loved it! Thanks for everything ♡
Still want to read that ending where Hazel and Peter Van Houten go out in a blaze of machine gun glory… Jokes aside, TFIOS got me back into reading. Into imagining again. Into being again. So thank you so much John. \
Hi John-- Thank you so much for all of the writing you've done about illness. My younger brother had (has) a very serious illness around when TFIOS was published, and I was at a developmental stage in my life (high school) where I was trying for the first time to make sense of his suffering and what my role was in trying to support him. The empathy and complexity with which you describe illness in your writing, videos, and podcast have brought a lot of comfort to my family over the years. I've shared your work with friends when trying to communicate how illness impacts my life and how I think about it. Especially because I starting following your work when I was very young, I cannot even begin to understand the impact that it has had on the way I think.
Okay, so... Im really not sure if I'm more stunned by the fact that when this book was published I was 8, and I read it when I was 12, or that I just now realized that John is *the* John Green Im still recovering from the overall shock of this news
The Fault in Our Stars is the main reason I remember finding this channel, thank you for not only 10 TFiOS, but 10 years of amazing years on this channel 🖤
I remember it coming to me in the mail, and reading it when my mother was pretty ill with cancer herself. Then in February, I sat in her hospice room reading an Abundance of Katherines the last time I saw her. So much of me is still trapped inside those hospital rooms. Your books did provide some comfort in a very troubling time.
It's unbelievable that it's been a decade now since TFIOS. I remember it being my first book without a happy ending and at that point i was very disappointed but over the years reading more of your books have made me fall in love with the concept of works of fiction blending in reality without losing much of its romantic element. Congrats on this journey John! 💗
Yet another video that got me to say, out loud, "he gets it." (the moment I said it was at 3:08 when you said how you hate the convention where sick people get sick so healthy people can learn lessons, and instead you wrote a book with no healthy kids in it. My system did the same thing with our most recent novel attempt, though it was not about physical sickness but instead a mesh of trauma and mental illness and bigotry and living in a world that prioritizes your abusers over you and your loved ones)
Please let me read your latest novel attempt! If you feel comfortable sharing it of course. That theme is very close to home for me, as someone who has lived through abuse and seen the many ways people add to the trauma by siding with abusers and even mimicking some of the things they say.
your books are responsible for getting me into reading when i was middle school, and i've loved literature ever since. i recently got accepted to college as an english major and i feel beyond grateful that you've created something that helped bring so much joy into my life. thank you forever and ever
Wow! 10 years! The Fault in Our Stars will in my life always be the book that made me SOB and cry my eyes out at the silly age of 12. I can still remember the look on my mothers face when I came in the living room sobbing and yelling "HE DIED". Thank you so much John.
First! Edit: also, congratulations! I remember I was one of the first people to read TFiOS because of that infamous shipping error and I spent 2 weeks having to not tell anyone how it ended 😭
I will always love TFIOS. My best friend died of cancer at the age of 20, in 2011. TFIOS helped so much. It helped me remember her and mourn her (cuz grief is never ending). It was a book (and eventually movie) I got to share with my dad. To this day I think it's the only book recommendation I've given him that he's actually read and I'm not mad at it. But my favorite part was when I read the about the author and looked up this TH-cam channel. And I realized my friend had been a fan of yours and Hank's. She had sent me some of your videos. It felt like the most wonderful coincidence to find this community through her after she was gone. Nerdfighteria helped me make friends again. I will always The Fault in Our Stars. You taught me not to believe a person is more than just a person.. but this book will always be so much more than just a book to me. I love you guys. Thank you for everything 💕
Hello Mr Jonh Green!!! I'm Ankita, a 15 years old girl. I first Paper Towns book last year, and TFIOS and recently I completed Looking for Alaska. Seriously when I first read Paper town, it became my most favourite book! Margo's character as a teen, so reliable. I read the book more than three times. You are my favourite author! And Paper towns, TFIOS and Looking for Alaska are my favourite books! Thank you so much for writing these incredible books! Lots of loves from India ✨:-)
TFIOS means so much to me, as it came out shortly after my beloved older cousin passed away from cancer at 19. She was 16 when she was diagnosed, and she had cancer that was 95% curable, so Hazel and Augustus really resonated with me as I processed my grief. I read that book cover to cover in one day, sobbing at 2 in the morning. Every time I re-read it, I connected with something new; how surreal it feels to be older than someone ever got to be, especially if they were older than you in life. How cancer fundamentally shapes not only the patient but the people around them. How it feels when the version of the person you're grieving is different from the version someone else is grieving. How a short life can still be a full life. This book came into existence at the exact time I needed it as a young person. Thank you.
I remember being 13years old whey my mom got diagnosed with cancer. TFIOS way my way of wrapping my head around everything out in those trying times. it’s been two years since she passed away, and every time I reread that book, I remember her. It means so much for a lot of people. Not just for me, my mom loved it as well.💕
TFiOS was one of the first books I read about "sick kids" that didn't make them a prop for others' development and as a former "sick kid" that meant a lot to me.
Thanks for sharing that perspective. It means a lot to me. -John
Seconded! As a now 30-something former “sick kid”, I wish I’d had something like TFIOS to see myself in. I sincerely appreciate it.
