How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr
My rating: 4/5 cats
i have no idea why i decided to read this book. it is not in my usual range of interests at all. i know i saw a number of positive reviews go past on this here website, but realistic YA is not usually my bag. i like my YA to take place in rubble-filled urban wastelands or in forests where threats take the form of monsters or other horrific desperations. i like my problems to be things i will never have to actually deal with. it soothes me. “run for your lives, kiddies!,” i shout through a mouthful of nutella and bananas. you should see the splatter…
but this is nothing like that. and it was probably on the high of having looooved Paper Towns that i decided to give it a go. let’s see what these “real-world problems” can do to entertain me.
it wasn’t looking good, to begin with. the two narrators are both incredibly unlikable. one is a pregnant teen who is trying to escape her unsuitable home life and lying her way into the lives of a family torn apart by the death of its patriarch, willing to adopt a baby without going through the typical channels of paperwork and putting a lot of trust in a vapid girl who has been raised to be pretty but not much else. the other narrator is the daughter of the family – angry at the world after her father’s death, pushing everyone away from her and suspicious of this girl who is moving in with them and displaying some pretty questionable behavior.
they are both dreadful. add to that a mother who is trying to save the word one gluten-free cookie at a time, and an emo boyfriend who is allowing himself to be doormatted while his girl works through her rage at the world.
so why is this book good??
i don’t really know, but it is. it is a mystery to me, my affection for it. i suppose it is because the strength of the story can override its own characters. it does a really good job of reminding the reader of the perils of those rocky teenage years. the confusion and the frustration and the not-knowing-why-we-are-acting-like-we-hate-our-parents-when-our-home-life-is-actually-pretty-good. there is a lot of regret in this book, which is really well-executed. and there are some tricky things that are dealt with really well.
i’m glad i gave it a shot, because although i liked it less than Paper Towns, it is always a good thing for me to step out of my comfort zone, even if only temporarily. do you see how broad and catholic my tastes are becoming??
