Love and Death in the Lives of Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters in The Fault in Our Stars, a Novel by John Green

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is a wonderful novel about love and death It’s mostly about death and sadness, It is a simple story about Haze] Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters with the occasional appearance of their friend lsaact Hazel is a young girl who has been struggling with lung cancer since she was twelve, She needs oxygen tubes in her nose to even breathe anymore. She was taken out of school when she was diagnosed so the only social contact she really gets is in her support group One night, her cancerous friend Isaac brings a friend to the support group, His friend, Augustus, is a cancer survivor, losing his leg in the battle. Isaac needed extra support from Augustus that night as he explained to the group that he would be losing his only functional eye to finally be rid of cancer.

That same night, his girlfriend breaks up with him, So, Isaac loses his eye and is left blind and depressingly single, During this whole time, Augustus and Hazel start to bond over their pitiful friend and a book. Imperial Infliction is a book about a girl with cancer. The book ends in midsentence, supposedly because the main character dies. It had been Hazel’s favorite book for as long as she could remember. She recommends it to Augustus and then it becomes his favorite book. They end up rereading it over and over again, and every time they are disappointed by the lack of an ending, Augustus does some research and gets a hold of the author living in Amsterdam.  He then surprises Hazel with a trip down to meet Peter Van Houten, the author. With some arguing with her doctors and parents they are set to go Hazel, Augustus, and Hazel’s mother all head to Amsterdam. It seems like the most magical trip in the world for a while.

Then they meet Peter Van Houten who is actually a raving drunk, He insults the two teens and sends them on their way. We learn later that Van Houten’s book was actually about his daughter who died at eight years old Determined not to have let the lunatic ruin their trip, Hazel and Augustus go to see some Anne Frank memorial, where Hazel finally admits that she is in love with him. It seems like a happy ending until Augustus tells her that his cancer is back. He dies a couple weeks later after she watches him deteriorate. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is really a very deep book and isn’t so hopelessly depressing as it sounds. It leaves many speechless like you could never really say anything to do the meaning of the book any justice. At any rate, it is a good book and I would recommend it to anyone who feels like being depressed and thinking about the inevitable.