Same here! I usually try to avoid books or movies about Cancer, because the memories from my childhood can be painful, but I’m glad I read TFiOS as an adult.
Amen! As a disabled adult who was an undiagnosed "sick kid", it drives me NUTS how much of our "representation" is just misery p*rn for healthy people.
I can't believe that was 10 years ago! I remember getting unofficial permission from my rabbi to skip teen youth group to see you and Hank on the TFIOS tour (she was a big fan of the novel, by the way). Since then I've become permanently disabled and the meaning of this story has fundamentally changed for me. Both versions of TFIOS in my life have meant so much to me. Thank you, John.
Thank you for those kind words, and for keeping that story in your heart. -John
skipping teen youth group to go see an author on a book tour, with the permission of a supportive adult who likes books, is peak John Green protagonist energy tbh (also, this makes me realize that my rabbi has probably never read a John Green book, but she cries really easily, so it could be very fun to give her one)
@@yaelmorin9017 it's also VERY jewish
@@alanaofsuburbia2506 oh yeah 100%, not going to stuff at shul is basically a mitzvah
@@yaelmorin9017 I'm now curious which of my rabbis from yeshivah might have read John's books, and compiling a mental list of which would definitely enjoy them if they haven't read...
it never fails to amaze me how inapplicable the whole “don’t read youtube comments” thing is for this community. scrolling through the comments here is making me feel so warm and i love love love hearing everybody’s experiences with this book and how it shaped us. we all have a communal third thing!
same! I love our comments section.
It's a lovely thing for sure!!
Yes, I love it so much! And it's not even "the comments will be neutral and will not harm you to read" like in some sections, but I actually get a lot of insight and connection here. Love this community
@@dragonflies6793 yes exactly! Like I activity choose to scroll down and see people's reactions to the video because I know there will be interesting and thoughtful ones :D
i love the reference!
the first 3 books really hit hard for me as that young dude who often misimagined girls I liked as something more than just a girl. by the time TFIOS came out I didnt necessarily personally relate to it as much but I still thoroughly enjoyed it as a fan of John's amazingly thoughtful way with words, but I've since lost close family to cancer which kind of recontextualized some of the ideas I read 10 years ago.
Oh hey I love your videos!
I worked in pain management as an MA for a long time and constantly encouraged patients to save their 9’s and 10’s when rating pain. I wanted to talk about TFIOS all the time.
I think about it a lot too (perhaps because I watch all the Vlogbrothers videos as they come out); the highest praise I can give it is that it made me cry in a parking lot. I simply had to finish the book, and it touched me deeply.
When I was a teenaged girl, I think I misimagined myself a lot. So many books and films that portrayed complicated women and girls who strayed from the norm used them as a mysterious and romantic plot-element rather than a character study. It seemed as though the only way, I could get to be complicated or difficult or sad was if I was a beautiful mystery for a boy to try and solve. I was fundamentally shocked to my core by Papertowns. I hadn't really gotten the message with Looking for Alaska (I was too upset about her death to understand anything), but it hit me like a ton of bricks with Papertowns. A wonderful book that sincerely changed my life - in some ways saved it.
I am now 23 years cancer free, and The Fault in Our Stars was the first book I read about sick kids that didn't make me feel bad about being sad. Thank you for bringing that story into the world.
the line that says that depression is a side effect of dying and made it so *acceptable* to me, too
I read TFIOS a couple of years after I started working with pediatric oncology and it has helped a lot understanding the teenagers better. I feel like it changed the way I communicate and treat them. The book was recommended by a teenager in cancer treatment at the time btw, soon after it came out in Brazil. So THANK YOU JOHN!! It’s a very special book.
💚💛 -John
@@vlogbrothers Brazil colors, nice touch
Thank you for the work you do, Karina. Much respect from another brasileira 🌟
Sitting here at almost two years in remission from leukemia, distracting myself from tomorrow's routine blood test. Thank you for TFIOS, John. I'll probably never be able to reread it now that it is so personal, but the themes of illness and where to put the blame and making meaning out of randomness will stick with me.
In the same situation, except I'm nearly 3 years in remission from ovarian cancer and my blood test is next month. I wish you peace and for your body to continue working correctly
Wishing you well on your remission and recovery friend 🤍 take care
Wishing you and Hannah Ward lots of positive energy and health. Stay well 🌟
Hope you got good news
It was only after I read The Fault in Our Stars that I discovered Vlogbrothers. So thank you John, for not just a story that I live everyday of my life with, but for introducing me to a community unlike any other! Congratulations on 10 years of TFIOS!
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I was about to comment the exact same thing
this is unreal! only today morning was i telling a friend about vlogbrothers, their work, impact, personal story and branding, and how (re)reading TFIOS introduced me to this world and it’s wholesome organic community made with people from all age groups, all walks of life. i’m not as involved as others here, but even as a homebody all this offers much comfort and belonging that i would wouldn’t get or learn somewhere else.
Congrats John! (✿◠‿◠)
Thank you for your books, John. TFIOS was the first novel this dyslexic gal was able to read cover to cover, ever. It's still difficult for me to read, but I'm not afraid to pick up books anymore because I *know* I can do it.
