Summary: Jill is still trying to deal with her father's death when her mother, Robin, announces that Mandy, a pregnant 18-year old, will be moving in with them because Robin will be adopting her baby. Alternating between Jill and Mandy's point of view, How To Save A Life tells the story of how to build a new family after life has torn you apart.
Characters: I love these characters, but please forgive me if I spell their names wrong, because I listened to the audio version. They are all so emotionally messed up, that I was able to immediately connect with them. Jill is grieving and angry. Mandy has been abused her her whole life and is scared and confused. They each have a distinct voice that gives a unique perspective on the same story.
The other characters are easy to like, too. Jill's mom, Robin, is the kind of person I hope really exists, the kind of person I hope I am and can be. Mandy's "family" is horrifying, but realistically so. Her memories of her mom and Kent broke me apart inside.
RJ/Ravi is probably my favorite character besides Robin, Mandy, and Jill. Jill beating him up as the meet cute? Yes, please. I should also say something about Dylan, but I'm tired of repeating myself by saying how much I liked all the characters, so Dylan is a real teenage guy... and I liked him (sorry).
Plot/Pacing/Structure: The book starts out at the perfect spot--Mandy's arrival in Denver to stay with Jill and Robin until the baby is born. We watch these two girls learn to interact and slowly get each of their back stories. I always wanted to know more and I found myself hoping for a happy ending from very early on in the book.
Moments I Loved: I loved when Jill answered the phone and it was Mandy's mother. I hate Mandy's mother, but it was great for Jill to get a glimpse into Mandy's past. Also, the end was PERFECT... maybe naively optimistic, but not in a bad way. In a way that gave me hope and made me wish I wasn't so jaded. It is the only way it could have ended that would leave me completely satisfied.
WTF Moments: Jill throws Mandy a birthday party, but gives her baby gifts for presents. Yes, she gave baby gifts to a girl who is giving up her baby. I was groaning as she was shopping and pleading with her to go buy something for Mandy and not the baby. The moment was perfect within the story and does a good job of showing where Jill's head is at, but it was also incredibly frustrating because, come on, Jill, this is a terrible idea!
Narrators: At first, I didn't like the girl who narrated Mandy's part, but it didn't take long for me to think she was perfect. I thought she sounded too young, but it ended up being perfect, because even though Mandy is pregnant and terrible things have happened to her, she is incredibly naive and sheltered. Jill's part is gruffer and captures the pain and vulnerability underneath the hard exterior that Jill has created for herself since the death of her father.
Overall: I loved this book. It was touching and is the perfect book to read when you're aching for an emotionally resonant book like The Fault In Our Stars.
Reading Challenges: This book does not count toward any challenges. Next year, I'm signing up for an audio book challenge. Track all my progress on my 2012 Challenges page.
How To Save A Life receives a FakeSteph rating of...
Posts
Love your review:) Look good, never heard about this book before:) I'm gonna check this out;)
ReplyDeleteGreat review! This sounds like a good book. I don't know if it's a book for me, but I'm glad you loved it.
ReplyDeleteThat WTF moment is pretty bad. You really shouldn't be buying an expectant Mom baby gifts unless it's for a shower anyway. For her birthday, she should get birthday gifts--because she's still a freaking person. But ESPECIALLY if she isn't keeping the baby.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, great review!
I really loved this book; so, so good! and yes, that was a WTF moment... and it sucks so hard. "OH, thanks for the baby gifts! I'll give them to the person when I give them my baby." le sigh.
ReplyDeletegreat review, dear! :)
That is some WTF moment!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to check and see if this is on my wish list.
This is the only Zarr book I haven't read yet. I need to get to it. Her books are soooo good! Naive? optimistic? Yeah, maybe but good anyway!
ReplyDeleteI am so with you on signing up for an audio challenge because I have listened to so many! Hey! Hey! HEY!!! What if I hosted one like the pages challenge!!!???!!! So instead of challenging people to read 15,000 pages it would be "Listen to 1000 hours!"
ReplyDeleteI think this book sounds really good and I've been seeing it around on book lists for a while now. I'm really glad that you liked it. The whole thing about the baby shower though, reminds me of that episode of Friends when Monica and Rachel threw Phoebe the baby shower and got her stuff like tequila and leather pants for after she was pregnant!
I'm catching up on all my favorite blogs today, so sorry I haven't been around. I absolutely LOVE you new layout/design! I love the gray, red and hints of gold. The mask is a nice, romantic touch :)
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds excellent and I'm not much of a contemporary reader. I just bought Fault in our Stars, so maybe I'll read them back to back :)
Lauren @ Hughes Reviews
Ahaha "the characters were all so messed up I was able to immediately connect with them." Ain't it the truth?
ReplyDeleteGreat review! Do yo know if they have the book in print form?
Sounds great! The one thing I don't like about audio books is not always knowing how to spell the names of the characters! I'm really going to have to check this out! Plus, I'm listening to I Hunt Killers and already loving it!
ReplyDeleteHmm, not really my genre but I like the sound of this book. So happy you enjoyed it. Great review.
ReplyDeleteHey! Thanks so much for this review! I've wanted this book for soo long and I really need to go and pick it up!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds fabulous. Although the baby gift thing is a stupid thing to do, I agree. I enjoyed the one Sara Zarr book I read.
ReplyDeleteThis book is totally perfect for me I love crying because of books(yeah... I'm messed up like that(;) Great review! :D
ReplyDeleteFara @ Tumbling In Books
This book sounds really good. I added it to my TBR after your post a couple days ago when you mentioned you liked the mother/daughter aspect in this story. And ay yi yi, buying baby presents for a girl who's giving up her baby? Yikes! Great review, Steph!
ReplyDelete