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Novel The fault in our stars is a great romantic novel.

In writing this book, novelist John Green tells a story of young love with no sense of the future, no belief in a happily ever after. Furthermore, Green rejects the sentimental clichés that tend to structure cancer narratives, about the nobility of suffering and struggle, and the redemption that validates pain and loss. The result is a novel where love is inextricably linked to fear, death, and merciless physical pain, yet still somehow worth it.

Hazel Lancaster, 16, and Augustus Waters, 17, meet and fall in love at a support group for teens with cancer. Augustus, once a rising basketball star, lost a leg to bone cancer, and Hazel carries an oxygen tank with her everywhere due to thyroid cancer that has spread to her lungs. The two are immediately attracted to each other; they share a bright, restless intelligence and a skeptical view of the bland platitudes with which adults cover up the horrible reality of their illnesses. Augustus pursues Hazel determinedly from the start, but she is hesitant to begin a romantic relationship, despite being deeply attracted to him. Hazel's cancer is terminal and she doesn't want to let anyone but her parents get attached to her, knowing they will suffer when she dies; “I am a grenade”, he tells his mother one day (99).

Their relationship develops when they take a trip to Amsterdam, funded by the Genie Foundation, a fictional equivalent of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Augustus, who qualifies for a wish for the loss of his leg, has arranged the trip so Hazel can meet her favorite author, Peter Van Houten; Van Houten agreed via email to discuss his only book, An Imperial Affliction, with them in person. An Imperial Affliction is a sacred book to Hazel; she identifies with the heroine, Anna, who dies of leukemia, and is consumed with a desire to know what happens to the other characters in the book once it ends. In Amsterdam, Hazel and Augustus share a romantic evening before a terribly disappointing encounter with their literary idol. Van Houten is drunk and dismissive; he refuses to answer Hazel's questions about the characters and mocks her for asking them. They leave their house in disgust, and after an arduous climb to the top of the Anne Frank House, Hazel impulsively kisses Augustus, and when they return to the hotel, they have sex for the first time.

On his last day in Amsterdam, Augustus gives Hazel some terrible news, which he has delayed telling her so as not to ruin her trip. His cancer has returned and has spread throughout his body: he is not only sicker than she is, but incurably, deathly ill. Hazel stands by him as the cancer slowly, then faster and faster, destroys Augustus physically, emotionally, and mentally. First he can no longer walk, and then he can no longer eat or control his bowels; finally can barely stay awake or hold a conversation. As Hazel watches desperately, her intelligence, her optimistic spirit, and eventually her sense of humor also fade under the pressure of strong medications and increased pain. He dies in hospital about a month after they return from the Netherlands.