That's great to hear. We have a lot of dyslexia in our family, and I've seen up close how difficult it can make reading, and I'm really glad you don't fear books anymore!! -John
This was my sisters first fully read book too, she’s dyslexic and mistakenly read it on a 9 hour flight 😂
I remember sneaking around to read TFIOS at because my parents thought it was too inappropriate due to one scene… but I was twelve, so as any sane stubborn teenager would do I snuck the copy they hid at the top of my fridge and read it until 2am anyway. And I’m glad I did, because TFIOS, like all books, have a way of touching and understanding that humanity is a beautiful mess, which was important especially in middle school at the time. Thanks, John
I will never forget the line "I was saving my ten". That helped me recontextualise pain and is still to this day one of the most useful sentences I have ever read.
It’s a line that has so much power despite being a simple line and it’s beautiful
So memorable and powerful indeed.
I read your first three books (and got into Nerdfighteria) when I was a teenager, and the whole "imagine others complexly" thing truly changed... my entire development? So thank you for that
Same thing for me. It felt like a fog lifted, and I was able to actually see others as they were, for the first time
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I really relate to this - I joined Nerdfighteria when I was 13 and I've been here ever since (I'm 22 now). It's definitely shaped how I look at the world and the people who inhabit it
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Today as a young adult I frequently have friends and even casual acquaintances tease me about my constantly pointing out nuance/ complexity/ context when they’re trying to be annoyed at some person/Group. I can almost hear Hank and John saying “the truth resists simplicity” in my head, like, daily. They really informed who I am as a person too!
so grateful for the fault in our stars for making me fall in love with reading at the age of twelve. now i am eighteen and read around 50 books each year and i cannot imagine my life in the pandemic without books. thank you john
I found so much comfort in Hazels character. I remember reading the book in my freshman year of high-school after a friend told me the characters reminded them of me. What I did not expect when I read the book was to see so much of my sister in Hazel.
My older sister died in 2008 at the age of 12 years old from a brain tumor. I remember the day she came home from the hospital after her 3rd and final brain surgery like it was yesterday. My parents sat me and my brother down and told us she was going to die. In what should have been a disheartening moment I remember thinking, 'why be sad when that is the last thing my sister would want'. Until the final days before her death (when she spent most of her time sleeping) my sister never stopped smiling, making jokes, and trying to make everyone happy. She was sarcastic, smart, inquisitive, and genuine. Even while her vision began to fail and she lost control of the left side of her body she made us happy. She made us smile.
Hazel's ability to love, to see the world as magical, and to make others feel as though they could do the impossible reminded me that life is too short to not be happy. Hazel reminded me that even when a loved one dies, life goes on.
Thank you John for writing one of the most influential books of my life. I do not have enough words to describe how amazing you have made me feel.
The fault in our stars really resonated with, in a way no other book did, since I also have a chronic physical illness, and the ways you described illness, and peoples experiences with it, were similar to mine . As cliche as it may sound, the fault in our stars became my imperial affliction, predicting my life events before they happen.
Every once in a while, I remember that I spent my Make-a-Wish with you at the TFIOS premiere, and the memory makes me so happy. (Every once in a while, I comment about it on TH-cam so I’m not alone in my celebration of my past.) Thank you for writing a book that opens up an important perspective to so many. Having read TFIOS before, during, and after I had childhood cancer allowed me to transition from one to another with more grace and understanding of myself and others than I frankly deserved to possess. ❤️
Glad you're doing well!
lol that feels a bit ironic. make-a-wish to watch tfios
@@whatwhatwhatwhut it isn't just watching the movie but watching the movie with John Green 💚
The book that shaped my teenage years, I remember reading it when I was 11, hiding from my mom. So glad I did that. The story has enriched me and helped me understand myself beyond what I can express.
HELP!!! Everybody at my school cyberbullies me because they say me good good GOOD videos are extremely BAD!!! Please help me, dear ani
"As far as I know, when the patient dies, the cancer dies with them. That's not a loss. That's a draw."
-Norm Macdonald
It's funny, my best friend at the time draged me to the movie for her birthday and I remember being all, 'why is everyone so obsessed with this' before I headed in ... And then I cried like 90% of anyone who's seen the movie, and then I read the book and then the other books, and then somehow stumbled over to this corner of TH-cam. It's wild to me that if I had never watched that movie I wouldn't be a part of this community. If I ever see her again I'll have to thank her, this truly is a wonderful space. Thank you. 🌌🌻
Really glad you saw the movie and ended up here! :) -John
I.. held off on reading it for a few years, because it would hurt too much (my father was diagnosed with cancer in 2014, he died last May) Then ended up reading it on public transport around the time the film was released and cried my eyes out at both, but it was a healing experience, so thank you for that, John and everyone involved with all this
I am so glad you were able to have such a healing experience with TFIOS.
In nerdfighteria, when some one passes away, we have a saying for them: Rest in Awesome.
May your father Rest in Awesome.
and thank you for being here to share this moment with us. DFTBA!
