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Hazel Attends Support Group
Hazel Grace, a 16 year old cancer patient from Indianapolis, is often forced by her mother to attend Support Group at their local hospital. Support group is a place for other patients to talk about their feelings and sickness conditions. Hazel had never been one to enjoy support group, but one day her mother forces her to go in hopes that Hazel may make some friends. Just to Hazel's mother's luck, Hazel meets a boy named Augustus, or Gus, and happens to fall in love with him. -
Hazel and Gus Trade Books
Hazel and Gus, both being cancer patients, tend to find joy through reading. One day, Gus invites Hazel over. Hazel gives Gus her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, and Gus gives Hazel The Prince of Dawn. Both books would not normally apply to their different readers, but they are willing to give them a shot for eachother. Gus reading An Imperial Affliction will tie into many more events throughout the book. This is important because these books bring Hazel and Gus closer together. -
Gus' Plan
After reading An Imperial Affliction and realizing it has no ending, Gus realizes that he must find out the ending for Hazel. He contacts Lidewij, the author's assistant. She says that Van Houten, the author, would be happy to answer their questions. Gus then sends Van Houten an e-mail asking their questions. This is important because Hazel will finally be able to find out what happens in her favorite book. -
Van Houten Replies
After waiting weeks for a reply, Van Houten finally replies to Gus' e-mail saying that he will only answer their questions in person. You see, Van Houten didn't want there to be an ending and he is scared that if he sends the answers in an e-mail, Gus and Hazel might post his answers on the internet. He invites them to visit him in Amsterdam if they are ever there. Being invited to Amsterdam opens up many new opportunities for both Gus and Hazel. -
The Picnic
After Gus sees Van Houten's reply, he plans a picnic to tell Hazel that he will be taking her to Amsterdam to meet Van Houten. All cancer patients have a Wish, or one opportunity to go anywhere in the world. When Gus tells Hazel, she is very excited, but then she becomes sad suddenly. She begins to realize how much she will hurt Gus when she dies and she begins to refer to herself as a grenade. She uses this metaphor because one day she will just go off, or die, and everything will be ruined. -
Back In The Hospital
After trying to figure out what to do for Gus, Hazel's lungs fill with water. She is immediatley transported to the hospital. She feels like this is the first sign of her being a grenade. Gus comes to visit her and gives her a letter from Van Houten. While she is in the hospital, she becomes very determined to go to Amsterdam, but when she gets out of the hospital, neither her parents or doctors think she is strong enough. -
Off To Amsterdam
After many days of Hazel trying to recover, her doctor, Maria, finally convinces her parents that she needs to live. Hazel is then able to go to Amsterdam along with Gus and her mother. This event is important because this is when she will finally meet her favorite author. -
Meeting Van Houten
When Hazel and Gus arrive at Van Houten's house, they are greeted by his assistant, Lidewij. This is when they find out that all along Van Houten had not invited them, Lidewij had. Van Houten was not the amazing author Gus and Hazel thought he was. He was actually a man who was always drunk and was quite rude. After Van Houten had made many rude remarks about cancer, Gus, Hazel, and Lidewij all stormed out of his house and searched for something better to do. -
Gus' Cancer Came Back
The next day, Gus tells Hazel that while she was in the hospital, he had a body scan done. The doctors found that Gus' cancer had come back and it had spread throughout his body. When they return to Indianapolis, Hazel realizes that Gus is now the grenade. As Gus' days of living decrease, he has Hazel and Isaac, a close friend of them both, plan a prefuneral for him. Hazel tells Gus that she wouldn't trade their time together for anything in the world. -
Augustus Dies
Eight days after Gus' prefuneral, Gus actually dies. Isaac and Hazel attend his funeral like planned. When Hazel arrives, she is shocked to see that Van Houten is at the funeral. Van Houten tells Hazel that he had come because Gus e-mailed him and told him that he had to make up for their trip to Amsterdam. Van Houten then offers to answer Hazel's questions, but she is no longer interested. She listens to the answer anyway, though.
