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A review by colca
Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott
5.0
Random things I have to say, before I start the actual review:
First of all, the cover art is to die for. I've literally never seen anything more gorgeous (well, maybe Six of Crows, but good God don't let me get into that)
Second of all, although I've never seen Riverdale and I'm not planning to, I think Cole Sprouse is a very good choice for the role of Will.
Third of all, this is the first book that I've heard is based on a movie. Like wow, really? Well, it definitely paid off. BTW, I'm definitely going to watch the movie and I've already seen the trailer like a hundred times :D. Please kill me, I'm terrible.
Because I've been working all day long and my pessimistic side is hyped let's start with the negatives. Well, this shouldn't be plural, because miraculously in the whole thing there was only one thing I seriously disliked. And that was the way Will's character was written. I've seen the movie trailer so I know what the author wanted to say, but from the writing itself it wasn't as clear. Will is supposed to be this sassy and sarcastic character, you know, the Herondale kind (yes, I'm sorry I'm making a Shadowhunter reference, AGAIN), but from what I read he didn't look that way. Sure he had some snarky comments, but so did Stella, so when they were together, he didn't really seem as he was intended to.
The next thing is kinda spoilery, but not really, but still read at your own risk.
If I'm supposed to point out another eeny tiny thing I didn't like it was how easily Stella wanted to throw her life again for her first love. Come on, FIRST LOVE. Just really??? People fall in love over and over again throughout their lives [and (unfortunately), they never learn otherwise] so it seems pretty pointless to give it all up just because of a person you have know for two weeks. And I mean literally two weeks. Also this whole time she's been so considerate of all her loved ones and suddenly she forgets all of them? This seem just like such a big plot hole... If I'm wrong feel free to correct me, but until then I will stand by my statement.
And now to the positives. I love the whole message of this book. If I'm being totally honest here, before this book I didn't even know that something like CF existed. I know there are a lot of other deceases like this one, but obviously not every decease can have its own book and I'm pretty happy the writer of the movie chose this one. I heard so many people say that it's just a copy of [b:The Fault in Our Stars|11870085|The Fault in Our Stars|John Green|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1360206420s/11870085.jpg|16827462], but unlike that book, this also takes the concept of platonic love in the modern age, which is something completely original and unimaginable nowadays and I very much appreciated that.
And now let's get to my most favourite thing about this book:
What kind of review would this be without quotes:
Chapter 2; Will:
Chapter 22; Stella:
These quotes just broke my heart. I love quoting characters, I love when characters quote books, but most of all I love when characters quote each other. And especially so if it's such a powerful quote like this. It really reminded me of a quote from [b:The Raven Boys|17675462|The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1)|Maggie Stiefvater|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1477103737s/17675462.jpg|18970934]:
Now comes a very heavy SPOILER!!! Just warning if you got this far while ignoring all the spoiler alerts.
Anyway last but not least, if the chapter where Will says goodbye to Stella was a few more pages longer, I would definitely start crying, which would be definitely embarrassing because I was reading at work, but who cares about that when you have such a brilliant scene like this. It was such a perfect and heart-breaking farewell. The fact that she couldn't speak and talk him out of it only put more emotions into the scene and proved that sometimes we really don't need words.
PS: this book broke my heart, but I couldn't think of a better ending even in a million years.
First of all, the cover art is to die for. I've literally never seen anything more gorgeous (well, maybe Six of Crows, but good God don't let me get into that)
Second of all, although I've never seen Riverdale and I'm not planning to, I think Cole Sprouse is a very good choice for the role of Will.
Third of all, this is the first book that I've heard is based on a movie. Like wow, really? Well, it definitely paid off. BTW, I'm definitely going to watch the movie and I've already seen the trailer like a hundred times :D. Please kill me, I'm terrible.
Because I've been working all day long and my pessimistic side is hyped let's start with the negatives. Well, this shouldn't be plural, because miraculously in the whole thing there was only one thing I seriously disliked. And that was the way Will's character was written. I've seen the movie trailer so I know what the author wanted to say, but from the writing itself it wasn't as clear. Will is supposed to be this sassy and sarcastic character, you know, the Herondale kind (yes, I'm sorry I'm making a Shadowhunter reference, AGAIN), but from what I read he didn't look that way. Sure he had some snarky comments, but so did Stella, so when they were together, he didn't really seem as he was intended to.
The next thing is kinda spoilery, but not really, but still read at your own risk.
Spoiler
If I'm supposed to point out another eeny tiny thing I didn't like it was how easily Stella wanted to throw her life again for her first love. Come on, FIRST LOVE. Just really??? People fall in love over and over again throughout their lives [and (unfortunately), they never learn otherwise] so it seems pretty pointless to give it all up just because of a person you have know for two weeks. And I mean literally two weeks. Also this whole time she's been so considerate of all her loved ones and suddenly she forgets all of them? This seem just like such a big plot hole... If I'm wrong feel free to correct me, but until then I will stand by my statement.
And now to the positives. I love the whole message of this book. If I'm being totally honest here, before this book I didn't even know that something like CF existed. I know there are a lot of other deceases like this one, but obviously not every decease can have its own book and I'm pretty happy the writer of the movie chose this one. I heard so many people say that it's just a copy of [b:The Fault in Our Stars|11870085|The Fault in Our Stars|John Green|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1360206420s/11870085.jpg|16827462], but unlike that book, this also takes the concept of platonic love in the modern age, which is something completely original and unimaginable nowadays and I very much appreciated that.
And now let's get to my most favourite thing about this book:
Spoiler
What kind of review would this be without quotes:
Chapter 2; Will:
“Lighten up, Stella,” I say, sauntering to the door. “It’s just life. It’ll be over before we know it.”
Chapter 22; Stella:
“It’s just life, Will. It’ll be over before we know it.”
These quotes just broke my heart. I love quoting characters, I love when characters quote books, but most of all I love when characters quote each other. And especially so if it's such a powerful quote like this. It really reminded me of a quote from [b:The Raven Boys|17675462|The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle, #1)|Maggie Stiefvater|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1477103737s/17675462.jpg|18970934]:
"Safe as life."
Now comes a very heavy SPOILER!!! Just warning if you got this far while ignoring all the spoiler alerts.
Anyway last but not least, if the chapter where Will says goodbye to Stella was a few more pages longer, I would definitely start crying, which would be definitely embarrassing because I was reading at work, but who cares about that when you have such a brilliant scene like this. It was such a perfect and heart-breaking farewell. The fact that she couldn't speak and talk him out of it only put more emotions into the scene and proved that sometimes we really don't need words.
PS: this book broke my heart, but I couldn't think of a better ending even in a million years.