Two cancer-stricken teens live life to the fullest in the face of death. Hazel Grace Lancaster is a 17-year-old girl who must fight for her life everyday with stage four terminal thyroid cancer. She has been out of public school for three years and by a 'miracle' testing group, is still alive. She is not cured of cancer, but she can live...for the time being. One day, sooner rather than later, the cancer will take her life. She is always hooked up to an oxygen tank, her main life source. Her days consist of watching reality TV shows with her two best friends, who are also her parents, and going to a support group for teens with cancer that her mother urges her to go to for some social interaction. At the support group, Hazel mainly rolls her eyes at the over-the-top leader who pushes Jesus down their throats, until Augustus Waters shows up.
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Augustus in unlike anyone Hazel has ever met before. Handsome and around her age, Augustus can't stop staring at Hazel. After the group finished, Augustus approaches Hazel, and tells her how beautiful he is. Hazel, with her hair cut short and oxygen in her nose due to treatments, can't imagine anyone thinking she's beautiful yet she's intrigued by Augustus, whose been in remission for a year and a half, with the casualty of a lost-leg. Just as she is thinking about giving him a chance, Augustus puts a cigarette in his mouth and Hazel is appalled. Augustus assures Hazel that he never actually lights the cigarette, rather it's a metaphor - he puts the killing thing in his mouth, but doesn't give it the power to actually kill him.
While Hazel is attracted to Augustus and loves spending time with him, she is hesitant to get involved with him due to the fact that she is a 'grenade' and can go off at any moment. She knows her parents will be devastated if she dies, and she doesn't want Augustus to be hurt too. Despite Hazel's worry, Augustus is insistent on being friends. They spend most of their time together and bond over a book, "An Imperial Affliction" about a woman with Cancer. The book they are reading ends abruptly and using his "Cancer Wish" Augustus gets Hazel and himself tickets to Amsterdam to visit with the author to find out how the story actually ends.
Hazel's mom travels with the couple to Amsterdam, where for once in their lives, they are two semi-normal people. They spend romantic days sightseeing by the river and trying exotic/foreign foods. Hazel realizes she can't hold out anymore, she is completely in love with Augustus and the two share a kiss and make love while on their trip. They never get the answers to the end of the book, as the author is crazy and terribly rude to them, forcing them to leave. It is then we learn that Augustus' cancer has returned in a vengeful way. He is given weeks to live.
Hazel and Augustus return home and make the most of their limited time together. As Hazel says, "You gave me a forever within a numbered of days." Augustus passes all-too-soon for Hazel or any of his friends' liking, but Hazel realizes that having Augustus in her life was better than never having his love at all.
Best part of story, including ending:
I loved this story because of the unpredictable twist. For more than the first half of the story, the reader is expecting Hazel to be the one in the relationship who is closer to death, yet in the end it is the stronger of the two-- Augustus who dies.
Best scene in story:
Hazel is very adverse to falling in love with Augustus, yet one scene changes that. Augustus is reading to Hazel at her kitchen table. the formation of his words, his little quips--make Hazel realize that she can't stop loving him. "I fell in love with him the way you fall asleep: slowly and then, all at once." That is the turning point in the story.
Opinion about the main character:
I like the strength and more importantly the blunt fear that Hazel demonstrates throughout the story. While the reader knows she is strong and a cancer survivor, the sheer honest fear she feels for those around her is so vulnerable and relatable.
This is the story of Hazel and Augustus (Gus), two teenage cancer patients who fall in love with each other despite the hardships in their own lives. Hazel wants very badly to go to Amsterdam to meet Peter van Houten, the author of her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction. Unfortunately, her family can't afford the trip. Hearing this, Gus uses his wish from "The Genies" to send them both to Amsterdam where they meet the author and become very physically intimate. When the couple arrives back home, Gus confesses that his cancer has returned and he doesn't have long to live. The story ends on a tragic yet sweet note.
Best part of story, including ending:
I loved the emotions that the book stirs up in the reader. It's impossible to read this book and not feel anything.
Best scene in story:
My favorite scene was probably when Hazel and Gus visit the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam because it's the first time that they physically give in to their love for each other.
Opinion about the main character:
I love Hazel's fortitude. Even when things are at their worst, she finds a way to keep moving forward.
