My Opinion about the Novel

I can say, that I liked the book, it´s based on a good story. I liked the writing style of the author, even if for my opinion some scenes are to much written in detail. I also agree with the opinion, that Hazel and Augustus sometimes don´t act like “really” teenagers would act. Another point I don´t liked was that the book “An Imperial Affliction” was mention to often, I thought. Their were like two story’s: the story from Hazel and Augustus and the story from the novel AIA.

I think that Green really did well mixing love story, cancer story and funny aspects. The most of the time, I really can understand, what Hazel feels, even I would act in some situations different.

I think also the size of the book was good, it was definitely not to short and maybe in some points a little bit to long, but it was fine for reading.

In the book was a lot of quoting and I´m not pretty sure, what I should feel about it. On the one hand, I really like the quotes and thought that they very very cute, but on the other Hand, it was kind of unrealistic, that someone quotes all the time and in some scenes it was very irritating.

When I have to give the book a star ranking, that I probably would give 3.5 stars from 5.

I´m now very interested in the movie and I am pretty sure, that it would make me cry, but that evenly did the book.

For the once haven´t seen the trailer yet, here it is:

Thoughts about the novel

I just finished this book in less than two days after both laughing and crying. When I heard that John Green had released a new book, I immediately had to go to Barnes and Noble to get it, and it did not disappoint. This is the first time he has written from a girl's perspective, but he does so hysterically yet realistically. Without his trademark sense of humor, this could have simply been a depressing book, but with it, it's almost... optimistic? Even though the book is not really violent, I can't think of how else to describe the fact that it may upset sensitive readers with its not so much graphic as simply intimate description of living and half-SPOILER (can't completely spoil it): knowing someone who dies of cancer. The one time the main character has sex with her boyfriend, it is not really described except for the fact that it is safe. There is language in this book, but it's not as harsh as Green's other books have been; language is about PG-13 level. The (teen) characters drink alcohol but don't really use it to drink to excess, unlike the author who Hazel (the main character) meets, but he is clearly not someone to look up to. Yes, the boyfriend (Augustus) does put cigarettes in his mouth, but does not smoke them. They are merely a metaphor, as he explains, for control over how he dies. Overall, this book was smart, funny, sad, and just plain awesome all at once. Unless you do not have a heart, you will be laughing and crying thoughout the whole book. DFTBA! (Post-note: after I finished, I gave it to my mom to read, since I've been dropping TFiOS in any reasonable conversation, and she had to read it to see what all the "John Green this and John Green that" fuss was about. Though she took longer to finish it than I did, I knew it affected her as well. She read most of it on a field trip with a my brother on the bus, and when she came home she was sniffling a little bit, and the sniffling got louder as she got comfortable on the couch. When I asked her if something was wrong, she simply said, "I just about finished The Fault in Our Stars, and I..." and she trailed off a little bit. It was that good, for both teenagers and adults.)  -- Anonymous --

This is THE most amazing book I have ever read. It's better than Harry Potter. The writing is fantastic, and the philosophical questions it deals with are of amazing proportions. TFiOS essentially deals with the meaning of life in one, not terribly long novel. The message of living and loving despite dying are profound and much more worth thinking about than the topics of most other teen (and other) books published today. That being said, there is some swearing that feels natural with the age of the kids. Also, the two main characters kiss and have sex. The way this part of the book is written though is not focused on the sex. It is focused on the love these two characters have for each other. It also isn't graphic. Augustus puts cigarettes in his mouth, but never lights them. It's a metaphor to him; putting the thing with the ability to kill you in your mouth, but not giving it the power to do so. Hazel and Augustus are underage when they drink champagne, but I think it is completely excusable as they don't know whether they will ever be of age. The vocabulary, let's just say there were several words I didn't know by page 50, which is a rare thing for me. I think mature 13yos and anyone older should definitely read this, as it is fantastic, deep and addresses the meaning of life. (It's also VERY funny :) It is by far the best John Green ever and I'm currently smiling at all the DFTBA's below... 
-- Anonymous --

