Extraordinary Means

To say that this novel is one that pulls on the heart strings would be an understatement. My first novel of 2022 did not disappoint. 

the novel follows the story of Lane and Sadie. Two teenagers who are hoping and praying for their lives to be different, that their incurable disease will be cured - yet will Latham House, a boarding school for  ill teens be able to cure them? 

If you are someone who has been reading my blogs from the very beginning, you will know, I completely adore a book that has multiple narratives. Within the novel, we see the narrative of both Sadie and Lane. Through these narratives, we learn that Sadie and Lane once knew each other at summer camp, however Sadie doe not have a happy memory of Lane therefore when they first encounter each other, despite Lane being kind, her reaction is cold. Interestingly we are hearing the reasons for Sadie's cold shoulder whilst also hearing about Lane's confusion. The dual narrative is effective throughout the entire book and provides us as readers with a stronger insight to the two characters. 

As the book goes on, Sadie and Lane make emends in fact they become extremely close and fall into the same friend group. A friend group filled with five different people, different personalities, outlooks and talents yet all with the same illness.  Lane is a good student, cares about his grades, his family and his girlfriend. Yet we see major character change and development as he begins rebelling with his new friends, breaks up with his girlfriend and towards the end, part of him no longer wants to return home as he turned the worst situation of his life into a positive, he created a new life. 

Yet what happens when his new life falls apart as well? By the end of the novel, Lane has lost two of his closest friends from boarding school one in which he loved, not only in a friendly way but in a much more deeper way. The ending of the novel was exactly what I expected, The Fault In Our Stars expected, however it left me in tears! The upmost sympathy was felt for Lane because he was slowly not letting his illness define him instead getting lost in the enjoyment of his new life to then have it torn away from him. 

Author Robyn Schneider, made me feel heartbreak and excitement at the same time. Robyn also made me laugh until the point of tears, I promise, this book will make you feel all the emotions! 

I cannot end this review without letting the English Literature student in me come out...lets chat about the meaning of the novel and authors intentions.

My own personal outtake of this novel is to simply live your life. At the beginning, Lane was so consumed by not only getting good grades etc but also his own illness. He let that define him that is why I was amazed by his character growth and development, he soon began living his life because as the book evidently highlights, any day could be your last. 

It can be difficult to distinguish what the author intended however, I do believe Robyn wanted to make a statement that illness does not define you, yet this can be looked at in a deeper level. Perhaps, this statement can be a metaphor multiple other factors that do not define us. Factors such as grades, level of productivity, wage, appearance. The list goes on. As cliche as it sounds, it really is who we are, the emotions we feel and our approach to life that defines us, not the elements that come along. 

As always, I will close this post with a quote from this incredible book 

'Because that's all you can do in this world, no matter how strong the current beats against you, or how heavy your burden, or how tragic your love story. You keep going.'