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.

My thoughts about Chapter 17 to 20

I think in these chapters you really can see how both Augustus and Hazel suffering.

You can feel that their would be an end soon and I think that makes everything extremely sad.

Even if not that much happens in those chapters, those are still very important for the relationship between Augustus and Hazel.

I think there are a very cute couple, always telling each other, they love them, although they went threw so Taff times.

But I´m pretty sure Augustus is going to die, even when it´s very sad. But I´m interested in how Hazel is going to mention this sitation.

Summary Chapter 20

Hazel talks about the clichéd notion of the cancer patient´s “Last Good Day”. She says you never know when the pain seem bearable.

After that hazel gets a call from Augustus and he asks her to meet him that night at the location where Support Group is held. He asks her to prepare an eulogy.

Hazel tells her parents, that she´s going to meet Augustus that night and they protest that they never get to see her any more. Hazel gets angry, saying they uses to complain she was a homebody.

She shouts that she doesn´t need her mother like she used to and then storms off to her room, to write the eulogy. Later her father block her, while she was going to leave and Hazel tells him, that Augustus asked her to write him an eulogy.

When Hazel arrives, she saw Isaac standing at a lectern facing Augustus. Augustus states he wanted to attend his own funeral. In his eulogy Isaac describes Augusts as a “vain”; “pretentious”, “self-aggrandizing bastard”, who was uniquely capable of interrupting and editing his own funereal. Isaac concludes by stating, he will get robot eyes in future for fear of seeing a world without his friend.

Then it´s Hazels turn. In her eulogy she is telling, that Augustus was the love of her life. She also says she won´t talk about their love story since it will die with them and instead explains how some infinities are longer than others.

Then she says how thankful she is for the little infinity she and Augustus had.

Summary Chapter 19

Augustus arrives home from the hospital, a few days later. The following day Hazel meets Augustus´s older half-sister, their husband and their children.
When Augustus wakes up, he asks to go outside. Hazel and the entire family join him. As they all talk Augustus jokes about his incredible “hot body”.

He says, seeing it took Hazels breath away, pointing to her oxygen tank.

Augustus´s father whispers to Hazel, that he´s thankful for her every day.

As the chapter closes Hazel notes it was the last good she had with Augustus, until the “Last Good Day”.

Summary Chapter 18

Hazel wakes up at 2:35 a.m. to a call. She´s sure it informs her that Augustus has died.

Instead it´s Augustus asking her to help him.

Their´s something very wrong with his G-tube and he´s stuck at a gas station. He tells her not to call the police or his parents and to come and get him.

Hazel is sleepy and perplexed but drives to the gas-station, where she finds Augustus sitting in the driver´s seat.

Hazel suspects the G-tube tract into Augustus´s abdomen is infected. Hazel calls for an ambulance. Augustus mumbles about only wanting to buy a pack of cigarettes on his own.

Hazel thinks about how much Augustus has changed. He begins to rant about how much he hates himself and just want to die.

Summary Chapter 17

Now it´s a month ago, Hazel and Augustus returned from Amsterdam.

Hazel goes downstairs to Augustus´s bedroom one afternoon, to find him laying in his own urine.

She shouts for his parents and waits upstairs while they clean up.

When she returns later on, they play Video Games and Hazel feel awkward.

Augustus is extremely weak and they can´t play for long.

Trying to make him feel better, Hazel tells “Gus”, that she pissed the bed plenty of times. He says she used to call him Augustus. And follows, that he thought he was special and would have a story worth telling.

Hazel wishes, that it was enough for him that she thinks he´s special. She says she and his family and his life are all he gets. He won´t ever be a hero, NBA star or Nazi slayer. When she tries to apologize, Augustus says she´s right and the two go back playing video games.

My thoughts about Chapter 10 to 16

I think that chapter 10 and 11 are both written very long, the individual scenes are described with to much detail and I thought it was very exhausting to read threw these both chapters...

In chapter 12 happened a lot and also important things. I was kind of disappointed from Peter Van Houten, because he was totally different, then I imagined. I thought this was sad.

But I think the total shock was at Chapter 13, when Augustus mentions, that he is sick. I mean Oh my God, who expected that?

And after that chapter you really can see, how Augustus is suffering, so I hopes he will be ok, but I got the feeling he maybe woudn´t...

Summary Chapter 16

Hazel depicts a typical day with late-stage “Gus”. She goes to his house around noon and meet him at his front door in a wheelchair.