This isn't normally the type of book I read, I normally read very clean books and I did a scan of this and didn't see any language so I thought it would be fine...But this book gripped me from the first time it described Hazel! Such a good piece of literature! A YA novel with depth, where teenagers actually know real words! I found it to good to be true! It's a fabulous story, though heart wrenching. It makes you appreciate every moment, it gave me a desire to leave less scares. Even if it meant not being loved by the whole world. This author should really be thanked!  -- Anonymous --

I am not quite finished with the book, but so far, I think it is very well written. It covers a topic that is difficult to talk about and is often avoided. It has been challenging for me to get through; however, I feel like I should add my perspective. I was diagnosed with cancer at 10. I am now 15 years old and a teen-age cancer survivor. I am a volunteer and advocate for pediatric cancer awareness.
This book has gotten negative reviews based on several points:
1) This is from another reviewer: "The characters are not believable. They do not speak like teenagers. They do not even handle situations like teenagers do. So many interactions between Gus and Hazel are interactions which, plain and simple, just would not happen between real, emotional, scared, awkward, virgin teenagers, let alone ones with cancer who have been socially cut off for much of their lives."
*My point-of-view: Have you spent time with any of us? They are believable as teen-age cancer patients/survivors. We may look like teen-agers, but in our heads, we are not. We have had to face our own mortality and make choices we should never have to make. It makes us grow up...quickly. Most of us do not act or speak like teen-agers because that is no longer how we think. After treatment, many of us find the things most teens (and sometimes adults) are worried about are trivial. Society cuts us off, but we are not cut off from each other. These types of interactions do happen. And, it is emotional and scary, but we learn to tell it like it is, without the normal fluff and awkwardness. We find 'normal' where we can and try to live every single day we have because we know that time is an illusion.
2) The parents are not real, not deep characters, and they do not have their own identities.
*My point-of-view: I have seen my own parents (and siblings) and the parents of other friends struggle with this. Many times, they do not have their own identities anymore. Every single minute is spent trying to make it to the next! They try to keep the family together and functioning, in spite of the effects of treatment, fevers and midnight trips to the emergency room, 3 weeks of the month spent in isolation, jobs in jeopardy, birthdays and holidays interrupted, not to mention talks that parents never want to have with their child. I've talked to my mom about this. This becomes their identity. My mom said their jobs become about doing whatever it takes, travelling all over the country (which is very common), researching new studies, and new medicines, all to help us survive and thrive with grace and dignity. It is also their job to prepare, if treatments don't work, to help us die with just as much grace and dignity.
I hope everyone can read this with an open mind and an open heart. Then, reach out to the patients and survivors in your communities. They are wise beyond their years, funny, brave and inspiring.
-- Anonymous --

Summary Chapter 25

The next morning Hazel wakes up panicked, because she had a bad dream. Then Hazel gets a text from Kaitlyn. She suggests the torn out notebook pages might have been mailed to someone else. Hazel quickly emails Lidewij, hoping that Augustus might have sent the pages to Van Houten. Lidewij agrees to search for the pages at Van Houtens house in the morning.

Then Hazels mother gets into her room, for telling her, that it´s Bastille Day and that means, they´re going for a family picnic the the Holiday Park. After the picnic Hazel and her parents visit Augustus´s grave.

That evening Hazel gets an email from Lidewij, that she founds the notebook pages. She forced Van Houten, who was very drunk, to read them and when he finishes he said: “Send it to the girl and tell her I have nothing to add.”

Hazel starts reading. The letter itself is a plea from Augustus, requesting that Van Houten utilize his superior literary skills to help him write an eulogy for Hazel. Augustus says we all want to leave our mark on the world, him included, but these marks are really unpleasant scars. Hazel is different. She tries not to harm anyone or anything. The real heroes, he says, are the ones who notice things and pay attention. Augustus then describes seeing Hazel in the ICU after she was hospitalized and he found out his cancer had returned. He writes that we have no choice about whether or not we get hurt in the world, but you can choose who hurts you and that Augustus likes his choice.

He only hopes that Hazel likes hers too. The final two words of the novel are from Hazel: “I do.”

Summary Chapter 24

Three days later, Augustus´s father phones Hazel. He says a notebook was discovered on the magazine rack near Augustus´s hospital bed. The pages in the notebook are blank, however the first three or four pages have been torn out. Wondering if Augustus might have hidden the pages in the church, Hazel fetches Isaac and they head to Support Group early. But they don´t find anything.

