4. The Christmas Tree
Much of my life had been devoted to trying not to cry in front of people who loved me, so I knew what Augustus was doing. You clench your teeth. You look up. You tell yourself that if they see you cry, it will hurt them, and you will be nothing but A Sadness in their lives, and you must not become a mere sadness, so you will not cry, and you say all of this to yourself while looking up at the ceiling, and then you swallow even though your throat does not want to close and you look at the person who loves you and smile.
He flashed his crooked smile, then said, “I lit up like a Christmas tree, Hazel Grace. The lining of my chest, my left hip, my liver, everywhere.
Although the whole novel is kind of heart-breaking, this particular scene is one of the most effective. In Amsterdam, Hazel starts to realize that Gus may still be sick, but she could not have known how sick he really is. So in their hotel room, Gus tells Hazel about how he went to the hospital to get a PET scan and how that scan revealed that the cancer had taken over his body.
Apart from this scene being so sad, it is also very interesting. The entire novel is based on Hazel being sick and Gus being cured, but then she finds that this really is not the case. I expect that this turn will be the same in the film, because the trailer seems to be entirely focused on Hazel’s sickness and not on Gus’.
