How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
I didn't tell him that the diagnosis came three months after I got my first period. Like: Congratulations! You're a woman. Now die. (2.13)
There have been entire YA books written about girls getting their periods. For Hazel, this major life change is just a blip on the radar.
Quote #2
did the totally middle-schooly thing wherein I put my hand on the couch about halfway between us to let him know that it was okay to hold it (2.92)
These moments remind us that, no matter what other craziness is going on in Hazel's life, in some ways she's just a normal kid. Who's really bad at flirting, we might add.
Quote #3
I laughed again, and told him that having most of your social engagements occur at a children's hospital also did not encourage promiscuity (8.36)
And then, of course, we're brought right back to reality. Hazel and Augustus don't have a normal teenage life. Seven minutes in heaven is a lot harder to coordinate in a hospital closet.
Quote #4
The whole affair was the precise opposite of what I figured it would be: slow and patient and quiet and neither particularly painful nor particularly ecstatic. (12.219)
Leave it to Hazel to tell the readers what it was like to lose her virginity. Is this landmark event any different for her and Augustus given their situations?
Quote #5
"I don't know what I believe, Hazel. I thought being an adult meant knowing what you believe, but that has not been my experience." (14.34)
No one's got it all figured out. Hazel's dad admits this to her, and maybe it helps to know that even if she did live to adulthood, it wouldn't mean that she'd have more insight than she does now.
Quote #6
All I wanted was an old-fashioned Teenager Walkout, wherein I stomp out of the room and slam the door to my bedroom and turn up The Hectic Glow and furiously write a eulogy. (20.22)
Any teenager will agree that one of the keys to growing up is suddenly not getting along with your parents. How does Hazel's relationship with her parents differ from a normal teenager-parent relationship?
Quote #7
I wondered if my wall would look like this if I died, or if I'd been out of school and life long enough to escape widespread memorialization. (21.13)
Hazel's obviously grown way faster than lot of her peers, but unfortunately that means that a lot of them have forgotten about her, too.
Quote #8
"You are going to live a good and long life filled with great and terrible moments that you cannot even imagine yet!" (22.16)
Augustus really was excited about what was in store for him as he grew older. Do you think he lived his life to the fullest, despite the fact that it was cut short?
Quote #9
I kept thinking there were two kinds of adults: There were Peter Van Houtens—miserable creatures who scoured the earth in search of something to hurt. And then there were people like my parents, who walked around zombically, doing whatever they had to do to keep walking around. (22.52)
Which kind of adult will Hazel be? Which kind of adult would Augustus have been?