How not to save a life

By Jaime K.

The book "How To Save a Life" by Sara Zarr follows two teenage girls on different paths that come together. Jill is a 17 year old in her last year of high school. Her and her mom, Robin, are grieving over the loss of Jill's father 11 months prior. Mandy is a 19 year old raised in a neglectful household and finds herself pregnant. Robin makes the decision that she does not want to give up on love. She decides to adopt a baby and finds out about Mandy through an adoption website. When Mandy moves in with them it changes everyone. Robin is excited, Jill feels as though her world is falling apart and Mandy feels at home for the first time in her life.

For the most part, this book is very well written. I enjoy the fact that the story flips between being in Jill's perspective and being in Mandy's. The author does this by putting their name before the part starts, like how an author will differentiate between chapters. I enjoyed this technique because it gives you the chance to look in both the characters' points of view. This helps people to put themselves in both situations and understand the character's better. I think the author made a great decision in putting it that way, I feel as though the story just wouldn't work as well in one point of view. One thing that wasn't so great was the titles relation to the book. The title was a bit misleading. If the book itself dealt more with Jill's grief I might give it a pass, but there was no life being saved, not even metaphorically. The title implies more intense emotion than what is portrayed. I believe the story is fine the way it is, but I think there may be a better title out there that will suit it more than this one does. Something I enjoyed a lot was the uncertainty toward the end. I went through the book believing I knew what was going to happen, but about halfway through things are thrown out to throw you off so you don't know. It made me want to read more and kept me in tune with the story.

If you are looking for an intense book where you don't know if the character will make it out alive due to a troubled past, this may not be for you. Although that's what the title and description seem to imply, it's not the truth. However, if you are looking for two teenagers trying to find their place in the world around them, this might just be the book for you. I think teenagers should take the time to read this book, it is well written and makes you think about how you might feel in the same situation.