AUTHOR’S NOTE This is not so much an author’s note as an author’s rem<strong>in</strong>der of what was pr<strong>in</strong>ted <strong>in</strong> small type a few pages ago: This book is a work of fiction. I made it up. Nei<strong>the</strong>r novels nor <strong>the</strong>ir readers benefit from attempts to div<strong>in</strong>e whe<strong>the</strong>r any facts hide <strong>in</strong>side a story. Such efforts attack <strong>the</strong> very idea that made-up stories can matter, which is sort of <strong>the</strong> foundational assumption of <strong>our</strong> species. I appreciate y<strong>our</strong> cooperation <strong>in</strong> this matter.
CHAPTER ONE Late <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> w<strong>in</strong>ter of my seventeenth year, my mo<strong>the</strong>r decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left <strong>the</strong> house, spent quite a lot of time <strong>in</strong> bed, read <strong>the</strong> same book over and over, ate <strong>in</strong>frequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g about death. Whenever you read a cancer booklet or website or whatever, <strong>the</strong>y always list depression among <strong>the</strong> side effects of cancer. But, <strong>in</strong> fact, depression is not a side effect of cancer. Depression is a side effect of dy<strong>in</strong>g. (Cancer is also a side effect of dy<strong>in</strong>g. Almost everyth<strong>in</strong>g is, really.) But my mom believed I required treatment, so she took me to see my Regular Doctor Jim, who agreed that I was veritably swimm<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> a paralyz<strong>in</strong>g and totally cl<strong>in</strong>ical depression, and that <strong>the</strong>refore my meds should be adjusted and also I should attend a weekly Support Group. This Support Group featured a rotat<strong>in</strong>g cast of characters <strong>in</strong> various states of tumor-driven unwellness. Why did <strong>the</strong> cast rotate? A side effect of dy<strong>in</strong>g. The Support Group, of c<strong>our</strong>se, was depress<strong>in</strong>g as hell. It met every Wednesday <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> basement of a stone-walled Episcopal church shaped like a cross. We all sat <strong>in</strong> a circle right <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> middle of <strong>the</strong> cross, where <strong>the</strong> two boards would have met, where <strong>the</strong> heart of Jesus would have been. I noticed this because Patrick, <strong>the</strong> Support Group Leader and only person over eighteen <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> room, talked about <strong>the</strong> heart of Jesus every freak<strong>in</strong>g meet<strong>in</strong>g, all about how we, as young cancer survivors, were sitt<strong>in</strong>g right <strong>in</strong> Christ’s very sacred heart and whatever. So here’s how it went <strong>in</strong> God’s heart: The six or seven or ten of us walked/wheeled <strong>in</strong>, grazed at a decrepit selection of cookies and lemonade, sat down <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Circle of Trust, and listened to Patrick recount for <strong>the</strong> thousandth time his depress<strong>in</strong>gly miserable life story—how he had cancer <strong>in</strong> his balls and <strong>the</strong>y thought he was go<strong>in</strong>g to die but he didn’t die and now here he is, a full-grown adult <strong>in</strong> a church basement <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> 137th nicest city <strong>in</strong> America, divorced, addicted to video games, mostly friendless, ek<strong>in</strong>g out a meager liv<strong>in</strong>g by exploit<strong>in</strong>g his cancertastic past, slowly work<strong>in</strong>g his way toward a master’s degree that will not improve his career prospects, wait<strong>in</strong>g, as we all do, for <strong>the</strong> sword of Damocles to give him <strong>the</strong> relief that he escaped lo those many years ago when cancer took both of his nuts but spared what only <strong>the</strong> most generous soul would call his life. AND YOU TOO MIGHT BE SO LUCKY! Then we <strong>in</strong>troduced <strong>our</strong>selves: Name. Age. Diagnosis. And how we’re do<strong>in</strong>g today. I’m Hazel, I’d say when <strong>the</strong>y’d get to me. Sixteen. Thyroid orig<strong>in</strong>ally but with an impressive and long-settled satellite colony <strong>in</strong> my lungs. And I’m do<strong>in</strong>g okay. Once we got around <strong>the</strong> circle, Patrick always asked if anyone wanted to share. And <strong>the</strong>n began <strong>the</strong> circle jerk of support: everyone talk<strong>in</strong>g about fight<strong>in</strong>g and battl<strong>in</strong>g and w<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g and shr<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g and scann<strong>in</strong>g. To be fair to Patrick, he let us talk about dy<strong>in</strong>g, too. But most of <strong>the</strong>m weren’t dy<strong>in</strong>g. Most would live <strong>in</strong>to adulthood, as Patrick had. (Which meant <strong>the</strong>re was quite a lot of competitiveness about it, with everybody want<strong>in</strong>g to beat not only cancer itself, but also <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r people <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> room. Like, I realize that this is irrational, but when <strong>the</strong>y tell you that you have, say, a 20 percent chance of liv<strong>in</strong>g five years, <strong>the</strong> math kicks <strong>in</strong> and you figure that’s one <strong>in</strong> five . . . so you look around and th<strong>in</strong>k, as any healthy person would: I gotta outlast f<strong>our</strong> of <strong>the</strong>se bastards.) The only redeem<strong>in</strong>g facet of Support Group was this kid named Isaac, a long-faced, sk<strong>in</strong>ny guy with straight blond hair swept over one eye. And his eyes were <strong>the</strong> problem. He had some fantastically improbable eye cancer. One eye had been cut out when he was a kid, and now he wore <strong>the</strong> k<strong>in</strong>d of thick glasses that made his eyes (both <strong>the</strong> real one and <strong>the</strong> glass one) preternaturally huge, like his whole head was basically just this fake eye and this real eye star<strong>in</strong>g at you. From what I could ga<strong>the</strong>r on <strong>the</strong> rare occasions when Isaac shared with <strong>the</strong> group, a recurrence had placed his rema<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g eye <strong>in</strong> mortal peril. Isaac and I communicated almost exclusively through sighs. Each time someone discussed anticancer diets or snort<strong>in</strong>g ground-up shark f<strong>in</strong> or whatever, he’d glance over at me and sigh ever so slightly. I’d shake my head microscopically and exhale <strong>in</strong> response. So Support Group blew, and after a few weeks, I grew to be ra<strong>the</strong>r kick<strong>in</strong>g-and-scream<strong>in</strong>g about <strong>the</strong> whole affair. In fact, on <strong>the</strong> Wednesday I made <strong>the</strong> acqua<strong>in</strong>tance of Augustus Waters, I tried my level best to get out of Support Group while sitt<strong>in</strong>g on <strong>the</strong> couch with my mom <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> third leg of a twelve-h<strong>our</strong> marathon of <strong>the</strong> previous season’s America’s Next Top Model, which admittedly I had already seen, but still. Me: “I refuse to attend Support Group.” Mom: “One of <strong>the</strong> symptoms of depression is dis<strong>in</strong>terest <strong>in</strong> activities.” Me: “Please just let me watch America’s Next Top Model. It’s an activity.” Mom: “Television is a passivity.” Me: “Ugh, Mom, please.” Mom: “Hazel, you’re a teenager. You’re not a little kid anymore. You need to make friends, get out of <strong>the</strong> house, and live y<strong>our</strong> life.” Me: “If you want me to be a teenager, don’t send me to Support Group. Buy me a fake ID so I can go to clubs, dr<strong>in</strong>k vodka, and take pot.” Mom: “You don’t take pot, for starters.” Me: “See, that’s <strong>the</strong> k<strong>in</strong>d of th<strong>in</strong>g I’d know if you got me a fake ID.” Mom: “You’re go<strong>in</strong>g to Support Group.” Me: “UGGGGGGGGGGGGG.” Mom: “Hazel, you deserve a life.” That shut me up, although I failed to see how attendance at Support Group met <strong>the</strong> def<strong>in</strong>ition of life. Still, I agreed to go—after negotiat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> right to record <strong>the</strong> 1.5 episodes of ANTM I’d be miss<strong>in</strong>g. I went to Support Group for <strong>the</strong> same reason that I’d once allowed nurses with a mere eighteen months of graduate education to poison
- Page 2 and 3: ALSO BY JOHN GREEN Looking for Alas
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- Page 10 and 11: me with exotically named chemicals:
- Page 12 and 13: I followed him upstairs, losing gro
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- Page 16 and 17: olled my eyes. “I’m serious,”
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- Page 42 and 43: CHAPTER TEN We could only take one
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN The next morning,
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your teeth. You look up. You tell y
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ewards intelligence in part because
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CHAPTER FIFTEEN A few days later, a
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I woke up. Around noon, I went over
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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN I woke up to my ph
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CHAPTER NINETEEN He came home from
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CHAPTER TWENTY One of the less bull
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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Augustus Waters
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CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO When we first go
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dawn goes down to day, the poet wro
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“Um,” Isaac sighed. “Um, I do
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Three days late
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE I woke up the n
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Peter’s address. There was a larg
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PHO TO BY TO N KO ENE, 2009 JOHN GR