Review: How To Save a Life by Sara Zarr

Book: How To Save a Life by Sara Zarr
Pages: 352 Pages
Release Date: October 18th, 2011
Publisher: Little, Brown
Source: Publisher

Synopsis:
Jill MacSweeney just wants everything to go back to normal. But ever since her dad died, she's been isolating herself from her boyfriend, her best friends--everyone who wants to support her. You can't lose one family member and simply replace him with a new one, and when her mom decides to adopt a baby, that's exactly what it feels like she's trying to do. And that's decidedly not normal. With her world crumbling around her, can Jill come to embrace a new member of the family?
Mandy Kalinowski knows what it's like to grow up unwanted--to be raised by a mother who never intended to have a child. So when Mandy becomes pregnant, she knows she wants a better life for her baby. But can giving up a child be as easy as it seems? And will she ever be able to find someone to care for her, too?

My Thoughts:

I’ve wanted to read Sara Zarr’s books for so long and I was excited when I got the chance to read this one. Let’s just say that I’ll be picking up a finished copy of How to Save a Life when it comes out.

Sara’s writing is really good. I don’t usually like stories told in alternating POVs, but her writing style totally made reading both character’s POVs interesting. I really liked reading the Jill chapters more than the Mandy ones because I felt that I related more to Jill in that way of not really caring about things, but then caring a lot when it really mattered. Plus, hearing Mandy’s voice made me a little annoyed (the way she always talked about her mom), but at the same time I felt bad for her.

I liked how this book wasn’t all about Jill’s mom adopting Mandy’s baby. It had other situations in which the characters had to overcome obstacles and I got to learn a lot about their pasts. The only thing I didn’t like about the book was Alex (the random guy in the train). I felt like the author wrote about him like he had more to do with the story when he didn’t.

How To Save a Life was a great book and I can’t wait to read Sara’s other books in the near future. You should definitely get this if you like contemporary.