@@untappedinkwell thank you so much for your support and your awesomeness! ❤
@@An19941 Anytime! Best wishes!
Crying on public transport because of a book - I can connect to that. It can be a very cathartic experience. I wish you all the best!
@@fengjiang4920 thank you so much :) it is!
I remember underlining about 75% of the book when I first read TIFIOS as a middle schooler. I must have reread it 5 times. It provided me with so much to cling to and consider during a time of my own physical and mental illness.
I felt that my support system was often telling me that my sickness was happening to me for spiritual betterment. In hindsight, I can understand why my loved ones needed to make meaning out of my experience to cope. But it made me feel conflicted nonetheless.
All these years later, my relationship to illness and suffering is still growing and changing throughout every chapter of my life. But the idea that illness isn’t morally good or bad, it just *is,* revolutionized my worldview for the better, and still shapes it today. Plus, it lead me to nerdfighteria, which I genuinely can’t imagine my life without. Thank you, John.
YES! THIS IS IT!! I was looking for this comment... Being against illness as a metaphor. It’s something that stays with me in my time of need.
One of the few books I think about on a regular basis. Crazy that it’s been 10 years!
I have a TFIOS experience similar to many that others are sharing here. As a disabled teenager I was blown away by TFIOS because it felt like maybe I was not alone in the dislocation and otherness and like deep deep uncertainty that came with being a young person who was very very unwell. Hazel made me feel understood - and your conversations in TFIOS and Turtles all the way down (and your many conversations about illness here) have simultaneously validated and expanded my understanding of what it means to be a sick person in a healthy world. Thank you John your books mean a lot to me. I really wouldn't be the same without them.
Read it last year, and you truly have a gift for words John. Beautifully written.
Do you still have the book with all the nerdfighter signatures from all over the world? I remember being part of the group that put it together way back then!
Yes, I was just looking at it yesterday! -John
👀
@@vlogbrothers 😍
This book changed me. No joke. Thank you again John for giving us Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters.
Well if you think about it, he gave us Hazel Grace, but took away Augustus Waters…
It’s almost 10 years since I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes- the fault in our stars meant so much to me as a newly diagnosed pre teen and teen and it still holds such a special place in my heart. Thank you for putting that story into the world
Yesterday also would have been my mother in law's 65th birthday. She's been gone since June of 2008 and died of lung cancer. A lot of the things you're talking about in this video really hit home. I saw my wife and a lot of her family try to make sense of everything. They talked about my mother in law's "struggle" and "fight" and even went through the "well, she did smoke a lot" dialogue. It was surreal and exhausting and just added another layer to the grief of watching someone you love waste away.
"The Fault in Our Stars" really hit home when I read it years ago. I think it helped me and I know I appreciated it's perspective and message. My wife, however, found it a little TOO close to home and personal and just couldn't enjoy the book even through she said it was well written. I think it was too "real" for her given the subject matter.
I don't know if this comment has a purpose other than to say that I appreciate all you do, John. I appreciate your books, you viewpoints, your stories, and your time. Thank you for all you do. I can't speak for anyone else, but the work that you do has great value.
Thank you sharing your experience. Sending you and your family love.
that means I've been vibing with nerdfighteria for 10 years???? I was a whole child when I first got here???? the passage of time continues to terrify me.
also thanks for the insight you've given me about illness. it has helped me come to terms with my own illnesses, both physical and mental c:
I was going to say that you eventually get used to the passage of time, but I think actually what happens is that you gradually notice it less. But when you do notice it, so much time has passed since the last time you noticed that it still hits you pretty significantly. That said, in the words of the Steve Miller Band (as I date myself) There's a solution: Time keeps on slippin' into the future, so Fly like an eagle 'til you're free.
Wow. I remember watching John stream himself J-squiggling thousands of pages for months on end. At one point he read Prufrock for us, I think from a preview of the book, and I was so excited that Hazel and I had the same favorite poem. I finished it in a few days and had to leave my senior year chemistry class to cry in the bathroom. Saw you both on tour for the first time a few days later. Hard to believe I've lived a decade of my life since then, but I'm grateful for the joy and comfort ya'll have given me in that time, particularly during my extremely vulnerable teenage years. DFTBA
For a long time Prufrock was my favourite poem as well 🥰 Though, I've read so many at this stage I don't think I could pick just one 😅
I read Prufrock at university and felt it was familiar but could not for the life of me remember that I had read it in TFIOS two years prior. Thanks for finally solving that mystery for me :D
What did John have to say about Prufrock? I've only read the Anthropocene Reviewed, but studied Eliot this year and the nihilism/ hopelessness of his poetry really impacted me, especially as I'd lost someone around that time. Would love to hear John's take :). In fact, Anthropocene rev'd was somewhat of an antidote to Eliot...
10 years oh my god!!! Tfios is the book that got me into reading like 6 years ago and I'm grateful.
10 years? Wow. When I received my copy on publication day I promptly read it cover to cover 3 times. It made me feel a way that I can't really explain, and because of that I haven't read it since. But I have bought several copies as gifts, and have been known to move it to "recommended" sections of book shops (if it wasn't already there!) Because I believe everyone should read TFIOS at least once, to feel that certain kinda way, that we can't really explain.
