BLURB:
From the author of The Beginning of Everything: two teens with a deadly disease fall in love on the brink of a cure.
At seventeen, overachieving Lane finds himself at Latham House, a sanatorium for teens suffering from an incurable strain of tuberculosis. Part hospital and part boarding school, Latham is a place of endless rules and confusing rituals, where it's easier to fail breakfast than it is to flunk French.
There, Lane encounters a girl he knew years ago. Instead of the shy loner he remembers, Sadie has transformed. At Latham, she is sarcastic, fearless, and utterly compelling. Her friends, a group of eccentric troublemakers, fascinate Lane, who has never stepped out of bounds his whole life. And as he gradually becomes one of them, Sadie shows him their secrets: how to steal internet, how to sneak into town, and how to disable the med sensors they must wear at all times.
But there are consequences to having secrets, particularly at Latham House. And as Lane and Sadie begin to fall in love and their group begins to fall sicker, their insular world threatens to come crashing down.
Told in alternating points of view, Extraordinary Means is a darkly funny story about doomed friendships, first love, and the rare miracle of second chances.
MY THOUGHTS:
The Ugly Duckling!
- A beautiful story behind the ugly setting.
This is one of the best heartbreaking stories I’ve ever read. You should be prepared before reading a Book, to control your emotions. You will never know when something is going to destroy you.
I know I’ll cry myself when I started this. After watching the book trailer, I jumped straight into this book hoping to have a good cry. Yeah, it’s crazy. Most of the people hate tragedies and cry worthy books. But, I love tragedies and crave for the books which made everyone cry. I love the feel of being emotionally attached to the characters, feeling their pain made me hurt. Overall, I want books which would be the death of me.
That’s why I read this one. And this one completely achieved its goal. It punched my guts and wrecked my soul apart. And I guess this could qualify as a Horcrux. Though I love it more than anything else.
“Because TB wasn’t like cancer, something to be battled while friends and family sat by your bedside, saying how brave you were. No one held our hands; they held their breath.”
The thought of people being ill completely left my mind unless they talked about it or showing TB’s effects. They struggled to be normal like any other normal teenagers would be. We can differentiate their lives into two stages: before and after the Latham house, a sanatorium.
“People are afraid of us. We’re their monsters. Except they’re the ones who are afraid of what they don’t understand. They’re the ones who ruin everything.”
Even after getting rid of the disease, one couldn’t simply assure that the outside world would accept them as them. They will treat you as a plague once you’ve been affected. They don't care whether you’ve been cured or not. So, it’s better to be in the sanatorium where you will feel belonged.
You see, the Harry Potter freak in me pretty much gets excited whenever some book references are made. So, throughout the book, he will smirk at me and tries to distract me. Anyways, we both fangirled and enjoyed those references.
“You make sure you have enough good days that you want to go back to.”
The book beautifully portrayed the real life situation with some unforgettable characters. Every character will make you feel rebellious. That’s true, sometimes you just want to enjoy the present moments of your life. But whatever happens, you just learn to keep your shit together. The writing was beautiful and kept me hooked. Nowadays, there are more books focusing on these plots. But only some will stay with you. And this one will stay with me forever.
“Because that’s all you can do in this world, no matter how strong the current beats against you, or how heavy your burden, or how tragic your love story. You keep going.”
MY RATING: Exceeds Expectation
