Truth Be Told |
| The Girl Next Door by Selene Castrovilla Review Posted: 28 Jun 2011 04:41 PM PDT  The Girl Next DoorWritten by: Selene Castrovilla Published in: April 1, 2010Published by: Westside Books 240 Pages Format: Hardcover Source: PublisherSynopsis: In THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, two teens are forced to make some very grown-up decisions when one of them is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Seventeen year old Samantha has been best friends with seventeen year old Jesse since she moved into the New York high-rise apartment next door to his thirteen years ago. Jesse is their school's poster child for popularity: good-looking, a star athlete, even Romeo in the school play. On opening night he collapses on stage. That's when doctors discover the unthinkable: a tumor on his spine. His type of cancer is virtually incurable – 97% of those diagnosed die within ten months. Jesse shuts down, refusing to see most of his friends. He submits to treatments of chemo and radiation, but he doesn't possess hope. Sam is the one person he'll talk to. He convinces his mom to let her sleep in another bed in his room, saying he's afraid to die alone. That's when Jess and Sam make a startling, bittersweet discovery: they've been in love all along. THE GIRL NEXT DOOR addresses the universal question: In an unpredictable world, how can we possibly feel safe My Review There are some books that are written so beautifully they immediately grab you and take you on an emotional roller coaster. That is the only way I can describe this story. This book was so intense I was wrapped up into the plot from the first page. The characters grew to be like friends. There are books out there that deal with death, but this book did something more. It dealt with acceptance of one's own possible death and acceptance of a loved one's illness. In this book the main character has a best friend who is diagnosed with a cancer that has a death rate of 96%. In the beginning of the book Sam has almost accepted it as something that can't be stopped, but as she slowly develops feelings for her best friend she begins crumbling. There are so many internal conflicts in this story, it is unbelievable. Nothing was ever too much though. Jesse and Sam both grew as characters. The growth was the best part to read about. It was as if by the end of the novel they had turned in to two different people. Jesse became spiritual and learned to just be at peace with everything that was going on. Sam finally acknowledged the feelings she had about the death of her father. I can't explain it well enough, these two and their lives just sucked you in like a soap opera. Then there are other internal conflicts that deal with parenting and learning to understand that parents also make mistakes. It had just about every major conflict you could imagine. I found myself thinking about this book even when I wasn't reading it. I want to reread it. I cried by the first chapter. It was horrifyingly beautiful. On a sort of random note, I loved that this book was set in New York, it added a sort of edge to the story. It also added some culture type of characteristics to the characters, especially Jesse's mom. The author did a good job of incorporation the city's personality into some of the characters. If you love contemporary novels as much as I do you have to pick up this title.  Overall I have to give this book 5 lanterns. This is a new favorite of mine. It's a keeper re-reader. Purchase Links: or add it on
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
|
No comments:
Post a Comment