They go out to the backyard and Augustus mentions he misses Hazels swing set.

Hazel and Augustus fall asleep together while listening to his favourite band and after they played “The Price of Dawn”.

Summary Chapter 15

Hazel and her parents eat dinner with Augustus and his parents at Augustus house.

One week later Augustus admitted to the Er with chest pains. Hazel dresses once again like Anna, to visits him. But his mother only wants family in the room, so she has to stay in the waiting room.

Two weeks later Hazel takes Augustus back to the Funky Bones park, where they had their first picnic. The drink a bottle of champagne, given to Augustus by one of the doctors.

They watch the children play. Augustus says during their last picnic, e imagined himself as one of the playing kids, now he imagines himself as the bones.

Summary Chapter 14

On the flight home Haze and Augustus look out at the clouds. Augustus used to dream of living on a cloud until a teacher of him explained how harsh the environment is. He says, the teacher specialized in murdering dreams.

Augustus notes, that it seemed like Van Houten was personally mad at them.

Hazel is back home, watching television with her father. He says, that he found out about Augustus cancer, from his mother, before the trip And that he also read “An Imperial Affliction”.

The following day Hazel and Isaac meet at Augustus´s house. The conversation turns to Isaac’s ex-girlfriend Monica. She hasn´t contacted Isaac at all since he had his eye removed.

Augustus gets furious, so they drive to Monica´s house, where they spot her car in the driveway.

Then Isaac and Augustus threw eggs on Monica´s car. Hazel snaps a picture of Augustus.

Summary Chapterr 13

The next morning Hazel and Augustus describe their meeting with Van Houten to Hazels mother. Then Hazels mother go for a walk and Hazel and Augustus return to the Hotel.

Hazel can tell something is wrong and Augustus confesses that he is sick. Before the trip his hip was hurting and in his last PET scan his body was lit up like a Christmas tree.

Augustus says, that he will fight the cancer and be around a long time to any her.

As Hazel cries he kisses her, then they lie in bed together and talk about treatments.

Hazel says that cancer is Augustus battle and his war, after e said, that he doesn´t even get a battle.

Summary Chapter 12

It´s finally the day they´re going to meet with Van Houten. Hazel decides to emulate the way Anna dresses in “An Imperial Affliction”. Hazel and Augustus arrive at Van Houstens address and a man with a bloated belly and sagging jowls opens the door.

Hazel is shocked to learn that this is Van Houten. He is rude from the start.

He presses further he says his invitation as merely rhetorical.

He doesn´t expect them to actually show up. Lidewij, the assistant, is present during the meeting and admits to having everything arranged. She thought it would be good for Van Houten.

As all this goes on, Van Houten keeps drinking a lot of scotch.

Once he is drunk he asks if hazel intended to dress like Anna. Trying to steer the conversation in the right direction Hazel asks, if he recalls her list of questions. He suggests this idea ought answer Hazels childish questions.

Finally Van Houten disavows his novel altogether. He ridicules Hazels belief that an author has special insight into his won character. Van Houten tells Hazel, she is being dependent on peoples pity and a side effect of evolution.

Hazel responds by smacking Van Houtens scotch glass to the floor. As Van Houten demands to know why Hazel silly questions are so important, Augustus drags her outside.

There he promises to write his own epilogue to “An Imperial Affliction” for Hazel. Lidewij follows the couple outside, where she explains that Van Houten is the black sheep of a family whose wealth dates back to a 17^th century cocoa future. She says he wasn´t always so cruel and alludes that circumstance made him a monster. Attempting to rectify the situation Lidewij suggests they tour Anne Franks house.

The tour involves climbing a number of steep staircases. Hazel struggles through it, determined not to give up though she nearly blacks out climbing the final set of steps.

At the top of the house Hazel and Augustus wonder Otto Frank, the family’s sole survivor, carried on after his family was gone.

Hazel considers Otto Frank of being a father any more. They enter the next room, where a video of Otto Frank, speaking in English plays. Hazel looks at him, thinking it´s not an appropriate place to kiss but even Anne Frank kissed someone their.

Suddenly Hazel and Augustus are kissing as Otto Frank speaks behind them and when Hazel opens her eyes she sees a crowd of people watching them. She worries they´re angry, but the crowd breaks into applause and shouts “Bravo”.

