By Miranda Miller

I would be lying if I said The Fault In Our Stars didn’t hit close to home. The emotional pain of physical loss is one that really resonates with me. When I was 5 years old my sister died of  a massive stroke from having major complications from one of her heart surgeries. When I was younger I was surrounded by terminally ill patients all of the time. Children who were losing so much of their life at such a young age. They should be out running around on the playground or celebrating getting all their math facts right, Not sitting around in a hospital just waiting to see whether they live or die. As someone who had to spend three years surrounded by patients like this it has really made me look at the world much differently. And just how unfair this world is in so many twisted and evil ways. So I really do understand why Hazel would feel confused as to what her meaning of life is. How can you feel like you’re making an impact when you are dying so young? No one deserves that. 

The Fault In Our Stars is a heart-wrenching book about Hazel Grace Lancaster,  a 16 year old girl who struggles with thyroid cancer that has now spread to her lungs. She goes to a group meeting every week to discuss the struggles and triumphs of being a terminal patient. In these meetings she meets Augustus Waters, a teenager who is also struggling with terminal cancer. As they begin to get to know each other more and more, Hazel begins to fall in love with Augustus. They know they don’t have much time left in their lives but they spend it together enjoying each other’s company. During this time Hazel Grace continues to struggle with coming to terms with the fact that she is most likely going to die young. She is overwhelmed and so taken back by her diagnosis and not having much time left in this world. 

Through their group sessions Hazel grows closer with Augustus Waters over a common book that they both really enjoy called An Imperial Affliction. They grow a relationship and it grows into a romantic connection.   They even go to meet the author of An Imperial Affliction. The book depicts a story of a girl named Anne who has cancer and Hazel Grace really felt connected to her story. Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters bond over the meaning of this book. However, when Hazel meets with Peter Van Houten (the author), she is stunned at how Van Houten is a drunk and unwilling to answer any of her questions.  Lidewij Vliegenthart is Peter Van Houten’s assistant. She really helps him try to get out of a dark place because he is stuck in his daughter’s death and has become an alcoholic. Her boyfriend Las and her have an amazing relationship and have no medical problems. Hazel and Augustus spend all the time they can together discovering the views that they have about their time spent left on earth. His condition got so bad that it ended up taking his life  Hazel pondered:, “ I missed the future. Obviously I knew even before his recurrence that I’d never grow old with Augustus Waters. But thinking about Lidewij and her boyfriend, I felt robbed. I would probably never see the ocean from thirty thousand feet above, so far up that you can’t make out the waves or any boats, so that the ocean is a great and endless monolith. I could imagine it. I could remember it. But I couldn’t see it again, and it occurred to me that the voracious ambition of humans is never sated by dreams coming true, because there is always the thought that everything might be done better and again” (Green 305).  

 This specific passage holds so much value to the book as a whole. It explores how Hazel is dealing with the pain and loss of Augustus’s death. It also explores one of the major themes present in the book which is facing death. Hazel Grace has had to face the brink of death her entire life with her terminal condition. But when death happens you never expect it. And especially with Augustus who she built a connection to and felt as though they should have had more time with. Losing someone so close to you like that can really show you how precious time can be and it shows the value of every moment. In this passage specifically we get to understand Hazel’s thoughts and feelings of envy towards others for getting to live a full life. This might come across as selfish to someone who doesn’t understand who Hazel is or what she is facing. But Hazel is full of life and ambitions, and faces so many challenges that sometimes she gets blinded with not enjoying the time she does have. John Green appeals to our emotions with Hazel’s life and her struggles with learning to deal with the cards that life has dealt her.

John Green gives us an all encompassing look into Hazel Grace’s life, which makes sense because the book is centralized on Hazel’s thoughts and emotions dealing with terminal cancer. The book itself is written in first person so that is why we get an  understanding of her emotions and feelings. Hazel tends to spend a lot of time in her head–that is why a majority of the story we get to know Hazel as an observer in the story. We do see a shift progressing through the story that shows us that Hazel is influenced by Augustus. Hazel is mostly an observer in the story but we do see other things that influence her perspective.  Hazel tends to show us more of her own emotions and feelings so we get a more subjective view to her life. The majority of the story focuses on her emotions so we really get to love and feel connected to Hazel as a character. I learned that the hard way right at the beginning of my life with my sister dying. I learned that every single moment you spend with someone it could be your last time with them. Life is so incredibly precious and every moment counts. You might think you can go get coffee one more time at that coffee shop nearby. But what if you can’t? What if that was the very last time? Those are all questions we could be asking ourselves if we decide not to live in the moment and do the things that we love and live life to the fullest. 

The Fault In Our Stars explores the idea of facing death in great detail. Not only does Hazel have to deal with the reality that her life could be ending very abruptly, but she has to deal with her boyfriend dying of terminal cancer. It seems like in society today everyone takes death in different ways. Most people are unaware or oblivious to the fact that there are youth who are dying every single day. They live their life fearlessly and sometimes recklessly and don’t value the importance of every moment. Every second of every day we make so many decisions that impact our life. John Green uses emotional appeal to the reader to understand Hazel’s life and her everyday struggles. I mean, Hazel really has been drawn a bad deck of cards in her life. How many things can this girl go through before breaking? I honestly think The Fault In Our Stars should be a must read. The lessons and value that you obtain about life through the book makes it worth turning every page. I am not your avid reader. I am typically more of a movie and tv show person myself. So I get the hesitation of getting a book. But honestly I got so lost in the book that hours had gone by and I had no idea. But in all seriousness the value that this book has on your life will make you realize just how important life is.