"But Gus, my love, I cannot tell you how thankful I am for our little infinity. I wouldn’t trade it for the world .You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and I'm grateful."-Hazel
Name of the book: The Fault In Our Stars
Written by: John Green
No.of pages:313
Genre: A young adult novel
Originally Published:10 January 2012
-About the book
This is a book that makes you feel two contrasting emotions of love and grief simultaneously. This book holds a special place in my heart.
I feel like pressing the reset button of my memory; forgetting this book and reliving the emotions I felt when I read it for the first time. This was one of those books that made me smile, cry and fall in love. It depicts a pure love between the protagonists in the most serene way. Cancer is such a terrible disease; it leads a person into a dark hole of pain and suffering.
The Fault In Our Stars by John Green is a book that takes you on a roller coaster journey of emotions, He chooses the path of despondency to depict the lives of characters. It seems like a hard pill of grief to swallow.
It revolves around Hazel who was diagnosed with a terminal form of thyroid cancer; that has since spread to her lungs, she doesn't like her introduction to be like this, She was witty, beautiful, and courageous. Augustus Waters was a handsome boy with a charming smile that could steal anyone's heart, he had a type of bone cancer called osteosarcoma, which led to having a part of his leg amputated. He would attend the cancer support group meetings to be there for his friend Issac, who lost his second eye to cancer. Hazel was diagnosed with depression as a side effect of cancer, that's what her doctor claimed, but she felt that it was the side effect of dying.
-Hazel Grace Lancaster
Hazel is an only child and daughter of Mr and Mrs Lancaster, she has completed high school and has begun pursuing a college education. Her mother decided to send her to a cancer support group every Wednesday held in the basement of a church. She re-reads "An Imperial Affliction" by Peter Van Houten and wants to meet the author once before she dies, but due to her medical complications, she isn't permitted to do so. Due to suffering from Stage IV cancer, Hazel always carries an oxygen tank and nasal cannulas with her. (she calls it Philip). At 14 years old her lungs started to fill up with water, which landed her in ICU with pneumonia. Everyone had given up hope, but after an experimental trial of a drug that failed for 70% of people, it miraculously worked wonders for her.
"Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book."-Hazel
-Augustus
Augustus was a blue-eyed tall guy who feared oblivion, he was referred to as "Gus” by his parents. He had a weird habit where he would dig into his pocket and flip open his pack of smokes but he did not smoke because he always said it was a metaphor. He would not give the cigarettes the power to kill him. “The Prince Of Dawn” is his favourite book. He is depicted as an appealing character due to his sense of humour.
The first conversation of Gus and Hazel has the heart of all the readers. Let’s have a look at it:
Gus: What’s your name?
Hazel: Hazel.
Gus: No, what’s your full name?
Hazel: Hazel Grace Lancaster
Hazel: Why are you looking at me like that?
Gus: Because you’re beautiful
Hazel: Oh, my God.
"You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you."-Augustus
-Gus and Hazel’s story
After their first meeting, Gus asked out Hazel for a movie and they watched Vendetta. The book 'An Imperial Affliction' had an incomplete ending, so Hazel was intrigued and wrote an e-mail to the author asking him about it. But he responded that he could not tell her about the ending via email or telephonic conversation as it might be a risk that someone could leak the storyline. He invited Hazel to Amsterdam to learn about the ending. Hazel then expressed her wish to visit Amsterdam in front of Augustus; Initially, her oncologist denied the permission but later she was convinced that Hazel would be fine.
Hazel was accompanied by Augustus and her mother. On the way to Amsterdam in-flight, Gus expressed his love for Hazel but she had no answer to give in return. In Amsterdam, they visited Oranjee a famous restaurant for a date. The next day they had an appointment with Peter; Hazel was very excited However, the outcome was totally opposite, as he repeatedly reminded Hazel of her condition and was rudely dismissing all the questions put forward by Hazel. To which she was disheartened and felt emotional. Seeing her cry, Gus promised that he’ll write an epilogue for her it would be 'An Imperial Affliction' meets 'The Prince Of Dawn'.
Augustus was rediagnosed with cancer before leaving for Amsterdam, his parents wanted him to not go but he still went. After returning from the trip, Gus’s health deteriorated, and to cheer him up Hazel would visit him every day.
-What’s next?
Gus told Hazel and Issac to visit him and practice a eulogy, both prepared for it and gave a pre-funeral speech for Gus. A week later, Gus succumbed to cancer.
On the day of the funeral, Hazel with grief and shock approached the casket and realized she would never see Gus’s charming blue eyes.
A few days later, Issac informed Hazel that Gus was writing some sort of ending for a book. Hearing this Hazel sobbingly rushed towards Gus’s home and in the car, she found Peter next to him, he reveals that his daughter was eight when she was diagnosed with leukaemia which in turn, made him alcoholic, rude and evil. He told her that his daughter died with reference to the ending of the
book.
"Grief doesn't change you Hazel. It reveals you"-Peter
She searched for the ending of the book in the entire house but found nothing. A few days later she wrote to the assistance of Peter to check if Gus had sent the ending to him for approval. While Peter was intoxicated with alcohol, his assistant found the email and read it to Hazel.
"I DO,AUGUSTUS. I DO"-Ending of the e-mail
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