This is most apparent in Isaac’s situation, where one moment he has a devoted girlfriend and the next he’s dumped because she doesn’t want to eventually break up with a blind guy, should the time come. Why do you think Green explores Hazel’s relationships to books and music in such depth? Does it have to do with her difficulty creating relationships with others? Or is her passion coming from somewhere else? (I’ll admit: I’m guilty of Googling An Imperial Affliction because I wish I could have read it after this.)Īs for romantic and platonic love, deep emotions are intertwined with the insecurity and fear that come with cancer. I think Green captured two types of feelings we have toward art: when Hazel listens to music in Augustus’s car and comments that the songs were good, “but because I didn’t know them already, they weren’t as good to me as they were to him,” and when she describes her complicated feelings about sharing An Imperial Affliction with Augustus, and how thankful she is that the novel doesn’t have mass success. Hazel’s relationship to music and books is at the forefront of The Fault in Our Stars.

Identity is a huge theme of this novel, especially through the lenses of love and art. Were you surprised at how frustrating Hazel and Augustus seem to find these well-meaning gestures? Is there something inherently wrong with characterizing people with cancer as “fighters” or “miracles”? I found it interesting when Augustus asked for Hazel’s “story,” and pointed out that he wanted her life story, not her cancer story-it’s difficult enough to come of age, and reading Hazel try to figure out her identity in the midst of dealing with cancer adds a poignant level to her journey. They come in the form of undeserving driver’s licenses and infinitely extended deadlines, to name a few. John Green does a wonderful job of establishing what it’s like to live with the stigma of cancer, (gently) poking fun at how we treat others with the disease with one brilliant term: Cancer Perks. So while The Fault in Our Stars centers on a girl with cancer, another central “character” is the good-intentioned but perhaps uncomfortably sympathetic noncancer crowd Hazel and Augustus have to deal with on an everyday basis. What was your first impression of Hazel? What about her most sticks out to you? Is there anything about her that you find unexpected?

Now die” made me laugh out loud) and then as a terminal cancer patient. How are you enjoying The Fault in Our Stars so far? Do you, too, feel a bit funny using the word “enjoying,” given the subject matter? And yet, that’s what’s so compelling about these first six chapters-Hazel Grace Lancaster is such a charming, straight-shooting narrator that I think of her first as a bright, hilarious teenager (“Congratulations! You’re a woman.

Genre of the fault in our stars