You are so right - I was 45 reading this book and I had and have never been moved in quite that way.... it's a good feeling, it's a hard feeling, it's a very strong feeling..... and I'm so glad I had it !
I so vividly remember getting on a Skype call with my friends in high school to open our copies and see what color sharpie signatures we got! So glad I came across this community so long ago.
The Fault in our Stars was the first book that I fully read and finished in years. In all my High School and later College classes, I never enjoyed reading the required material. Especially in English class, even if I found the story interesting, simply being REQUIRED to read completely ruined the experience. And most of the time I only skimmed. The classes practically killed all enjoyment of reading for me, and so I used video games and TH-cam as my main source of entertainment.
But just recently I took an overseas trip and knew I wouldn't be able to use electronics on the flight. So I chose to borrow and read this book, and in only 3 of the 5 hours on the plane, I finished 3/4th's.
Reading this story had reignited my interest in literature, and now im constantly looking for new novels to read in my spare time. Thank you, John
I wanted to write about how special this story to me, but I'm so bad at translating my thoughts and feeling into words, so I'll just say that I'm really grateful to you for this story. as well as every other story you've written. thank you for giving this stories to the world.
“You’re so brave” people tell this to my daughter all the time. “I couldn’t give myself a shot.” Thing is, they would find a way because they would literally die without it. Drives me bonkers too.
Also, I like how your shirt is the same color, or close to the same color as TIFOS.
That is really obnoxious. I've certainly had really awful events or pains in my life that I thought I couldn't do, but I didn't have much choice so I did them and made it through. Humans can do hard things when the alternative is death.
But a shot? I get shots all the time. When you have a chronic condition that requires shots, the needle is the least of your irritations.
The fault in our stars is my comfort book. There are a lot of little things , very small sentences ,lost in the sea of words in several pages of that book that speak to me . I love rereading it and finding new things every time . Words cannot describe what an amazing experience this book has given me. I'm very grateful that you wrote it ❤️
TEN YEARS AGO ARE YOU KIDDING ME
I remember feeling like I was a long-time vlogbrothers subscriber THEN and how happy I was to see you reach a larger audience through tfios, and now to think that it's been another 10 years and I'm still here and you're still here ... I'm getting teary
what even is time and also so, so glad to have been here for so long. Gosh I love nerdfighteria.
I first read TFIOS in one of my many hospitalization adventures. It might seem like a very depressing scenario to be reading such a book in, but I am in fact thankful for the fortunate timing. It changed the way I viewed my own illness and helped me learn to see it not as something that defines me, but as just another card dealt to me by the metaphorical dealer working for the insane casino we call life. Thank you for the lessons you tought me in TFIOS and in your other books and videos.
P.S.
My mind struggles with thinking about how long 10 years are. I feel old.
I read it again last month and it still made me sad. Really beautifully written. Thank you for this book.
I can’t even begin to express how much this book has meant to me. It introduced me to YA novels as a whole, and to your books specifically. It made me curious enough about you to find this channel, to find Hank, to find crash course, to find Esther Day and by extension Geekycon. At Geekycon I met my best friend and discovered how much I love her hometown, and plan to move there in the next couple of years! It has quite literally changed my life, and influenced me for the better. Thank you, John, for being a quiet nudge pointing me towards a future I didn’t even know I was looking for.
That’s a wonderful story ;-; 💞
So many milestones in the past few weeks!! Congratulations on 10 years of TFiOS John!!
It really is a surreal time on the milestones front. It's made me quite nostalgic! -John
I was diagnosed with brain cancer when I was 16 (I'm 33 now but they didn't expect me to survive more than 5 years). I remember listening to you reading the first chapter of this book (pre-publishing) and I couldn't stop bawling. This was the first book that actually UNDERSTOOD what it was like. Every last bit of it was incredibly bang on (especially the feeling of being a ticking time bomb for your parents 😭). I cannot thank you enough for this beautiful book which made me feel like I wasn't alone and made others aware of how this feels! THANK YOU!!!! ❤
TFIOS brought me a lot of comfort as a teen when I was diagnosed with a progressive/incurable disease. As a homebound high schooler, it was a balm for all the pain caused by the religious model of disability and feeling “other” in my local community. Reading about young characters who didn’t need to be perfectly angelic to make meaningful lives amidst serious illness felt like a relief, like someone out there understood and I could exhale. Thank you.
I distinctly remember reading TFIOS at midnight on my laptop, because I was too impatient to wait for my preorder to come in the mail. As a chronically ill teen (and now adult), I saw so much of myself in these characters. Illness is isolating and it made me feel like I'm not alone. I'm forever thankful for this book.
What a plot twist I've known about your channel for years but I never knew it was you that wrote the Fault in our Stars which is INSANE, truly God given talent.
