The Fault In Our Three Stars
So there are these teenagers and they're all dying of cancer, or at least were dying of cancer, or might be dying of cancer, and then a couple of them fall in love and lose their virginity to each other, and these teens, they're all smart and charming and only a little snarky, only when the targets of their snark deserve it, and then one of them dies and it's not the one you expected to die and you're weeping because it was well-written and the characters were all uniformly loveable, because really, how can you dislike clever, kind, dying young people who want only to handle it and have a little life and be kind to their well-meaning parents who can't understand why they have to die, and do nice things for their soon to be fallen peers, and you reach the end, and you, with tears swiftly streaming from your eyes, you say, "bullshit," because it's beautiful and tragic and it's emotional blackmail and even Romeo and Juliet was less manipulative, and when you think about it, that was one conniving play, you realize, I mean really, young life cut short because all it wanted was to live, and now you're angry at both this author as well as Shakespeare, and that's terrible, because, well, Shakespeare, right, and then you wonder what emotional blackmail really means, and you think maybe Nicholas Sparks isn't that awful a writer after all, but then you wipe your eyes, get something to eat, maybe with bacon in it, and realize that yeah, you're only going to give it three stars.
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Other stories by Lynn Beighley
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Yup. That about says it.
*
Pithy commentary about why I'd rather read this than read anything that even vaguely resembles the work as described. Seriously.
Well done.
ALL THE STARS.
*
☆☆☆!
HA!!!!! ***
A little tour de force.
I love the single sentence ride. And I particularly like this phrase:
...really, how can you dislike clever, kind, dying young people who really only want to handle it and have a little life and be kind to their well-meaning parents who can't understand why they have to die...
Definitely evokes Clarice Lispector.
Seriously, though, enough with dead lovers already!*
breathless applause ***
Skillfully done, using the voice to get the reader's involvement and then that twist at the end, where we're dropped into reality. Nice!
Good, good piece. Great writing, Lynn -
"and you think maybe Nicholas Sparks isn't that awful a writer after all, but then you wipe your eyes, get something to eat, maybe with bacon in it, and realize that yeah, you're only going to give it three stars."
Yes.
Yes, m'am. Bacon brings you to your senses every time! *
I loved the book and I loved this too. What does that say about me??
Late to the party, but glad I made it. Wonderful.*
Enjoyed this, Lynn. Adding a star.
So. True. Though if it smelled like bacon, I would probably give a book all the stars.
True and funny. *
Great meta piece.
I laughed at how true this all is and the runaway confection of it. Well done.
Bacon and three stars! Love the prose.
Great use of the one sentence story! I might have to try one myself today. ***