Personal response– The Fault in our stars by John Green

Brief outline-The fault in our stars by John Green is a book and a film based on 2 main characters Hazel Grace and Augustus Waters who both have cancer Hazel has stage 4 lung cancer and Gus lost part of his leg with cancer, the two characters meet in a support group Hazel is forced to go to by her mother Frannie and father Michael.

Hazel meets Gus during the support group session discussing fears and from there on became a great friendship developing into a love story as the two sick teens spend lots of time together bonding over each others favourite book Hazel gives her favourite book to Gus to read called “An Imperial Affliction” about a girl that has leukemia Gus said he was surprised that the book ended mid sentence, Hazel then expressed that she had written hundreds of letter to the author Peter Van Houten asking what happens in the end, Hazel then gets a response from Peter saying thank you for their interest in the book and invited them to visit him in Amsterdam.

Later on Hazel is rushed to hospital because her lungs filled with fluid making it difficult to breathe once she is better she expresses to Gus about how she is like a grenade and that she will blow up and destroy everything and she does not want to hurt Gus so she thinks it’s best that they remain friends. Both Hazel and Gus are emailed by Peters assistant whom extends the invitation again after Hazel is surprised by her mother that her and Gus are in fact going to Amsterdam in a week.

They fly to Amsterdam together a day later they head on their way to meet Peter Van houten they are disgusted by their encounter with Van houten as he sits in his pjs drinking whisky surrounded in unopened fan letters listening to swedish rap as they try to speak she asks questions about the ending and what happens Van houten then responds with “philosophical nonsense” and goes on to make rude comments about Gus and Hazels sicknesses this obviously not being the answers they wanted to hear they storm out of his apartment upset, Van Houten’s assistant rushes out to walk after the sick teens apologizing for Van Houtens behavior then takes them to the anne frank house as Hazel climbs every step to the top gasping for breath Hazel and Gus share their first kiss later on that day they make love for the first time showing there love for one another.

On their final day together in Amsterdam Gus then goes on to confess that he got a pet scan and he “lit up like a christmas tree” that the cancer had returned to his body and has spread throughout, Hazel cries and knows that this is very bad as the teens return to home Gus is later on sent to the hospital in an ambulance by Hazel when they met at a gas station and he’s in his car covered in his own vomit because of an affection in his abdomen from his G-tube, after this Gus has more cancer treatment but then decides stops taking chemo, and proceeds in a wheelchair after hospital Gus talk to Hazel about how he wants to make an impact on the world before he dies the teen and their friend (who also has cancer) go to a church and have a before funeral for gus because it’s what he wanted so he could be “at his own funeral” after this Gus dies 8 days later there was a proper funeral for Gus she is surprised when she seen the author of her favourite book there Peter van houten he explained the ending and meaning of his book and how it was about his daughter that passed away from leukemia at the age of 8, after this peter gives her a letter and she screws it up and throws it away out of upset, later on her and Gusses friend comes over to comfort her and asks if she read the letter Gus wrote that van houten was looking after. She finds the note and reads it in his voice as she cries and reads the final line “okay Hazel Grace” as it ends with her looking up to the stars and replies with “okay”…

Personal Response-This movie hits me close to home it’s very emotional and heart warming, the whole movie based around cancer personally reminds me of a large portion of my life with how Hazel’s parents watch their sick daughter struggling everyday and can’t do anything about it except support and care for her the best way they can as i do everyday with my dad who has von hippel lindau which is a Tumor suppressor gene which causes tumors throughout the body potentially being cancerous in this case they are and there is cancer throughout his body reducing his life as cancer has to Hazel and Gus. I think this movie/book would reach out to most audiences, and people who are possibly going through cancer or know of someone going through cancer as i am experiencing and this is why i think possibly this movie reached and impacted me more than your average person having a deeper meaning to me than other who are not connected to cancer at all.

This moving is a touching story to not just me but other people it left me in tears when i found out the end of the movie it was moving and inspiring to me it left me feeling happy and grateful for the time i still have with my dad and how to be positive and not dwell on the fact of him being sick just like Hazel’s parents did giving her all they could give to her to make her happy and have an enjoyable life, this story show me how easy it is loose the things that you love in Hazels case loving Gus and him passing away and to make the most of the time you have with the people you love and care about because you never know when that can be taken away from you.