After the tour Hazel and Augustus return to Augustus´s hotel room. Hazel tells him she loves him and they sleep together. It´s not exactly as Hazel expected, but then they fall asleep together afterwards with Hazels head resting on Augustus´s chest.

Summary Chapter 11

The three arrives in Amsterdam and takes a taxi to the Hotel Philosopher. Each of the hotels rooms is named for a philosopher. Hazel and her mother stay in the Kierkegaard room, while Augustus stays in the Heidegger room.

After waking up from a long sleep Hazel finds out, that the assistant has made a reservation for Augustus and her at a restaurant called Oranjee.

Hazel puts on her best summer dress and Augustus his most handsome suit. When they arrive at the restaurant they are ushered to a table outside overlooking the canal.

The waiter brings them champagne on the house. A woman on a passing boat raises her glass to them and shouts something in Dutch.

When Augustus yells back, that they don´t understand Dutch, someone else offers a translation: “The beautiful couple is beautiful”.

After dinner as they walk Hazel asks Augustus what happened with Caroline. Putting a cigarette in his mouth he says,, that Caroline’s brain cancer changed her personality.

Hazel says she doesn´t ever want to hurt him like that but Augustus replies that it would be a privilege to have his heart broken by her.

Summary Chapter 10

On the morning of her departure for Amsterdam, Hazel wonders why scrambled eggs have been labelled as breakfast food. Hazel and her mother go to Augusts and as they reach the door, they hear someone crying and shouting.

They turn back to the car and minutes later Augusts emerges from his house, seemingly unaffected. At the airport Hazel must disengage her oxygen tank in order to pass through security. Se describes it feels like a certain freedom without being in momentarily.

At the flight gate Augustus says he´s hungry and leaves to get breakfast, but a long time is gone, before he returns. He says the line was long. But minutes later he tells Hazel, that the line wasn´t long, he just doesn´t want to sit in the gate area with all the people staring at them. It makes him extremely angry and he don´t want to be angry today.

On the plane Hazel learns that Augustus has never flown and he is afraid. During the flight Hazel and Augusts watch the move “300”. Afterwards the two discuss the total number of living people versus the total number dead people in the history of mankind.

Augustus asks Hazel to read aloud from Ginsburgs “Howl”, but she chooses to recite a poem from memory instead. After finishing Augustus tells Hazel he loves her.

My thoughts about Chapter 5 to 9

I think in these chapters the author looses a lot of time, while switching between, they can go to Amsterdam and not. I taught that was very tiring to read. And another think I don´t really like, is that every chapter mentions the novel “An Imperial Affliction”.

But I still got something positive to say. What I found very good was, that in those chapters not everything was kind of “funny”, I think you can see, how hard it is to be a suffering person of cancer. I also like the chaining point in the story, that Augustus and Hazel going to Amsterdam, maybe it is a little but unrealistic, but anyway, it is book and I really like this idea.

But sometimes I can´t understand Hazel decision for example when she wrote Augustus, that she can´t kiss him, was really unnecessary, because they don´t even talked about something like that.

Now for the next chapters I am really interested, what kind of person Peter Van Houten is.

Summary Chapter 9

Hazel attends a Support Group meeting. She becomes frustrated by the abundance of clichés about the strength of cancer victims.

When a girl named Linda says, she admires Hazels strength, Hazel says she would trade her strength for Lindas remission.

After the meeting Isaac invites Hazel over to play a blind-friendly version of “The Price of Dawn”. While playing the two discuss Augustus somewhat annoying heroic ad suicidal video game habits.

Isaacs asks why Hazel hasn´t hooked up with Augustus. He thinks she´s afraid of Augustus pulling a Monica on her. Hazel thinks to herself that the opposite is true: she´s afraid of dying and leaving Augustus.

Summary Chapter 8

A meeting convenes of numerous medical specialists familiar with Hazels case. When one doctor mentions, that Hazel is not a valuable candidate for lung transplant, her father breaks down crying.

It reminds Hazel of the time she was near death and her mother sad, that she wouldn´t be a mom any more.

Finally the cancer team deems it unwise for Hazel to risk international travel. Hazel calls Augustus to inform him, she cannot travel to Amsterdam.

The following day Hazel is feeling depressed. She tells Augustus, she´s upset because she hast to miss out on Amsterdam, because the sky is sad and because there´s an old swing set in her yard that her father built for her.

