Life for Granted



The Fault In Our Stars
John Green
Review by Madison Strazzullo

Life is short. For some people, shorter than others. Do not take your time on this Earth for granted, you never know when your time will end.

The novel The Fault In Our Stars by John Green is a great example of two teenagers that are not fortunate enough to live a long, happy, painless life. Two teenagers, Hazel and Augustus, live a life with endless hospital visits, multiple near death experiences, and excruciating/chronic pain. To get caught up with the book, you may see my previous blog post.

While in Amsterdam, Augustus tells Hazel about his current health status. He had been hiding his new PET scan from her, trying to protect her from the truth. On the scan, his body lit up like a Christmas tree, showing all the spots of cancer in bright yellow. Hazel reacted to the situation the same way Gus expected, which is why he hesitated to tell her. While laying in bed together, Gus says how he doesn’t get a battle, he doesn’t get the fight back. But, Hazel reassures him that he “gets to battle cancer...That is your battle. And you’ll keep fighting” (216). After arriving home from Amsterdam, Gus starts chemotherapy, hoping to stop the cancer from spreading and potentially killing him. He gets admitted to the emergency room due to chest pains and stays in the ICU for a while, which means Hazel was left without seeing her best friend, and boyfriend. The couple visits the location of their first date once Gus recovers enough to leave the house. After their Last Good Day, Hazel is woken up to a call from Augustus at 2:35 am. He was at a gas station, trying to buy cigarettes for himself after his parents took his away, with an infected g-tube. The infection caused him to become very nauseous. By the time Hazel arrived, there was vomit all over him and his car. The pain he's in causes him to say, “I hate it just let me f*cking die” (245). Hazel calls 911 and he’s rushed to the hospital. They decide to stop chemo and let him die in a peaceful way, instead of relying on medicine until he dies from the cancer anyway. The last day Hazel spends with Gus, he asks her to prepare a eulogy for his funeral. Eight days after his prefuneral, Augustus passed away. He passed while in the hospital. Before his final days arrived, he wrote pages for Hazel to let her know how much he loves and cares for her. The entire Water’s family searched for the pages and after many days they started to give up. But then Hazel realizes he most likely sent his words to Van Houten. In this case, she was correct. She misses him more than anything, and she truly wishes they could’ve spent their life together.

I would recommend this book to any reader. There are many comedic moments in this tragic love story, along with depressing scenes, and also many happy occasions. John Green did an amazing job at expressing star-crossed love, true emotions from one character to another, and fighting through emotional and physical pain. Although most kids are lucky enough to grow old and have their own families, Augustus and Hazel were not as fortunate. After Gus passed, Hazel was extremely hurt. They were truly in love with each other and deserved to live long enough to have their own family and future together. If it weren’t for Van Houten saying, “some infinities are bigger than other infinities” (260), Hazel would’ve taken his passing a lot harder than she did. My favorite theme of this book is making the best out of every situation. Although she has been through a lot in the second half of the book, Hazel still looks forward to everyday and makes the best out of every moment she has.
This novel would best satisfy readers that enjoy romantic love stories, but would also suit any other reader as well. If you ever get the chance, I would wholeheartedly recommend reading it.

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