The fault in our stars, by John Green (2012).

Setting

The story of the book begins in the United States of America in het present time.  One of the main characters, Hazel Grace Lancaster, who lives in America, really wants to go to Amsterdam (the Netherlands) because her favorite writer lives there. Her friend, Augustus Walter, arranges that Hazel Grace together with him and her mother can go to Amsterdam for a couple of days. There, in Amsterdam, the most important part of the book takes place. After their stay in Amsterdam, the three of them return to America, where the story ends.

(Main) Characters

Hazel Grace Lancaster. Hazel Grace is 16 years old and lives in America, Indianapolis. She has a strange way of humor and knows exactly what she wants and doesn’t want. Hazel Grace has suffered from cancer since she can remember. She has thyroid cancer with a metastasis to her lungs. She always carries an oxygen tank with her, so she’s never out of breath. Probably Hazel Grace won’t heal from cancer and her life expectancy isn’t high. She likes to read books, especially the book ‘An imperial affliction’ by Van Houten. This book is about a girl called Anna who also suffers from cancer and will die soon. Hazel Grace feels connected to Anna and reads this book over and over again. This is one of the reasons her mother thinks Hazel Grace is depressed. Her mother sends her to a support group. Although Hazel Grace doesn’t want to go, she nevertheless goes to support group to make her parents happy. It looks like Hazel Grace has already given up the hope on herself.

Augustus Walter. Augustus (Gus) is 18 years old and lives in the same city as hazel Grace. Although he is a cool and smooth boy, he has got a good heart and is really sincere. Just like Hazel Grace he has suffered from cancer, although but has got cured. Because of his cancer, he misses a half leg and wears prosthesis. Augustus is also going to support group to support his best friend, Isaac. Isaac has suffered from eye cancer. He misses one eye. With the other he only sees a little bit and about time he will lose his other eye as well. Augustus is afraid that when he dies no-one will remember him. He fears oblivion.

Plot

Hazel Grace goes to support group, because her mother wants her to go. One time during support group when she sits on a chair and listens to other people’s stories, a boy is watching her all the time. Hazel gets really nervous and is asking herself why he’s watching her. As soon as support group finished, Hazel walks to the boy and asks him why he was watching her all the time. The boy, Augustus, tells her she is really beautiful and says he likes to watch beautiful people. Then Augustus invites her to come over to his house. The both of them share their stories about their diseases. Hazel tells him about the book An imperial affliction. He decides to read the book for her. They discuss the book and Hazel Grace tells him she doesn’t like the end of the book, because it ends in the middle of a sentence. She really wants to know what happened to the cancer patient, Anna, but the book doesn’t tell.

Augustus contacts by e-mail the secretary of the author Van Houten, Liedewij. He asks her what the end of the book will be. Liedewij replies his e-mail and says that she can’t tell the end of the story by mail.  However she invites them to come to Amsterdam to get the answers on their questions about the book. Hazel Grace really wants to go to Amsterdam but there is one problem; it is almost impossible to go by plane due to her disease. Augustus makes an arrangement with the organization ‘Do a Wish’ which enables her to go to Amsterdam. One month before they go to Amsterdam, something terrible happens to Hazel. She gets a pleural effusion and finds herself on IC. Their trip to Amsterdam seems gone, but with a lot of begging and dealing they manage to go to Amsterdam. On their way to the airport Hazel Grace and her mother stop by the home of Augustus to pick him up. When they arrive, they hear Augustus arguing with his mother. When the arguing stops, the three of them drive to the airport and fly to Amsterdam. Landed in Amsterdam, Augustus and Hazel go to the house of Van Houten to get answers about the end of the book. Liedewij opens the door and let them in. They see Van Houten and he looks like a malicious drunkard. Van Houten refuses to tell how the book ends and Hazel is really disappointed. Liedewij decides to show them the Anne Frank house. In the Anne Frank house are no elevators, so Hazel has to climb all the stairs by herself. When Augustus and Hazel finally get upstairs they kiss each other.

The next day Augustus admits to Hazel Grace that he has had a PET-scan. It says his cancer is back, but now all over his body, which means he’ll die soon. When they are back in Indianapolis, Augustus’ health is deteriorating very fast. He knows he’ll die soon, so he invites Isaac and Hazel Grace to come to his pre-funeral. During this pre-funeral Hazel Grace tells in her grave step how much she loves him. She speaks about math and infinities; that she and Augustus are having an infinity which will, of course, never end. Eight days later Augustus dies. On the funeral of Augustus, Van Houten suddenly appears and tells Hazel Augustus wrote him an e-mail. In this e-mail Augustus forces Van Houten to make things up with her. Van Houten explains to Hazel that the book is based on his daughter Anna, who died at the age of eight. He tries to answer the questions Hazel asked him the first time they’ve met, but Hazel doesn’t wants to listen to him. She wants him to leave the funeral. Van Houten gives Hazel a letter, but she crumples it. A few days later Hazel Grace goes to visit Isaac, who is blind now. Isaac asks her about the letter Augustus wrote her. Hazel Grace doesn’t understand what he is talking about, until she realizes it must be the letter Van Houten gave to her the other day. She finds the letter and reads it. The book ends with her reading the letter.