The fault in our stars was one of the books that made me fall in love with reading. I already loved reading fantasy and science fiction when I read it, but The fault in our stars opened my eyes for a new genre of books. I am forever thankful for that. Reading The fault in our stars gave me a new perspective on what it was to be ill and what grief and sorrow was. At the time when I read the book the first time I had only lost older relatives who passed of old age and I could not imagine losing friends that were young or my age, but it gave me a better understanding of it. I think the book helped me when I lost several family friends to cancer and even when I lost one of my best childhood friends to suicide and depression. Being able to relate to Hazel and Isaac and the pain they felt when they lost Augustus made me feel less alone at the darkest moments in my own grief. Especially the quote "Pain demands to be felt" from the Fault in our stars really spoke to me during the most difficult times in my life, as one of the teachers my childhood friend and I had during the time I read the book also used to say "Det ska göra ont" ("It is supposed to hurt" in Swedish). Thank you for writing this incredible book and congratulations to ten years. And I also hope you get well soon from that flu.
I met one of my best friends at the tour stop in Redwood City, CA! We met there and stayed close ever since then, even as we both moved (independently) to SoCal.
This is kinda on theme- its so wild to hear you break down these massively successful and really powerful books as "i wanted to write about this, and it took me a couple tries," it makes it seem achievable.
Legit inspirational
Yeah, it makes you realize that authors aren't these perfect beings, but just people. Which is exactly in line with the theme.
10 years ago, I loved this book because of the teen romance as a 15-year-old teen. Today I love it as a 25-year-old chronic lupus patient. The relevancy and representation matters 10 years ago and today.
This book really did change my life. Like I wouldn’t have done any of the fun things I’ve done, met the cool people I have, found my career path, kept pushing through hard times. And I for sure wouldn’t have started so many random projects that showed me so many amazing people. It really did make me a better person and still does 10 years later.
TFIOS was so, so important to me when it came out ten years ago. My Grandma who was like a mother to me had recently died from lung cancer, and I was fifteen and trying to process the biggest grief I had ever experienced. I felt like TFIOS understood grief and that struggle and held my hand through it. I re-read it over and over that year. My copy of the book is bent and cracked and annotated, and it is extremely precious to me. Thanks for writing a book that 15-year old me need very very badly!
Being able to get this kind of insight from my favorite author is a privilege I do not take for granted. Thanks always for sharing, John!
TFIOS is my 'An Imperial Affliction', John. I go back to it all the time, thank you!
Last semester I got knocked down an entire letter grade for citing TFIOS in a cultural impact paper (in University!). We weren’t supposed to use outside sources but - the paper would not have been the same without it and I would do it again.
Yes, I’m an “older” Nerdfighter who went back for a BS during lockdown…no regrets! Love TFIOS!
They knocked you down a grade for using a source??? That's crazy
Older Nerdfighters represent!
I protested greatly but professor “had her reasons”. It was terrible only using the text to cite. Blah. Still ended with an A…but…blah!
I’d do it again!
I still have your signed poster hanging on my wall from years ago, for I believe what was the TFiOS merch when the movie came out, but ultimately I loved the movie because I lovedddd your book…. Words can’t express the gratitude I have for reading that book in my adolescence and changing my perspective forever on acceptance and heartache, as my 13 year-old self had yet to experience what it was like to be loved so deeply by someone. Thank you John
TFIOS changed the way people see people suffering from illness by changing the lens from pity and sympathy to love and empathy. Thank you so much for a book which a reader will never forget and making Hazel and Augustus immortal in our hearts.
Also All the Best for your upcoming project. Can't wait to read it...
Oh, John, it's hard to comprehend that it has been 10 years! I was just 14 then. I watched as you live streamed signing your copies, I was so hyped and your book did not dissapoint. It was the first book I ever cried reading. Knowing that Esther would have been so, so proud. Your books and the Vlogbrothers videos continue to shape me into a better human being today. I got very sick at 17 and while I am now better, TFIOS really captured a lot of the feelings I never knew I would have when I first read the book.- Sarah 💕
Wow. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years! My mom drove me and my friend all the way to atlanta to see you and it was one of the most fun nights. I was supposed to tell you that my English teachers son worked for you and that I started a nerdfighters club in high school, but I was too nervous and ended up saying nothing…. Lol Thank you for all the memories ❤️
I still don't have any firsthand experience with close loved ones and cancer or terminal illness but what I've always adored about The Fault in Our Stars is the philosophiizing about what makes life worth living and meaning making and facing the truths of mortality and also the honesty with which grief is discussed. I related to the grief stuff completely and it just hits to the core in a way so many writers don't quite. The idea that pain demands to be felt and it was a privilege to get to know a person while they were here makes me feel deeply. I'm a funeral celebrant & memorial slideshow editor by career now and i feel it is a privilege to get to know people's life stories even after they are gone, truly. There is something powerful in that and very meaningful in helping people with a piece of their grieving process and helping make sure these life stories are honored and shared.
The Fault In Our Stars was so well crafted and I'm so glad it was as successful as it deserved to be. No healthy kids in the book was a perfect choice, truly.
i'm writing my dissertation about TFIOS right now and a lot of what you said about Susan Sontag i included in my paper :) this was really insightful, thank you John🤓
Who asked🤠
@@ewigerschuler3982 hä junge ich hab gesagt, dass sein video sehr hilfreich für mich war. kannst du kein englisch?😂
I hope you feel better soon!
