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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
This book falls into the John Green category of teen novels: that is, it's very well written, poignant, has perhaps unrealistically but wonderfully precocious teen protagonists and you shouldn't read it if you don't want to get very sad at the end. It seems more relevant than ever after over a year of a COVID pandemic where hundreds of thousands of people have died.
The story is about kids with multi-resistant TB who get sent off to a therapeutic boarding school/sanatorium and is told from two points of view: the boy, who has always been an overachiever bucking for Stanford, so hard he never stopped to smell the proverbial flowers, and the girl, who is a quirky brilliant rebel. Of course they fall in love. (Yes, I said it was going to be a John Green kind of novel.) There is a chance that they might recover without it but everyone is waiting for this special drug that will cure the multi-resistant TB. The question is, will the people you learn to care about in the novel make it long enough to get the new drug? (I think you already know the answer to this one.) And who will the others become after this experience?
The story is about kids with multi-resistant TB who get sent off to a therapeutic boarding school/sanatorium and is told from two points of view: the boy, who has always been an overachiever bucking for Stanford, so hard he never stopped to smell the proverbial flowers, and the girl, who is a quirky brilliant rebel. Of course they fall in love. (Yes, I said it was going to be a John Green kind of novel.) There is a chance that they might recover without it but everyone is waiting for this special drug that will cure the multi-resistant TB. The question is, will the people you learn to care about in the novel make it long enough to get the new drug? (I think you already know the answer to this one.) And who will the others become after this experience?
It was just an" okay" for me. If I hadn't read The Fault in Our Stars or Looking for Alaska first, I might have liked it better. But, this just seemed to be a combo of both. It is a nice story, but it has been done.
I AM SO MAD RIGHT NOW!! I KNEW BUT I ALSO DIDNT HAVE A CLUE!! ARGGHH!!
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
My first ever audiobook! *hooray!* I’ll admit, I’ve wanted to read this for a while but didn’t really remember too much of the plot. I wanted to start trying to listen to audiobooks and I knew this was on my TBR list so *boom* this is the one I picked on a whim. And honestly, I got so sucked into the story that I forgot I was even listening to an audiobook. I’m just happy I wasn’t driving my car during the sadder/weep-ier parts of the book because that can be dangerous...crying and trying to drive at the same time.
But for real, I think I found the cure for my road rage...audiobooks. How can you be angry during your commute when you’re listening to a book?
But for real, I think I found the cure for my road rage...audiobooks. How can you be angry during your commute when you’re listening to a book?
Extraordinary Means is a novel that's full of ups and downs, humor and feels, and captures the teenage experience in a way that's both raw and realistic. The TB is more of a subplot, although still an hovering iceberg of impending doom, and much of the focus is given to the characterization and relationships more than anything else. I appreciated the diverse cast of characters--and when I saw diverse, I actually mean it, because there's a good number of POC characters. Reason for docking one star? I don't really know how to explain it, but I was hoping that we'd at least get a happy ending, because YA novels about sickness never do--they always end up being bittersweet, and I'm starting to feel like it's a realistic though overworn trope.
3.5 stars
First of all, I want to start off by saying that this book reminded me a lot of John Green's Looking For Alaska and The Fault In Our Stars, which isn't a bad thing, because those books are ace.
Robyn Schneider has such a smooth and light writing style, making this book easy and satisfying to read. I really enjoyed the pace (I read it in 24 hours), but I thought that some of the occurring events within the book happened too close together, which in turn took away some of the emotion in particular situations.
The characters were a joy to get to know, and I really appreciated the way that words are spoken in this novel. They have this lyrical and poetical kind of feel to them and some of the phrases and metaphors are just excellent. They way that life in general is portrayed got me thinking and it is one of those stories that have deep and meaningful messages that question your ambitions and make you realise that there is no time or moment more important than the present one.
It was totally worth the read and I highly recommend to all JG enthusiasts (you will love this book)!
ALSO, THE HARRY POTTER REFERENCES ARE PERFECT.
First of all, I want to start off by saying that this book reminded me a lot of John Green's Looking For Alaska and The Fault In Our Stars, which isn't a bad thing, because those books are ace.
Robyn Schneider has such a smooth and light writing style, making this book easy and satisfying to read. I really enjoyed the pace (I read it in 24 hours), but I thought that some of the occurring events within the book happened too close together, which in turn took away some of the emotion in particular situations.
The characters were a joy to get to know, and I really appreciated the way that words are spoken in this novel. They have this lyrical and poetical kind of feel to them and some of the phrases and metaphors are just excellent. They way that life in general is portrayed got me thinking and it is one of those stories that have deep and meaningful messages that question your ambitions and make you realise that there is no time or moment more important than the present one.
It was totally worth the read and I highly recommend to all JG enthusiasts (you will love this book)!
ALSO, THE HARRY POTTER REFERENCES ARE PERFECT.
THIS BOOK.
Since there isn't much of a description up yet, I'll be super vague.
I loved THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING as soon as I read the first line. This book took me longer to get into, but once I did, I was hooked. I never saw the twists coming, and I was hooked until the end.
I may have read myself right into a migraine.
Will update this review closer to release date.
Since there isn't much of a description up yet, I'll be super vague.
I loved THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING as soon as I read the first line. This book took me longer to get into, but once I did, I was hooked. I never saw the twists coming, and I was hooked until the end.
I may have read myself right into a migraine.
Will update this review closer to release date.
reflective
sad
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated