My ISP novel is called The Fault In Our Stars, by John Green. In fact, the movie was just released last Friday, and this novel is one of the most popular books amongst teens. The story takes place in Indianapolis, which is where sixteen year old protagonist Hazel Grace Lancaster is battling Stage 4 Thyroid cancer. Since she has terminal cancer, Hazel is required to carry an oxygen tank everywhere she goes, which makes it very obvious that she has cancer (physically). This causes a barrier between Hazel and society, thus resulting a character vs society conflict. Hazel states, “I could feel everyone watching us, wondering what was wrong with us… That was worse part about having cancer, sometimes: The physical evidence of disease separates you from other people.” (144)

Hazel believes that her time on Earth isn’t as long as most people, and decides to distance herself from others to minimize the number of causalities she leaves behind, and that makes her very anti-social. Even though Hazel doesn’t go to school, she is VERY smart and because she has cancer she spends a lot of time thinking about life; She is very philosophical. Being faced with several situations that have threatened her life, she is very cautious of who becomes close to her because she knows that there is a good chance she will die and she doesn’t want to leave behind emotional damage, and therefore distances herself from people. This internal conflict is important because it affects most of the decisions she makes, and tells us a lot about her personality. In the beginning of the novel Hazel says, “ ‘I’m a grenade and at some point I’m going to blow up and I would like to minimize the casualties…’ ” (99) This quotes implies a lot about Hazels personality, showing how she is very selfless, mature, intelligent, realistic, and cautious. She is not a typical teenager girl.

While attending one of her cancer support group meetings she meets a very handsome boy named Augustus Waters, whom is the foil character of this novel. Augustus and Hazel fall in love with each other during their first encounter but Hazel tries to deny her feelings due to her selfless nature, which is a character vs self conflict that Hazel deals with throughout most of the novel. But since Augustus is very persistent, he tries to make Hazel allow him into her life. His role in the story is to change Hazel, and teach Hazel that it is okay to have people in your life, no matter how short it may be, which is a very important theme throughout the novel. Augustus is fairly different from Hazel as he tries to leave a mark wherever he goes, and tries his best to live his life to its full potential, another theme. He desperately wants to be remembered and missed after he dies. He claims, “If you don't live a life in service of a greater good, you've gotta at least die a death in service of a greater good, you know? And I fear that I won't get either a life or a death that means anything.” (97)

Another conflict that several of the characters are battling is character vs illness as nearly all the characters in the novel have cancer. Both Hazel and Augustus, the main characters have cancer. It is important to the story because it is what the entire story revolves around: it develops plot, conflicts, and the character’s personalities. “What am I at war with? My cancer. And what is my cancer? My cancer is me. The tumors are made of me. They’re made of me as surely as my brain and my heart are made of me.” (John Green, 216) The main theme of The Fault In Our Stars is love triumphs over hardships and struggles as the love between Augustus and Hazel grows and deepens as they overcome their battles with cancer together. In this novel there are SO MANY themes, there’s a good chance you’ve seen at least one online or on TV, or something. A majority of these themes are deprived from the fact that both of the main characters have cancer and are both terminally ill, and could end up dying.

I really liked this novel, as it was funny, relatable, dramatic, and extremely sad, especially at the end. I recommend this book to anyone would enjoy an amazing love story between two star-crossed lovers and to anyone who is curious why this book is so popular, because it’s an amazing read. Or if anyone is lazy, the movie just came out a few days ago.

Green, John. The Fault in Our Stars. New York: Dutton, 2012. Print.