This video hits so hard as a chronically ill person, and I remember reading TFIOS when I was in high school and it hit then too. All these themes really struck me and the experience of seeing chronically ill people confronting these issues without the infantilization that often comes along with it. I totally agree with like, all the points you made in this video. Thank you so much
This is a perfect vlogbrothers video, a perfect explanation of your worldview as a writer, and a perfect argument for thinking about books (and people) complexly
I can’t believe it’s been 10 years ago now? I was gifted it the same year for my birthday, and it became a long time favourite. I’m so grateful to have read it!
after all i've read, issac's eulogy for gus still cracks me open every time i read it. such an underrated scene. happy birthday tfios!
I only just finished reading the fault in our stars for the first time this morning. And wow, is it most definitely a fatal fault in being one of the most heart-wrenching, sob-inducing stories I have ever read. The way it artfully crafts a beautiful love story, the poetic feel of the blossoming affection of one Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters, is mind blowing to me. It feels like a dream; I must be dreaming, still. I truly, truly, hate this book so much that I want to throw it against a wall or something. God. Well done, John Green. Well done. Time to read all of your other books and cry some more.
Thank you for creating this community and sharing your thoughts. Also for sci-show, crashcourse and all the stuff you've helped create through complexly. I have learned so much through your work, I can't even begin to recount it but what I appreciate the most is how that learning has made me a better person. So again, thank you. One of the things I look forwards to most in hopefully soon getting out of chronic poverty is being able to give back to this community.
As a disabled person who was terminal until the last year, thank you for explaining all these ableist behaviors to your audience.
I started watching you guys shortly before it came out, meaning it's my 10 year nerdfighterversary!!! 🥳🥳🥳
Happy anniversary! :) -John
Wow, slight fever john makes absolutely _solid_ videos...
I think it's because slight fever john has _just_ the right amount of puff
It doesn't feel like ten years but I'm grateful that this story has lived with me for so long. A lot of your writing has encouraged me to examine my perspective inwardly, especially TFIOS, but it's taken time for me to really have the courage to turn that outward - what's the point if you don't share it? That's how meaningful connection is made. For me, understanding other people is how I make sense of things, and I'm not sure how much of that is what I found here, in this corner of the internet, and how much is just me. Regardless, as I get older, I get more out of reading your work. It's a gift, really.
I remember reading TFIOS for the first time and thinking sixteen is no age to die. I lost a wonderful friend to cancer just before Christmas. She was thirty years old but I still feel the same - it's no age to go. Thanks again for your book, I'm sure I'll take something new this time re-reading.
Tfios is the book that I could honestly say had changed my life, atleast my teenage years, positively.. It was got me on the reading road which I don't know what I'd do without now , so it will always continue to be one of the most significant things in my life and would forever remain very close to my heart!!
Thank you John!
I hope you feel better soon
I remember reading TFIOS in college, sitting in the UNC cemetery, reading about death while surrounded by people who died many years before. It was a powerful feeling, and to someone who had started contemplating their own death at a very young age, surprisingly freeing.
10 years Wow! TFIOS means a lot to me because it was around the publication that I felt really part of Nerdfighteria. The anticipation of it coming out and watching you sign all the books and sharing it with nerd fighters in the comments. The book was so special as was the movie (the only film I went to see by myself and had a fantastic time!) and then when you and Hank came to Glasgow and we all sang 500 Miles. So thanks John(and Gus and Hazel).
do you know
TFIOS is in the Marvel universe, it's shown in Ant man part 1.
And thankyou John for everything you brothers are legends at this point
I was just talking to my partner about how much TFIOS was one of those books I read at exactly the right time in my life. When it came out, I was a 16 year old who was struggling for the first time about what it meant to be human, what it meant to love someone romantically, and what it meant to lose that love. And cancer has always been something I’ve struggled to grapple with, as someone who lost a father to cancer at a very young age. TFIOS seemed to speak to all those things I was struggling with in a way I could relate to as a precocious (and often pretentious), enthusiastic teen.
It probably wouldn’t have spoken to me as well if it had come out earlier, or if I had read it later as an adult. But ten years ago, TFIOS was exactly what I needed and it changed my life. So thank you for writing it, John. I cannot fathom how I would have navigated 2012 without it.
So my ulcerative colitis isn't a moral failing, but surely the sneezing still is.
Correct. Sneezing is a character flaw. Everyone knows this. But illness is just illness. Unless the illness involves sneezing. Then it's a character flaw. -John
So it’s officially been 10 years since I took my copy of TFIOS to Panera Bread in FL while I only had a few chapters left, and then I finished it there, pausing every so often around the last pages to try and control my breathing so I didn’t cry in public, alone in a Panera Bread, over my empty cup of broccoli cheese soup. 10 years from now I’ll be remembering that I started TAR while hungover at Pick-me-up cafe in Chicago and drank 7 glasses of water while eating French toast.
I caught on to the TFIOS trend probbaly a year after it came out and I'm glad I did. It brought me to this place and I'm so grateful for that. To find people who are similar to you is a great feeling and I'll always remember that this book brought me here 😊 also this makes me feel old too 😆
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I read TFIOS only after i started watching vlogbrothers, because "love stories are dumb!". I'm so glad i got over that mental block, and i loved it! Thanks for everything ♡
Still want to read that ending where Hazel and Peter Van Houten go out in a blaze of machine gun glory…
Jokes aside, TFIOS got me back into reading. Into imagining again. Into being again. So thank you so much John.
