A Trip to Amsterdam

Hazel Grace is now better and no longer has pain in her head, but still, there was a meeting with all of her doctors to discuss if she was going to be able to go to Amsterdam; at first they say no, but Hazel learns later that night at dinner that they changed their mind and that she was going to be able to go with Augustus Waters. The day to leave has finally arrived and Hazel and her mom go pick Augustus from his house and head straight to the airport. Once they were in the airplane Hazel found out that it was the first time Augustus was flying in the plane and he was extremely excited about it, that is when he tells Hazel he is in love with her. They get to Amsterdam and at night, Augustus and Hazel have a reservation at a really fancy restaurant were they have amazing food, and the next day, the go to meet the famous author Hazel wanted to meet; when they got there they found out the man was a drunk jerk and treats them terribly. The last day in Amsterdam Augustus tells Hazel that he has a terrible big news for her; he told her that all of his cancer had returned and that it was his time to fight this battle when he returns home.

“My cancer is me. The tumors are made of me” (216).

This is a moment when Augustus Waters accepts that this is a battle created by him that he has to fight. He mentions that it is not nature’s fault that you end up in this circumstance and that people need to learn to accept and to fight this battle with strength and courage in order to survive in it. This is what Augustus tells Hazel about what he is planning to do on the future and in exchange we can see how she has been able to go through so much since a very young age with issue and how she will continue fighting and doing the best she can in order to save herself.

“I’m on a roller coaster that only goes up” (218).

It was not easy for Augustus to tell Hazel that he has been diagnosed with cancer once more in his life, and that the medicine he has been taking hasn’t been that effective on him. That is why he expresses his life as a roller coaster because it is something that is never over and his disease keeps growing until it reaches a point were it either goes down and brings life back to normal or stops and ends a life. Augustus life seemed to be getting back to normal but unexpectedly got cancer again and started his fight all over again. I like how John Green expresses his ideas through metaphors, this makes the book more interesting and engaging while reading.

Final Thoughts

This moment of the book explains how even people with health problems do the best they can to live their life the way they want to. Augustus and Hazel both have terrible cancer situations that can cause them death at any moment but still choose to travel all the way to Europe to meet a person they admire. These two teenagers are enjoying every opportunity provided to them and are trying to make the most out of every situation in order to have a good time when it is possible for them. In Amsterdam, they go to amazing places together were they get to know each other more and have a better relationship; they try new things and experience a world that they live far away from.