THE FAULT IN OUR STARS
BY JOHN GREEN
GENRE: YOUNG ADULT
SYNOPSIS:
BY JOHN GREEN
GENRE: YOUNG ADULT
SYNOPSIS:
Hazel Grace Lancaster—a 16-year-old with cancer that has spread to her lungs—attends a cancer patient support group at her mother's behest. At first she hesitates because she feels like it has done her nothing. Augustus is at the meeting to support his friend, Isaac, whose only remaining eye is soon to be removed due to cancer. Hazel and Augustus strike a bond immediately and agree to read each other's favorite novels. Augustus gives Hazel The Price of Dawn, and Hazel recommends An Imperial Affliction, a novel written by Peter Van Houten, who lives in Amsterdam, about a cancer-stricken girl named Anna that parallels Hazel's own experience. After Augustus finishes reading her book, he is frustrated upon learning that the novel ends abruptly without a conclusion. Hazel explains the novel's author had retreated following the novel's publication and has not been heard from since.
A year later, Augustus reveals to Hazel that he has tracked down Van Houten's assistant, Lidewij, and, through her, has managed to start an e-mail correspondence with Van Houten. The two write to Van Houten with questions regarding the novel's ending and the fate of the mother of Anna. Van Houten eventually replies, explaining that he can only answer Hazel's questions in person. At a picnic, Augustus surprises Hazel with tickets to Amsterdam to meet Van Houten.
While in Amsterdam, Augustus confesses his love for Hazel. Hazel and Augustus finally meet Van Houten but are shocked to find that he is a mean-spirited drunk. Horrified by Van Houten's behavior, Lidewij confesses to having arranged the meeting on his behalf, angering Van Houten, who proceeds to insult Hazel's cancer, starting an argument and causing Hazel and Augustus to flee from the drunken author's home.
Augustus confesses that his cancer has returned. The two affirm their love and support for each other. Upon their return to Indianapolis, Augustus's health worsens and he ends up in the ICU for a few days. Fearing his death, Augustus invites Isaac and Hazel to his pre-funeral, where they give eulogies. An extremely sick Augustus dies soon after. This leaves Hazel heartbroken and she doesn't know what to do with herself. After this traumatic event, Van Houten shows up at Augustus's funeral to apologize to Hazel.
Hazel learns that Augustus was writing a sequel to An Imperial Affliction. Hazel reads Augustus's words. He says getting hurt in this world is inevitable, but we do get to choose who we allow to hurt us, and that he is happy with his choice, and hopes she likes her choice too. The book closes with Hazel stating that she is happy with her choice.
REVIEW:
A fact John Greene lays out well in The Fault in our Stars, a story about two teens one terminally ill, Hazel Grace, and another, Augustus Waters who is in remission. Hazel has thyroid cancer which has metastasized into her lungs. All looks as if she is about to die when they try an experimental (and entirely fictional) drug that has only works in about 20% of cancer patients, and she ‘s one of them. It buys her time, the length of which no one knows.
Augustus is a survivor of Osteosarcoma , a cancer of the bone and is shy a leg to show for it.
Hazel Grace stays home most of the time. Her parents are her best friends and she reads the same book over and over. Concerned, Hazel’s mother forces her to go to a support group for kids with cancer, to get out and make some friends. Usually, she finds group lame, but this time Augustus Waters is there. He’s “hot”, and blatantly stares her down……..which she doesn’t mind because of the hotness and all. She’s surprised by his attention because of her chipmunk cheeks (medication side effect) and her oxygen tank.
But life often turns on a dime.
Augustus wants to dive right into a romance, but Hazel puts him off a bit. She won’t agree to see him again until he reads An Imperial Affliction , or AIA, her favorite book (my kind of gal). AIA is about a teenage girl with cancer which famously ends mid sentence. It’s widely suspected that that means the girl dies right there in the middle of life, in the middle of a sentence, like we all do I suppose. But Hazel has questions about the rest of the characters in the book. It drives her bat shit, and there was never a sequel. (You can imagine her frustration if you read The Dark Tower series by Stephen King as it was released……very…..s l o w l y). So, the two of them decide they will get some answers even if they have to go to Amsterdam to find the author and torture it out of him!
This is a beautiful book. And you will probably cry……pretty sure. John Greene’s books always suck me in, I’ve read most of them, but this one is his best in my opinion.
In an interview with the author at the end of the audio book, they asked John what he wanted people to get from this book (other than cancer sucks). He said that he wanted people to understand that very sick people are still people, that they are not other, apart from healthy people. We tend to separate from the terminally ill because we don’t believe, or want to believe, that that could ever be us. But at the very bitter end (unless we go quick) it will most definitely be us, and we will still be who we always were……just moving a bit slower.
Augustus is a survivor of Osteosarcoma , a cancer of the bone and is shy a leg to show for it.
Hazel Grace stays home most of the time. Her parents are her best friends and she reads the same book over and over. Concerned, Hazel’s mother forces her to go to a support group for kids with cancer, to get out and make some friends. Usually, she finds group lame, but this time Augustus Waters is there. He’s “hot”, and blatantly stares her down……..which she doesn’t mind because of the hotness and all. She’s surprised by his attention because of her chipmunk cheeks (medication side effect) and her oxygen tank.
But life often turns on a dime.
Augustus wants to dive right into a romance, but Hazel puts him off a bit. She won’t agree to see him again until he reads An Imperial Affliction , or AIA, her favorite book (my kind of gal). AIA is about a teenage girl with cancer which famously ends mid sentence. It’s widely suspected that that means the girl dies right there in the middle of life, in the middle of a sentence, like we all do I suppose. But Hazel has questions about the rest of the characters in the book. It drives her bat shit, and there was never a sequel. (You can imagine her frustration if you read The Dark Tower series by Stephen King as it was released……very…..s l o w l y). So, the two of them decide they will get some answers even if they have to go to Amsterdam to find the author and torture it out of him!
This is a beautiful book. And you will probably cry……pretty sure. John Greene’s books always suck me in, I’ve read most of them, but this one is his best in my opinion.
In an interview with the author at the end of the audio book, they asked John what he wanted people to get from this book (other than cancer sucks). He said that he wanted people to understand that very sick people are still people, that they are not other, apart from healthy people. We tend to separate from the terminally ill because we don’t believe, or want to believe, that that could ever be us. But at the very bitter end (unless we go quick) it will most definitely be us, and we will still be who we always were……just moving a bit slower.
RATING:
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