The Fault in Our Stars Turns 12
What John Green means to me and why I carry lessons from Vlogbrothers into adulthood.
I pre-ordered and read “The Fault in Our Stars” about 12 years ago this month. It’s one of the three books that changed my life because I found them at the right place at the right time. The other two were John Green’s first book “Looking for Alaska” and J. D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye”.
I tend not to revisit books. I don’t want the way I remember feeling when I read them to change … as if I might wake up one day and stop loving them if I pick them up again. But I should revisit “The Fault in Our Stars” anyway because I can’t imagine not loving this book.
The unique aspect of John Green’s books is that they have a YouTube community built around his content. I don’t remember how I got involved with Vlogbrothers, because it was so long ago that I feel like the channel has always been part of my life. I originally discovered it when I was 14 and I assume their work found me with the help of the rapidly improving YouTube algorithm that knew me better than I knew myself at the time. I also presume YouTube noticed that I happened to be an immense and lonely teenage nerd who was already reading “Looking for Alaska” around the same time.
Vlogbrothers was a small community in 2008, but it grew quickly with the release of “The Fault in Our Stars” in 2012. Videos often focused on “silly” topics like the merits of the continual minting of the U.S. penny or fitness for nerds, but the brothers have also talked about very serious topics like healthcare outcomes in Sierra Leone and how most people in the history of humanity have never made it to the age of 20. John and Hank have expanded their content creation under the Complexly brand. Crash Course and SciShow are now among the most popular educational channels on YouTube. They’ve even started companies outside of YouTube like their Awesome Socks Club and Awesome Coffee Club, both of which donate all of their profits to support maternal healthcare in Sierra Leone. I’m excited that Hank is now an author too, and his speculative fiction novel “An Absolutely Remarkable Thing” debuted number one on the New York Times best sellers list in 2018.
The greatest gift John and Hank Green gave me was the ability to hear different and more enlightened ideas than what I was hearing in my small Texas town. Vlogbrothers encouraged me to peruse my higher education and to keep asking questions. When I was 14 I watched content for extremely silly videos on topics like how giraffes mate, but I ended up staying and learning why healthcare reform is important and why we need to start building a world without fossil fuels. John and Hank taught me from an early age that you can be both silly and fun while caring about social issues and advocating for change.
Finally, in 2017 when my mental illness symptoms were at their worst while facing a fairly new diagnosis, John Green’s “Turtles All the Way Down” comforted me and showed me that there is still a way to seek my great perhaps during my lifetime. At 23 I had no idea others experienced persistent and unsettling intrusive thoughts before reading about Aza’s journey. It was incredibly relieving to put a name to what I was feeling now knowing I wasn’t the only one who experienced them. I often think of her when I’m battling my own mind.
The Green brothers just get it. Vlogbrothers and YouTube have changed a lot in 12 years for both good and bad, and they also annoy me on social media sometimes, but I still find myself coming back to the community. My next goal is to finally read Hank Green’s “An Absolutely Remarkable Thing” and its sequel, so I can say I’ve read all of Hank’s books too.
Cheers, and happy anniversary to “The Fault in Our Stars”. Long live Vlogbrothers, French the Llama and Don’t Forget to be Awesome.
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