Rice depends way too much rehashed info from her own Entertainment Weekly, which is a biased propaganda publication that kisses up to Hollywood instead of offering objective journalism. She even quotes the EW writers she worked with, like about what they thought when interviewing Ellen. Seriously? Seems like space filler and giving credence to those that didn't do a good enough job "reporting" on the show in the first place. If anything this book proves how weak Entertainment Weekly truly is at being more than just a PR tool for Hollywood, and Rice is one of the main ones to go right along with it. Sembra quasi che avere avuto una seconda occasione (a prescindere che si tratti della vita stessa o della carriera professionale) sia un motivo per autodistruggersi, anziché risorgere e ricominciare. I wanted to find out what happened to Jill and Mandy and I wanted to fast forward to a couple of years’ time and find out if they got the ending they so desperately wanted and needed. How To Save A Life weaves together the dual narration of Jill, grieving for her father, and Mandy, a pregnant teen seeking a better life for her unborn child. Their lives converge when Jill’s mother makes the decision to adopt a child – with life changing repercussions for all involved.

There were so many aspects of life that this book discussed and in such an integrating manner. Love, life, friendship, growth. So many different types of love were represented as well. From mother to daughter, daughter to father, girl to boy, sibling to sibling, it was all done to effortlessly and I really appreciated that. How to Save a Life touched me in the way not many novels have. Sara Zarr, an expert in her field of YA contemporaries, crafted a unique story of family, love, independence and dependance, without alienating her readers with a story too bizarre to believe. With inspirational writing and beautiful, multidimensional characters, this novel isn't one soon to be forgotten. Lord. A book about pregnant teenagers. In my hands. Read by my eyes. How do I get myself into these things? Every character is unlikable with Tim being The King of Twats. I honesly couldn't stand him and hoped that maybe, just maybe, he'd die and relieve me from this misery. The characters in How to Save a Life are hard to like. They're aloof, odd, horrible and rude. They all have huge faults, they're all creatively insane, and they each have their stupid moments. And they're all a little bit muddled, and hurt, stung. The thing is, though, is that it's very hard not to relate to them. Because, man, did I see a hell of a lot of myself in Jill, as I'm sure many people will. Jill isn't a simple character - most real people aren't - and she was very hard to deal with. She broke out in tears a lot, she was coldhearted and bitchy, she was unable to deal with loss and understanding love, and she had no idea where she wanted to go in life - for these reasons, I think she's one of the most enjoyable characters around. Mandy, the pregnant eighteen year old with a messy past and an attachment issue, is uncomfortable at first, as she's simply one who's everywhere with everything (from her emotions to her decisions to her thoughts), but I guess she's the person you'd be if you aren't a Jill.

You, too, could save a life and you never know when you might need to know how. There’s no time to waste.” But reading about their journeys, learning to trust, love, develop as people and find their place in the world was so compelling, I honestly didn’t want to say goodbye in the final chapter. Some of the main themes in the book include, death, heart failure and heart conditions, drug addiction, overdosing, alcohol abuse, suicidal thoughts, homelessness, miscarriage and medical conditions, caring for a parent and medical training, including surgeries. This book really touches on so many subjects, in a real raw and honest way.

Because? Because of the characterization. Zarr knows her way around a gray area, and the two "battling" girls -- pregnant Mandy and distrustful Jill -- are no treat, either of them. Which makes them a treat. If that makes sense. Does it? Jill is a high-school girl grieving the loss of her Dad. She has lost most of her friends. She really doesn't know who she is anymore. Her Mother has the hairbrained idea to adopt this baby involving no lawyers and no middle men. Jill sees this as a HUGE problem. She doesn't trust Mandy. She doesn't trust her Mom's judgment. She is skeptical of everything. She thinks her mom is trying to patch a whole in her heart with this baby. She is angry, sad, jealous and confused. She is a mess. I felt for each and every one of the characters. They may not be the most likeable in the world but they're real, complicated and going through terrible times. I understood why each acted as they did: why Jill rejected the notion of her mother adopting a baby so soon after her dad died, why Robin (Jill's mother) wanted to do this and why she didn't go through legal channels to do so, and why Mandy lied so she could find a loving home for her baby to grow up in, thereby preventing her from suffering the same childhood she did and growing up to be like her or her mother. And here I am, all of those small hopes getting me from one day to the next, the way they my whole life.” The story is told in first person alternating points of view, which is a huge and admirable challenge for authors because the characters’ voices and perspectives must be unique, equally compelling, equally important, and wholly necessary. And each alternating scene must cover new ground while at the same time conveying each characters’ thoughts, feelings, and reactions to shared moments and events through their own unique perspectives. Zarr crafts the point of view switches beautifully. I was immediately drawn to each girl for very different reasons, and found myself at times connecting with one more than the other, then my feelings would change, then change again, until ultimately I was so wrapped up in the outcome of their shared story that I simply couldn’t put the book down until I knew how things would turn out for both of them.

Advance Praise

I really enjoyed this book, but there were so so so many times I wanted to grab the characters and shake them and say what are you doing?! Why are you okay with this?! And I know that life doesn’t always go the way you want it to, but there were times I just wanted things to go so differently for these three! But I guess that just shows how invested I was in the characters.

After writing a review with a bajillion edits that ended up being longer than the original review itself, I thought, "Screw th

Customer reviews

I struggled with finding a song for this because it’s such a complex story and it’s not an easy one to pin down (as you can tell by this haphazard review). Because like I said… jeez, these girls were difficult to love and these guys have the patience of a saint. Both these guys got a bit of a rough deal in this story. A heart-stopping, heart-wrenching and heart-warming story that kept me reading well into the night. I loved it' This is a breezy read for Grey's fans (or former fans like me who stopped watching years ago, but still keep up with the goss), but it is also a very sanitized, surface level telling of a show that is known to be as dramatic off-screen as it is on.

Enter Mandy Kalinowski, a teenage girl, pregnant and desperate to get away from her life. I don’t blame her, she had a mother who did not want her and told her so at every turn. Mandy’s mother had boyfriend after boyfriend, and Mandy had to move in with and adjust to each one. How TO Save A Life by Sara Zarr falls effortlessly into the second category. This was my first book by the author and I am awed. Awed. Fascinated. Enraptured. How To Save A Life is a beautiful, poignant novel that is based on life and death decisions, and how being brave isn't always about the stuff that happens at that moment but often dealing with the aftermath. Grabbing HOW TO SAVE A LIFE was a no brainer, anatomy pun intended (though no reference to Amelia’s son who was born without a brain and lives for only minutes). I was a bit concerned Lynette Rice might do a hatchet job on the show, but found the account to be fair to the show and the cast.If you love Grey’s, this is essential reading. It was juicy, riveting, and I had the best time listening to it on audio. There are multiple cast members, writers, and others connected to the show interviewed, and the format is Daisy Jones-esque in the way the dialogue is written. It's an up and down story set over many years and it is fun to see how the characters change their ups and downs. A good story.