The Fault in Our Stars Summary

Hazel Grace Lancaster has been living with cancer for three of her seventeen years of life. Despite this, she is a girl with a vibrant mind, biting wit, and incredible empathy for the position into which she puts her parents of having to care for her. Her cancer began as thyroid cancer but spread to her lungs, causing her to need to breathe oxygen from a tank at all times throughout the day. She attends a support group at a church; there, she meets a friend named Isaac and a romantic interest named Augustus. Augustus has been in remission after losing his leg some years prior, so Hazel hesitates in starting a relationship with him, not wanting to hurt him if her illness takes another turn for the worse. She introduces Augustus to her favorite book, and he forms a plan in which they will travel to Amsterdam together (using the "Wish" given to him by a foundation for children with cancer) to meet the reclusive and mysterious author and find out what happens after the book's end. They are able to take this trip, but when they arrive to meet the author he is drunk and surly. At the end of the trip, Augustus reveals to Hazel that his cancer has come back and is much worse than the previous time. They return home and Hazel stays by his side until his death. The author attends Augustus's funeral and tries to apologize to Hazel; she realizes that his book, which is about a young girl with cancer, was based on his daughter who died. Hazel copes with Augustus's death, comforting herself with the strength of her family and a letter about her that Augustus sent to the author before his death.