The Fault In Our Stars

BOOK REPORT 2018

Danique Combee | 3A3 | 30-04-18

Plot of the story

Hazel Grace Lancaster is a 17-year-old girl from Indiana who lives with cancer. Her parents are worried that she might be depressed because she spends a lot of time in bed, barely goes out and constantly thinks about the death. That’s why they decide to send her to a support group for people with cancer. In one of the meetings, she catches the eye of Augustus Waters, a friend of Isaac who’s also part of the group. Augustus introduced himself and told the group he also had cancer but he managed to recover. After the meeting ended, Augustus approaches Hazel and they start a conversation where he tells her she looks just like Natalie Portman from V for Vendetta. That same day, Augustus invites Hazel to come over and watch V for Vendetta together. Hazel also shares her obsession with one certain book called An Imperial Affliction. They agree to read each other’s favourite book so Augustus recommends The Price of Dawn. Hazel explains the book and many reasons why she likes the book so much. It’s about a girl named Anna who has cancer. She also tells that the book has a very sudden ending and she doesn’t like the fact that she would probably never find out what actually happened to Anna. The author, Peter van Houten, moved to Amsterdam after he published An Imperial Affliction. Hazel used to have a little bit of hope for a sequel but after 10 years she gave up and accepted that she would never found out what happened to the main characters. After about a week, Augustus tells Hazel that he sent an e-mail to the assistant of Peter van Houten who wrote that there will not come a sequel of An Imperial Affliction. Hazel is very disappointed and decides to write him back and askes many questions about the book. Shortly after, she receives a response with him inviting her to come over if she’s ever in Amsterdam because he says he can only answer those questions in person. The next day Augustus invites Hazel on a picnic. After a small conversation about nearly everything what has to do with the Netherlands, Augustus tells Hazel he was allowed to make a wish as he was once a cancer patient. The foundation agreed with his wish; taking Hazel with him to Amsterdam to visit Peter van Houten. As they arrive at van Houten’s place, he is definitely not the person Hazel hoped he would be. He is a mean-spirited drunk person who cannot answer any of Hazel’s questions. His assistant apologizes for his behaviour and proposed to visit the Anne Frank house without Peter. When they arrived all the way up in the museum, Augustus and Hazel kissed. The following day, Augustus tells Hazel that back in Indiana, he had a body scan which revealed his cancer has returned and spread everywhere. They return back to Indiana with the horrible feelings of fear and distress. Hazel's feelings for Augustus were now stronger than before and she realizes that she and Augustus don't have much time left together. Augustus dies eight days later. And Hazel was incredibly surprised to find van Houten at the funeral. He answered a few of Hazel’s questions and explains that Augustus wanted him at the funeral so he and Hazel could meet again. Hazel also finds out that Anna was the name of van Houten’s daughter. An Imperial Affliction was his literary attempt at moving on.

main characters

Hazel Grace Lancaster is a sweet and caring person. She enjoys reading books which is also one of the only hobbies she has. She tries to stay away from as many people as possible because she’s afraid she’ll hurt them when she dies. That’s also one of the main reasons she doesn’t have many friends, even though her parents send her to the support group but she ends up really close with Isaac and Augustus.

Augustus Walters is a funny and cool boy and he definitely wants to emphasize his ego at first but after a short conversation with Hazel about his past with cancer he also shows a sensitive side and even later in the story he becomes a real gentleman. He really likes to play computer games and he likes to read science fiction. That’s why he recommended The Price of Dawn to Hazel.

Most important thing the main character has to do and about the titel

This book doesn’t really have like a certain goal to be reached by the main character. It’s mainly just a story about two people falling in love in different circumstances than most of the people. They both have a unique story about their illness and Hazel’s last goal is to meet Peter van Houten and ask him about the plot of the story so in my opinion that’s the most important thing the main character has to do.

I think that this book has a very special and unique title. The title actually tells the literal definition of cancer; there’s a fault in their cells (“stars”) which resulted in cancer.