Happy New Year! Welcome back to the book club (or if you are new hi 😊)! A new year means new books and new suggestions. This month, I chose Five Feet Apart, which is one of my all-time favourite books, and definitely has some things we can relate to right now. I got the chance to watch the film over the holidays, which was also amazing, as well as very sad ☹. Here are my thoughts on the book!
Five Feet Apart follows the life of two teenage Cystic Fibrosis patients, Stella and William, who fall in love with each other while facing challenges from their daily lives and their illness. They have to keep six feet apart at all times (sound familiar?), so that they don’t give each other any germs that could make the other one unwell, or even die.
When I read this book a couple of years ago, I absolutely fell in love with it. The whole story, the characters, and how it could actually be a true story hit hard not only how lucky I was, but the importance of staying close to loved ones and the power of that love. The characters are all linked together and have deep connections. There aren’t too many, so you don’t lose track of who’s who, and they are all explored in detail. Some knowledge is hidden that does make you wonder what secrets are being held back. This makes the read so much more engaging, and you never really want to put the book down.
This book is in dual narrative form, so both Stella and William get a chance to narrate. Most of the time it is alternating chapters, but sometimes it breaks this rule. You go on a journey of discovery with the characters, as well as seeing both halves of the story and their reactions. Both their backstories have vast differences as well as similarities, and extra discoveries along the way.
I can’t really, as most of the time, fault this book. It is similar as well as being so different to all of the other books I have read. If you’ve read The Fault in Our Stars, or something similar, and enjoyed the read, then you’ll love this book. Even though it may be an upsetting read and you might cry for ages, the love and connection you grow for the characters really embeds you in their story and their world, meaning you never really want to leave. Especially at the moment, we can relate to all of the sterilising, mask wearing, and distance they all have to keep from each other.
I definitely suggest this read, as well as some tissues on hand. It is an emotional but great read, and enjoyable. The film is also good, but as always, I would recommend reading the book first. The authors have also just released another book called All This Time, which I got for Christmas so I’m looking forward to reading that soon!
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Happy Reading and I hope to see you next month!