Augustus comes over and says, it´s the sad-looking swing set, causing most of Hazels crying. Together they post an ad online for the “Desperately Lonely Swing Set” and soon someone email to get t. Wile Augustus reads “An Imperial Affliction” aloud to Hazel, she realizes she´s fallen in love with him.

The next morning Hazel is shocked by an email from Van Houten assistant. The email states all the preparations for Hazels trip to Amsterdam have been made. Confused Hazel looks at her mother, who says, that Dr. Maria has decided, that Hazel hast so live her life and can travel to Amsterdam.

Hazel texts Augustus to let hi know, that the trip is back on.

Summary Chapter 7

Hazel screams to wake her parents. Her head feels like a series of explosions and because of that she waits for death, which don´t come.

Then Hazel wakes up in the ICU. Her father explains that the headache was brought on by poor oxygenation, which resulted from her lungs filling with fluid.

After that Hazels nurse tells her father to leave the room. While feeding Hazel ice chips, the nurse mentions that Hazel has been out for a few days and that Augustus has been outside in the waiting room, since her arrival.

On Hazels last day at the hospital, Augustus is allowed to visit, whereupon he delivers another correspondence from Van Houten. By finishing the letter, Hazel is already wondering if Dr. Maria might clear her for international travel.

Summary Chapter 6

Hazel has to take an adult with her on the flight, because of her illness, so she decided to pick her mother. Then Hazel thinks about Augustus and later check the online profile of his ex-girlfriend Caroline Mather. She thinks she and the healthy Caroline looked nothing alike, but cancer made them extremely similar.

Hazels parents call her down to dinner and during eating Hazel is very sarcastic and cold. When her mother asks, what´s wrong, she says, that she´s a “grenade”. At some point she´s going to explode and hurt everyone near her.

When Hazel is back in her room, she hears her parents talking about her. Then she thinks about, that being with Augustus would really hurt him, so she text him, that she can´t kiss him, because it makes her think of the pain she´ll cause him. He replies, that he understands, but also flirts with her, to which Hazel simply responds “Sorry”.

Then her mother enters the room and tells her, that she is not a grenade to them.

Just after four in the morning, Hazel wakes up with a terrible pain in her head.

Summary Chapter 5

A week later, Augustus phones Hazel. Augustus coyly asks about Van Houstens reclusive nature, then reveals that he has miraculously gotten in contact with Van Houten through the authors assistant. Later Hazel spends hours formulating the perfect email to Van Houten.

Finally, she strikes out a list of questions all pertaining to the books story. After that she calls Augustus again and they discuss Augustus past relationship with a girl named Caroline, who died from cancer.

At the end of the conversation, Hazel thinks of how speaking on the phone with Augustus is like being in an invisible “third space” that only they occupy.

A few days later Hazel gets a text from Augustus, that Isaac is now cancer free. Hazel visits Isaac at the hospital. When Isaac falls asleep Hazel buys him some hospital flowers.

The next morning Hazel gets a response from Van Houten. He starts he cannot answer any of Hazels questions for fear, that she might twist those answers into a sequel. But he also writes, that they can discuss the book in person, if Hazel would travel to Amsterdam.

Hazel share the news with Augustus, who asks if she used her wish from the Genie Foundation, an organization that grant sick kids one wish. Unfortunately Hazel spent her wish for a trip to Disney World, when she was first diagnosed.

A few days later Augustus shocks Hazel with the news, that he never used his wish and that the Genie Foundation has agreed to fly them to Amsterdam.

My thoughts about Chapter 1 to 4

I really like how the story starts. I think that Augustus and Hazel would be a very cute couple soon. But I also like the writing style from the author, I think he writes kind of funny, but also serious. You really got the opinion, that you are inside a head from a teenager girl with cancer. I think in some points Augustus acts a little bit unrealistic but all in one he is very cute. I just got the opinion, that the author mentions the book “An Imperial Affliction” to often.. I hope it will become less in future.

What I like also about the first four characters is, that the story happens kind of fast, so that there are not much gabs between different scenes, but also that one scene is not to long. I think in the first four chapters happens a lot, so I´m really curious to see, what will happen next.

Summary Chapter 4

Hazel summarizes the plot of “An Imperial Affliction”. The narrator is a girl named Anna, who develops blood cancer. Anna lives together with her mother, a one-eyed tulip obsessed gardener and an allegedly rich figure called The Dutch Tulip Man.

