The Fault In Our Stars is a young-adult book written by John Green. The main character, Hazel Grace, suffers from thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs and causes her to use an oxygen tank. Her mother has her unwillingly go to a weekly support group, where she becomes friends with Isaac, a seventeen-year-old who has eye cancer (yes, John Green purposely named him Isaac because he was “eye-sick”. This is just one of the ways that readers discover how evil Green truly is). She then meets Augustus Waters, who is already cured of his cancer, after an unspoken staring contest at the support group. The book shows Hazel and Augustus’s story, from them supporting Isaac as he smashes Augustus’s basketball trophies, to The Anne Frank House scene (I can’t say much without spoiling it, but it caught me by surprise, and the same can be said about the other unsuspecting people just trying to learn about Anne’s story…), to discussing who the Dutch Tulip Man truly was. The Fault In Our Stars is funny but also tragic, telling Hazel and Augustus’s love story and how they managed, even knowing about Hazel’s cancer and that she wouldn’t live for long. They bonded over Hazel’s favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, and how psychotic its author, Peter Van Houten, was. (Note: An Imperial Affliction is not a real novel, John Green made it up for The Fault In Our Stars.)
This is my second time reading The Fault In Our Stars, and it’s still just as amazing as it was when I read it last summer. That’s saying a lot for me, because I NEVER re-read books. Hazel’s cancer wasn’t her whole personality, but it still heavily impacted her. Augustus Water’s cigarette metaphor was one of my favorite parts of the book. The fandom is also great most of the time, other than the fact that they sometimes name their lit-up Christmas trees after Augustus (it will make sense after reading the book), and their headcanons are so crazy that they might seem true and force the unfortunate people who find them to re-live the pain of reading this book.
Favorite lines:
“‘Okay?’
‘Okay.’”
“That’s the thing about pain, it demands to be felt.”
“‘Ma’am,’ Augustus said, nodding toward her, ‘your daughter’s car has just been deservedly egged by a blind man. Please close the door and go back inside or we’ll be forced to call the police.’”
“‘This can never be enough for you. But this is all you get. You get me, and your family, and this world. This is your life. I’m sorry if it sucks. But you’re not going to be the first man on Mars, and you’re not going to be an NBA star, and you’re not going to hunt Nazis. I mean, look at yourself, Gus.”
“The marks humans make are too often scars.”
“‘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. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.’
‘I do, Augustus. I do.’”
