Peter Van Houten

Peter Van Houten is a crucial character. He is the author of Hazel's favorite book, An Imperial Affliction, and the father of Anna Van Houten, the inspiration for his book.

He is an alcoholic, and when Hazel and Augustus met him in person, he was abrasive and drunk. being incredibly rude to his assistant, Lidewij. He insults them and refuses to answer most of Hazel's questions, effectively crushing her dreams of learning what happens at the end of ''An Imperial Affliction. ''In the end, she rejects his offer and leaves with Augustus, presumably to symbolize something, though the variations are diverse. He never reads his fan mail and has tons of it piled up in his household.

Appearance
Despite being considered something of an authorial genius, Peter Van Houten defies that impression due to his disheveled, rotund appearance; as described by Hazel, "...a potbellied man with thin hair, sagging jowls, and a weak old beard."

Anna Van Houten
Peter Van Houten's daughter, Anna, died at the age of 8 from Leukemia. Van Houten loved her so much she inspired the book ''An Imperial Affliction. ''When she passed away, Mr. Van Houten, after writing the novel which effectively gave her a second chance at life as a teenager, became reclusive, bad-tempered, and alcoholic due to being unable to cope with her loss.

Trivia

 * He lives in Amsterdam
 * Though he appears to be a heartless drunk, genius intellectual Van Houten lost his way after he lost his young daughter to cancer. He did fly down to Gus's funeral and offered Hazel a sincere apology.


 * Like Van Houten, John Green also believes that once the book is finished, the future of the story does no longer lie in the hands of the author, but that of the readers.