The book ends in the middle of a sentence and leave Hazel with a lot of questions. Setting the book aside, Hazel calls Augustus, who is busy consoling the recently dumped Isaac.

Augustus invites Hazel over and she arrives to find the boys playing video games. Isaac is distraught. Suddenly Isaac snaps and attacks the pillows. Augustus points out that pillows, unlike basketball trophies, are unbreakable and coaxes Isaac into smashing all the trophies.

Summary Chapter 3

Hazel wakes up to her mother jubilantly announcing that it´s Hazels thirty-third half birthday.

Hazel agrees to met her schoolmate Kaitlyn at the mall to please her mother. At the mall Hazel purchases the two sequels to the novel Augustus gave her. When Kaitlyn arrives, they both discuss Kaitlyns high-school love affairs and shop shoes.

Hazel feel very sad, because she also wants to have normal lungs and the girls go their separated ways. Because there are two hours left till her mother picks her up, Hazel begins reading the sequel to “The Price of Dawn”, called “Midnight Dawn”.

Hazel notes how violent the series is, but there is something exciting about it. While reading a young child asks Hazel about her tube in her nose. She explains that it´s called a cannula and that she needs it to breathe.

She allows the child to try it on. Hazel reflects on the natural innocence of the child, contrasting the normalcy of their short interaction with her strained time with Kaitlyn.

Summary Chapter 2

On route to Augustus house Hazel comments on the jolting quality of Augustus driving. Augustus tells her that he failed the driving test three times, revealing that he is an amputee, having lost a leg to cancer. He speculates he only passed the test as a “cancer perk”, the special favours cancer kids get. Hazel recounts the details of her cancer story, she tells that her parents pulled her out of school at thirteen, when she was diagnosed with terminal stage 4 thyroid cancer.

At fourteen Hazel developed pneumonia in her lungs and probably would have died if not one of the doctors, Dr. Maria, were able to drain the fluid from her lungs. Since that Hazel has stayed alive.

When Hazel meets Augustus parents she notes him as “Gus”. Hazel likes the idea of a single person having two names. Augustus shows Hazel his basement bedroom, which is full with basketball trophies. Hazel and Augustus agree to read one another’s favourite books. Augustus lends Hazel a copy of “The Price of Dawn”, a book based on his favourite video game. Hazel describes her strong feelings for “An Imperial Affliction”. After the movie Augustus drives Hazel home and she agrees to call him once she finished his book.

Summary Chapter 1

Hazel Grace Lancaster starts her story by telling, that her mother thinks she´s depressed. Her doctor agree, so she has to attend a weekly cancer group. The leader of the group is a cancer survivor named Patrick, who hat cancer in his balls. Patrick talks constantly about the fact, that they meet in the heart of Jesus. In the meeting Hazel introduces herself, she is sixteen and originally had thyroid cancer, though it spread to her lungs too.

The only part of Support Group she likes is a guy named Isaac, who lost an eye to cancer and mybe lose his eye light. They both talk through sights.

After a few weeks Hazel meets a new and beautiful boy at Support Group, who stares directly at her. His name is Augustus Waters and he support Isaac, who will soon lose his second eye to cancer too.

Augustus is a survivor of osterosarcoma and when Patrick asks what the fears, he says "oblivion". 

Hazel, who rarely speaks, says to the group that eventually everyone will be dead and everything humanity has built will have been for naught. She learned this from her favourite book "An Imperial Affliction" by Peter Van Houten.

After the meeting Isaac introduces Augustus and Hazel. Augustus says Hazel reminds him of Natalie Portman in "V for Vendetta". The two flirt and watch Isaac make out with his girlfriend, Monica.

Placing a cigarette between his lip, Augustus invites Hazel to his place to watch "V for Vendetta". Hazel is disgusted by the cigarette but reconsiders when Augustus explains, that he never lights it. Rather enjoy the metaphorical resonance of putting something that kills between his teeth and denying it the power to kill him.

Welcome to this Reading Log

  Hello everybody,

this blog is a reading log about the book “The Fault in our Stars” from John Green, which we are reading in English class. I´m very exited and already fell in love with it.
Enjoy this blog.

Name: The Fault in our Stars

Author: John Green

 
Puplished: 10th January 2012

Genre: Youth Literature

Nominations: Guardian Award

Folding Text:   
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has brought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed pon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel´s story is about to be completely rewritten.