The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, 2012 Dutton Publishers

     Hazel has cancer in her lungs. She requires supplemental oxygen to survive, even on a level far below that of normal people. When she meets Augustus Waters through a mutual friend at Support Group she is instantly stunned by his charisma and the fact that he's staring at her.
     Augustus asks Hazel to hang out immediately. He's different than most of the guys she's known: confident in his insecurities, charming, arrogant, but he still understands that life cannot be taken too seriously. In his own way he's fascinating, and thus begins a whirlwind romance.
     They share everything from books to music, stories about their illnesses, families, friends; Hazel and Augustus become the best of friends. When Hazel tells Augustus her questions for the author of her favorite book, and how the author won't respond, Augustus makes it possible for her to ask her questions.
     As his illness progresses, Hazel and Augustus' relationship both deepens and transforms. Hazel acknowledges that it is because of Augustus that she understands her favorite novel even better--that she understands love better.
     The relationship John Green describes in The Fault in Our Stars is not the usual relationship depicted in fiction about cancer. It is a real relationship between two teens facing the mystery of the future; facing the possibility of death.