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Hi John-- Thank you so much for all of the writing you've done about illness. My younger brother had (has) a very serious illness around when TFIOS was published, and I was at a developmental stage in my life (high school) where I was trying for the first time to make sense of his suffering and what my role was in trying to support him. The empathy and complexity with which you describe illness in your writing, videos, and podcast have brought a lot of comfort to my family over the years. I've shared your work with friends when trying to communicate how illness impacts my life and how I think about it. Especially because I starting following your work when I was very young, I cannot even begin to understand the impact that it has had on the way I think.
Okay, so... Im really not sure if I'm more stunned by the fact that when this book was published I was 8, and I read it when I was 12, or that I just now realized that John is *the* John Green
Im still recovering from the overall shock of this news
The Fault in Our Stars is the main reason I remember finding this channel, thank you for not only 10 TFiOS, but 10 years of amazing years on this channel 🖤
We will always have Esther day.
I remember it coming to me in the mail, and reading it when my mother was pretty ill with cancer herself. Then in February, I sat in her hospice room reading an Abundance of Katherines the last time I saw her. So much of me is still trapped inside those hospital rooms. Your books did provide some comfort in a very troubling time.
It's unbelievable that it's been a decade now since TFIOS. I remember it being my first book without a happy ending and at that point i was very disappointed but over the years reading more of your books have made me fall in love with the concept of works of fiction blending in reality without losing much of its romantic element. Congrats on this journey John! 💗
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This put a genuine smile on my face. It's always a pleasure to listen to John talk about stuff.
Yet another video that got me to say, out loud, "he gets it." (the moment I said it was at 3:08 when you said how you hate the convention where sick people get sick so healthy people can learn lessons, and instead you wrote a book with no healthy kids in it. My system did the same thing with our most recent novel attempt, though it was not about physical sickness but instead a mesh of trauma and mental illness and bigotry and living in a world that prioritizes your abusers over you and your loved ones)
Please let me read your latest novel attempt! If you feel comfortable sharing it of course. That theme is very close to home for me, as someone who has lived through abuse and seen the many ways people add to the trauma by siding with abusers and even mimicking some of the things they say.
your books are responsible for getting me into reading when i was middle school, and i've loved literature ever since. i recently got accepted to college as an english major and i feel beyond grateful that you've created something that helped bring so much joy into my life. thank you forever and ever
“Old school virus” 😭
Wow! 10 years! The Fault in Our Stars will in my life always be the book that made me SOB and cry my eyes out at the silly age of 12. I can still remember the look on my mothers face when I came in the living room sobbing and yelling "HE DIED". Thank you so much John.
First!
Edit: also, congratulations! I remember I was one of the first people to read TFiOS because of that infamous shipping error and I spent 2 weeks having to not tell anyone how it ended 😭
I will always love TFIOS. My best friend died of cancer at the age of 20, in 2011. TFIOS helped so much. It helped me remember her and mourn her (cuz grief is never ending). It was a book (and eventually movie) I got to share with my dad. To this day I think it's the only book recommendation I've given him that he's actually read and I'm not mad at it.
But my favorite part was when I read the about the author and looked up this TH-cam channel. And I realized my friend had been a fan of yours and Hank's. She had sent me some of your videos. It felt like the most wonderful coincidence to find this community through her after she was gone. Nerdfighteria helped me make friends again.
I will always The Fault in Our Stars. You taught me not to believe a person is more than just a person.. but this book will always be so much more than just a book to me.
I love you guys. Thank you for everything 💕
I finished reading it today. Swimming in my own tears.
Hello Mr Jonh Green!!! I'm Ankita, a 15 years old girl. I first Paper Towns book last year, and TFIOS and recently I completed Looking for Alaska. Seriously when I first read Paper town, it became my most favourite book! Margo's character as a teen, so reliable. I read the book more than three times.
You are my favourite author! And Paper towns, TFIOS and Looking for Alaska are my favourite books!
Thank you so much for writing these incredible books! Lots of loves from India ✨:-)
TFIOS means so much to me, as it came out shortly after my beloved older cousin passed away from cancer at 19. She was 16 when she was diagnosed, and she had cancer that was 95% curable, so Hazel and Augustus really resonated with me as I processed my grief. I read that book cover to cover in one day, sobbing at 2 in the morning.
Every time I re-read it, I connected with something new; how surreal it feels to be older than someone ever got to be, especially if they were older than you in life. How cancer fundamentally shapes not only the patient but the people around them. How it feels when the version of the person you're grieving is different from the version someone else is grieving. How a short life can still be a full life.
This book came into existence at the exact time I needed it as a young person. Thank you.
I remember being 13years old whey my mom got diagnosed with cancer. TFIOS way my way of wrapping my head around everything out in those trying times. it’s been two years since she passed away, and every time I reread that book, I remember her. It means so much for a lot of people. Not just for me, my mom loved it as well.💕