When Support Group begins, Patrick asks how Hazel is doing, she says she wishes she would die.

When Hazel arrives back home, she wants to lie down, but her mother tells her she hast to eat to stay healthy. Hazel angrily tell her that she´s not healthy, that she´s dying and that one day her mother won´t be a mother any more. Her mother says, that she doesn´t want Hazel to think she´s been imagining a world without her, but if she gets her degree she can counsel other families.

Summary Chapter 23

A few days after the funeral Hazel visits Isaac. They two play the blind-friendly video games. Than Isaac asks, if Augusts was in pain, Hazel says, he was. They agree that dying sucks and Isaac points out, that Hazel seems angry. Hazel thinks back to the time, when she first meets Augustus, when he said, that he fear oblivion. Her response was that oblivion was universal and inevitable, but the problem wasn´t really oblivion or suffering but the meaninglessness of these things.

She also remembers her dad saying the universe wants to be noticed and thinks what we want is to be noticed by the universe. Isaac tells Hazel, that Augustus really loved her and he mentions, that Augustus was writing something for Hazel during his final days.

Hazel drives to Augustus´s home, hoping to find whatever the writing was. Augustus was writing on his computer. She´s startled, however, by the drunken presence of Van Houten in the back-seat of her car. He claims he merely wants to apologize for ruining the Amsterdam trip. Van Houten says, that Hazel reminds him of Anna, because she was based on his own daughter, who died of cancer at the age of eight. Hazel surmises that “An Imperial Affliction” was a way for Van Houten to give Anna a second life as a teenager. Following this revelation, Hazel recommends that the author return home and writes another novel.

At Augustus´s, Hazel has lunch with Augustus´s parents and mentions he was writing something. They say he didn´t use the computer much in the last month, but she´s free to check it. But she doesn´t found something, even not something handwritten. Augustus´s father points out that Augustus was probably too sick to have written anything during hi final month.

Summary Chapter 22

Hazel and her parents attend Augustus´s funeral, which is held near to the place, where Support Group meets. Hazel offers her condolences to Augustus´s parents and Augustus´s mother tells her, how much he loved her.

Before the ceremony begins, Hazel removes her oxygen tank and went to Augustus´s casket. His face looks like plastic and he wears the same suit he wore at Oranjee.

Hazel says “OKAY” a number of times, before she throws a pack of Caramel Lights into the casket.

The funeral starts and the minister talks about Augustus´s courage and how he´s an inspiration. Van Houten whispers in Hazels ear, that the word from the minister are a load of “horse crap”.

As the funereal continues, Isaac and Hazel give eulogies. Isaac is serious and tells a story about Augustus visiting him after he had his eye removed.

Hazel begins her eulogies with a quote. She doesn´t tell about the rest of her eulogy, except to say it was full of encouragements for the living.

Following the burial, Van Houten requests to ride back with Hazel and her parents. After making introductions, Van Houten says he used the Internet to keep tabs on Indianapolis maintained correspondence throughout Augustus´s final days.

Augustus intimated that Van Houten could make amends for is behaviour in Amsterdam if he were to come to Augustus´s funeral and tell Hazel the fate of Anna´s mother. He reveals the fate as “Omnis celula e cellula”, which means “All cells come from cells”.

When asked if she would like a further explanation, Hazel declines and instead calls Van Houten a pathetic drunk before kicking him out of the car.

That evening back at home Hazels father comes into her room ans says sorry, that Augustus died and that it´s all total bullshit.

Summary Chapter 21

Augustus dies eight days after his personal eulogy. Hazel gets a call from his mother in the middle of the night letting her know. Then Hazel calls Isaac to tell him.

Her parents stay with her till the next morning, then they leave her alone.

She thinks of the final days with Augustus. She says loosing him is worse, than any pain, she experienced from cancer.

She calls Augustus voice mail, to crate this magical “third-space”, but don´t get into the feeling, so she cheeks his online profile. She imagines Augustus´s philosophical analysis of one comment about him playing basketball in heaven.

Finally Hazel goes out to the living room couch where she and her parents hug each other for hours.