Review for "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott

I know in that moment, even though it could not be more ridiculous, that if I die in there, I won't die without falling in love.



Rating: 4 stars

Can a book be both heart-wrenching and heart-warming at the same time? Apparently, the answer to that question is yes. I tend to be a very stoic person while reading. You can't tell how I feel about what I'm reading based on my reactions/facial expressions. BUT THIS ONE. I was smiling. I was tearing up. I was gasping for air. It's a beautiful story.

Stella and Will are both cystic fibrosis patients, which means their lungs suck and cross-contamination between the two of them is a major risk. AKA: no sharing germs for Stella and Will. But then they fall in love. They have to learn how to love from a distance, or risk everything.

I knocked this book out in a day. I wanted to just keep reading. It was so cute and yet so meaningful. The characters have very interesting motivations and really distinct personalities. I was really hesitant upon picking up this book - and inclined to immediately compare it to TFIOS by John Green. But to my great pleasure, this book was very original. Also, not only did I like the ending a lot, but I respected it. I think it's an important message to send to young people about recklessness and the value of life.

I did knock one star off my rating because the falling-in-love pace was way too fast. It probably wouldn't have been bad if they'd started out as friends or at least not hating each other; but IMO Stella and Will went from hatred to irrevocably in love way too fast. It really messed up the plausibility of the story for me. At one point, I even thought I would rate this book 3 stars because of that one reason, but after the last 1/3 of the book with all the feels I just had to give it 4. I don't really understand it either; the book is under 300 pages so there would have been plenty of opportunity to add in more chapters developing the relationship at an appropriate pace. I just think it's a shame because young people in love already get a bad rep about "being in lust not love", and the rashness of Stella and Will's love supports that point. Maybe that was the point: to highlight the beauty of the immature, hasty, R&J type of love that plagues terminally ill teenagers, but I just thought the book would be better if it fought against this stereotype.

In any case, I picked this book up because I know the movie is out in less than a month (Cole Sprouse anyone???) and now I am super excited for it!!