How to Save a Life

(Note: This was the second blog post that was due, I was going through the blog to look for it but I couldn't find it, so I decided to just re-post it just to be sure that it's on here)

I just finished reading How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr, and it was much better than I thought it would be. I had originally just picked it up because the cover was pretty and I was stocking up on books for Thanksgiving break, so when I opened it for the first time I wasn't really expecting much, but the book drew me in right away.

The book begins with Jill, one of the main characters, reflecting on her father's death and speaking to her mother about changing her mind. We later learn that Jill's mother has decided to adopt a baby in order to compensate for the death of her husband under a year ago. However, Jill's mother doesn't go to an agency, and instead finds a pregnant teen over the internet and invites her to live in their home until the baby is delivered. I'll admit that the premise of this book seems a little strange, however once you suspend your disbelief on the probability of this sort of situation, the rest of the book flows very smoothly.

I loved that Zarr really took a lot of time to flesh out her characters. Many authors who write for teens seem to think that because they are writing for teenagers, they just need to put out an interesting story and insert steriotypical characters to fill up the space. Every single character in How to Save a Life has a unique personality, not just the main ones. The little details she adds like how Jill's mom plays with the mole on her face when she's nervous really add to the book. Some other character traits that I really thought were interesting were the facts that neither Mandy, the pregnant girl, nor Jill were all that likeable in the beginning. Jill was rude and uncommunicative, and Mandy was clueless and socially awkward. I found this to be a good decision by the author, because if one character seemed to a better person than the other, than it really wouldn't have worked with the way Sara Zarr told the story, which was alternating between Jill and Mandy's point of view. If the reader favored say, Jill, over Mandy, then they probably wouldn't be paying as much attention the chapter's from Mandy's point of view, and would have missed her growth and developement as the story progressed.

The one thing I disliked about the book was that the ending seemed a little forced. Throughout the book, Jill was slowly warming up to Mandy, so slowly that she didn't even realize it herself. However when the end of the book was near, it seemed like the author sped up Jill's growth so that her change of heart seemed a little unnatural. The book ends with Mandy giving birth to the baby and the family deciding to adopt Mandy and take her in. Jill was the one who suggested this, and to me, it just seemed like she wasn't ready at this point to stretch so far for Mandy so as to suggest that she continue living with them.

Overall, I thought this book was really enjoyable, although the motives behind the ending and the beginning seemed to be a bit lacking.