There is a link in the movie where it sort of based around a book “An Imperial Affliction” by Peter Van Houten Hazel’s love for the book inspires Gus to reach out for an answer to the ending as it finishes mid sentence and there is no real ending i personally believe this has been linked in the way that we don’t know our ending how we are all a book each and everyone one of us are still writing the chapters of our life with memories from our past and present but the future is still yet to be written because we don’t know what will happen in our future i believe this because at the start of the movie i truly thought Hazel was going to be the one to pass away and not Gus and when i found out it was like a sudden ending to a book that was never finished written just like “An imperial Affliction” finishing mid sentence

The love story created between the two teens personally reminds me of how my love story goes two teenagers fall in love under unusual circumstances spend time together forming a beautiful relationship between two lovers who would do anything in the world to make eachother happy as Gus did organising the Amsterdam trip to help Hazel find the truth to the ending of her favourite book risking a lot to make her happy and enjoy the time they had together him knowing it would be limited but not telling her he was so sick he was going to die because he didn’t not want to ruin there time and not hurt her, he really did love her he wrote to the author of her favourite book before his passing asking for help to write an eulogy letter to Hazel because he knew he would not be there for her funeral he said “And I willed myself to imagine a world without us… and what a worthless world that would be. She’s so beautiful. You don’t get tired of looking at her. You never worry if she’s smarter than you… because you know she is. She’s funny without ever being mean. I love her. God, I love her” you can see from this he truly loved her and words could not express his undying “love” for Hazel, this makes me happy how two people with similar pasts can fall in love and still be happy with the circumstances i feel happy and greatful my boyfriend is healthy as am i and 2 years later our love still goes on as Hazels and Guses love has gone on even after Gus’s death.

Although the ending of this movie left me grieving for Hazels loss .I was still infatuated with the emotions the movies gives off sadness, love, compassion, strength makes me think about what i would do if i were either put in Hazel or Guses situation thinking about this left me in tears and sorrow, Gus said “the thing is, we all want to be remembered. But Hazel’s different. Hazel knows the truth. She didn’t want a million admirers. She just wanted one. And she got it” and Gus was that one. In the final sentence of the movie Hazel goes on to read “I’m so lucky to love her, Van Houten. You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world… but you do have a say in who hurts you. And I like my choices. I hope she likes hers. Okay, Hazel Grace?” This final sentence reminds me of hurt and death both being difficult things for a person to live with and process it’s a sensitive topic to fall upon as i’m sure most people have experienced some sort of loss and hurt at some point in their life, some at different ages than others like being as young as Hazel and Gus must be hard because the adolescent mind is still learning how to cope with things as adults have developed with coping easier with situations that may be difficult. As i have learnt coping can be hard especially in the situation of the big bad C word cancer how it doesn’t just affect just the the carrier of the cancer but the loved ones around them. Overall i think this movies had a happy ending even after Gus’s death
He was happy she was happy grieving can ruin a person for quite some time it never feels right when that person is gone it’s like the world has tried to delete a part of the world that kept it together, as if its left a hole in your side and everything is wrong everything feels so wrong and i know what loss and grief feels like this may have been how Hazel felt after the ending of the movie each person reacts differently to grief or hurt as Hazel was strong she was a fighter in a battle with herself we don’t know what ended up happening to Hazel the ending was so sudden it’s like the chapter just ended mid sentence the story was not complete finished just like an “An Imperial Affliction”….. I believe the writer John Green has a great understanding of what he is writing about this may have been based of an experience he personally had in his life of loss, death, grief it may have been a way of catharsis to him. I believe there is a link between the film and Hazels favourite book and the meaning of both and how they link together to create a greater ending that was never written in the book “An imperial Affliction”, I think the story was beautiful and eye opening and brave story to write about impacting me greatly due to personal experiences with cancer, loss and love. As the movie ends his voice saying “okay Hazel Grace” as if has asking a rhetorical question to what he had written asking for approval, as the final words end with “okay” ending the film with a smile on her face so I believe truly in the end she was happy even after the tragedy of Gus’s death as I have also experienced happiness even after loss because I think both Hazel and I in a way knew there is not point in being upset we need to celebrate life not dwell on it because it doesn’t get you anywhere move forward and finishing in happiness.