Chapters 11-15 Summary

Hi everyone! Kathy here with the summary for the latest section of The Fault in Our Stars!

In chapter 11, they arrive in Amsterdam. Hazel and Augustus retire to their respective hotel rooms for a few hours before dinner, which they have at a fancy restaurant, Oranjee, without their parents. They each have some champagne, which both have a higher tolerance for due to the cancer treatment they've both undergone. They talk a bit about a capital-S Something that occurs after life and what constitutes a life worth living. They go for a walk along the canal and Augustus tells Hazel about his previous relationship with his ex girlfriend Caroline, who died of brain cancer about a year prior to the events of The Fault in Our Stars. Hazel tells him that she doesn't want her to do that to him, but Augustus reassures her that "it would be a pleasure" to have his heart broken by her.

In chapter 12, they visit Peter Van Houten. Hazel chooses to dress like the protagonist of his novel An Imperial Affliction, Anna. They don't get a very warm welcome, as Van Houten doesn't seem happy to have them there and tells his assistant to tell them to leave immediately. However, she convinces him to let them stay on account of Hazel's cancer and the fact that they came all the way from Indiana for this moment. Van Houten is quite obviously a drunk and refuses to tell them of the fate of any characters of AIA, save for the hamster. He dismisses all of Hazel's other questions and refuses to answer even when she gets extremely worked up and angry at him. He continues to insult her and her cancer and finally Hazel tries to physically attack Van Houten but Augustus leads her outside before she can. He promises that he will write an epilogue for her and that it will be better than anything Van Houten could write. Van Houten's assistant then offers to take them to the Anne Frank house. Hazel and Augustus both have some difficulty with the stairs, but they both make it to the top and have their first kiss in a room full of strangers after Hazel decides that it's okay to kiss Augustus in the Anne Frank house because Anne Frank kissed someone in the Anne Frank house. The two go back to their hotel room and after a quick timeskip Hazel leaves a venn diagram on Augustus's nightstand that looks something like this (yes, this picture is in the book itself):

In chapter 13, they tell Hazel's mom about what happened with Van Houten and then Hazel and Augustus get some more time alone, but all Augustus wants to do is talk. He says that he had a PET scan while Hazel was in the ICU and that (this is painful to even type oh my gosh) he "lit up like a Christmas tree". His osteosarcoma has returned. Stage IV, terminal. It's spread to his hip, his liver, his chest, and various other places. Augustus promises to fight it for her and tells her that the reason he was fighting with his parents before leaving for Amsterdam was because he had to go off of chemotherapy to go to Amsterdam. Hazel tries to reassure him that he will get his epic battle, his reason for living, but Augustus won't accept that cancer is a heroic way to die.

In chapter 14, they return home from Amsterdam. They get champagne on the airplane as a cancer perk and Augustus has to sleep for most of the trip because of the pain from the cancer. When they return home, Hazel and her dad talk about how the universe just wants to be noticed and about AIA. Hazel begins her routine of hanging out with Augustus most of the time at his house as he goes through typical cancer treatment. Isaac comes over, too, and they discuss Monica and how she shouldn't have dumped Isaac. They then go and egg Monica's car because she deserved it. Hazel takes pictures, including the last picture she ever took of Augustus.

In chapter 15, Hazel and Gus have dinner with all of their parents. Hazel and Gus continue to talk about Amsterdam, which confuses their parents slightly. The next week, Gus ends up in the ER, but Hazel isn't allowed to see him because their family wants it to be family only. She ends up sitting in the waiting room just worrying about him. Two weeks later, they return to the park where Gus asked her to Amsterdam. He says that he now imagines himself as the skeleton, not the kids climbing on the skeleton sculpture. They drink champagne from Winnie the Pooh cups. It's quite possibly their last date.

Well, this section was immensely sad. Sorry about that. I'm not even going to try to say happy reading this time because it just gets worse.

-Kathy