Welcome to Binge-worthy Books, where we review the title for that month's edition of our new Streaming Book Club, a book club around those titles that were later turned into hot new streaming shows or movies. So sit back and relax. We're getting ready to binge another book: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green
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The Fault In Our Stars
by John Green
Book Summary
The beloved, #1 global bestseller by John Green, author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and Turtles All the Way Down
“John Green is one of the best writers alive.” –E. Lockhart, #1 bestselling author of We Were Liars
“The greatest romance story of this decade.″ –Entertainment Weekly
#1 New York Times Bestseller • #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller • #1 USA Today Bestseller • #1 International Bestseller
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.
From John Green, #1 bestselling author of The Anthropocene Reviewed and Turtles All the Way Down, The Fault in Our Stars is insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw. It brilliantly explores the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love. -- Publisher Description
The FOX/Disney Movie: The Fault In Our Stars
A different kind of star-crossed in this love story. Two teens meet in a cancer support group. Sharing books and music and life experiences, they both fall for one another, inspite of relapses and other challenges. It is a tear-jerker and full of heart. The film stays very close to the book, and casting is by all accounts spot on. The original book, The Fault In Our Stars, was loosely based on the author's discussions with internet celebrity Esther Earl, who gained fame blogging and posting videos about her experiences with cancer. However, it has been stated before: This is not a book about cancer.
Discussion Questions
LitLovers.com Questions
John Green derives his book's title from a famous line in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings." (I,ii,139-140). What does the line mean—and why would Green have used it for his title? Even more important, why would he have altered it to read, "The fault in our stars" rather than ourselves? How does Green's meaning differ from Shakespeare's?
How would you describe the two main characters, Hazel and Gus? Do either of them conform, in behavior or thinking, to what we normally associate with young cancer patients? How do the two differ from one another...and how do their personality traits and interests complement each other?
How do Hazel and Gus each relate to their cancer? Do they define themselves by it? Do they ignore it? Do they rage at life's unfairness? Most importantly, how do the two confront the big questions of life and death?
Do you find some of the descriptions of pain, the medical realities that accompany cancer, or the discussion of bodily fluids too graphic?
At one point, Hazel says, "Cancer books suck." Is this a book about cancer? Did you have trouble picking up the book to read it? What were you expecting? Were those expectations met...or did the book alter your ideas?
John Green uses the voice of an adolescent girl to narrate his story. Does he do a convincing job of creating a female character?
Hazel considers An Imperial Affliction "so special and rare that advertising your affection for it feels like a betrayal." Why is it Hazel's favorite book? Why is it so important that she and Gus learn what happens after its heroine dies? Have you ever felt the same way about a book as Hazel does—that it is too special to talk about?
What do you think about Peter Van Houten, the fictional author of An Imperial Affliction? This book's real author, John Green, has said that Van Houten is a "horrible, horrible person but I have an affection for him." Why might Green have said that? What do you think of Van Houten?
Green once served as a chaplain in a children's hospital, working with young cancer patients. In an interview, he referred to the "hero's journey within illness"—that "in spite of it, you pull yourself up and continue to be alive while you're alive." In what way does Green's comment apply to his book—about two young people who are dying? Is theirs a hero's journey? Is the "pull yourself up" phrase an unseemly statement by someone, like the author or any reader, who is not facing a terminal disease?
What did you make of the book's humor? Is it appropriate...or inappropriate? Green has said he "didn't want to use humor to lighten the mood" or "to pull out the easy joke" when things got hard. But, he said, he likes to write about "clever kids, [and they] tend to be funny even when things are rough." Is his use of humor successful? How did it affect the way you read the book?
After his chaplaincy experience, Green said he believed that "life is utterly random and capricious, and arbitrary." Yet he also said, after finishing The Fault in Our Stars that he no longer feels that life's randomness "robs human life of its meaning...or that it robs even lives of people who don't get to have full lives." Would you say that the search for meaning—even, or especially, in the face of dying—is what this book explores? Why...or why not?
How do Hazel and Gus change, in spirit, over the course of the novel?
Talk about how you experienced this book? Is it too sad, too tragic to contemplate? Or did you find it in some way uplifting?
ReadingGroupGuides.com Questions
During a disagreement regarding Hazel’s attendance at Support Group, her mother tells her, “Hazel, you deserve a life.” Consider the irony of this statement. Why is Hazel so resistant to attending her Support Group? Though she doesn’t acknowledge it, what might be some of the benefits of her attending?
In what ways does Augustus’s introduction to Hazel’s world complicate matters for her? How does their relationship profoundly change her life?
Augustus inquires about Hazel’s background and tells her, “Don’t tell me you’re one of those people who becomes their disease.” In what ways do Augustus, Hazel, and Isaac fight to keep cancer from defining who they are? How do they work to prevent it from consuming all aspects of them?
Though they are intended to inspire and motivate, why does Augustus find humor in his family’s posted “Encouragements”? What can readers glean about him based on his reaction?
Though her all-time favorite book is AN IMPERIAL AFFLICTION, Hazel shares that she doesn’t like telling people about it because “there are books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like a betrayal.” What do you believe she means by this statement? Do you agree? Have you ever had a personal connection with a work of art? If so, what was it about the work that “spoke” to you?
Hazel shares that through his novel, Peter Van Houten is the only person who understands what it’s like to be dying and not have died. What is it about his perspective that makes Hazel feel so connected to this author?
Why does Hazel feel so desperate to find out what happens beyond the ending of AN IMPERIAL AFFLICTION. What does this indicate about her need for understanding about what comes “after”?
Compare the parent/child relationships in the story: Hazel and her parents and Augustus and his parents. To what extent are the relationships of these characters shaped by the world around them? To what extent do their relationships shape that world?
After hearing Augustus state that he fears oblivion, Hazel tells him, “...even if we survive the collapse of our sun, we will not survive forever.” How does her pragmatic understanding of the frailty of humanity help her remain grounded?
Considering Hazel’s and Augustus’s perspectives, in what ways is THE FAULT IN OUR STARS a story about things that have been lost? What does each of them find along the way?
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