How to Save a Life

Mar 08, 2012 Meg ♥ rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Meg ♥ by: Shellie Brewer

Shelves: cover-lover, own-copy, z-2012-reads

Thank you to my good friend, Shellie, here on GR for sending me this book with a high recommendation. P.S. I love the cover of this book!

Being my first book from Sara Zarr I came into this book with no expectations. I don't read a lot of teen dramas, but this book has lots of good reviews so I wanted to read it. Zarr's writing reminds me of Kristin Hannah for YA. I realize I seem to be in the minority here, but to me this book was simply okay.

Jill is grieving her father that died. They were very...more
Thank you to my good friend, Shellie, here on GR for sending me this book with a high recommendation. P.S. I love the cover of this book!

Being my first book from Sara Zarr I came into this book with no expectations. I don't read a lot of teen dramas, but this book has lots of good reviews so I wanted to read it. Zarr's writing reminds me of Kristin Hannah for YA. I realize I seem to be in the minority here, but to me this book was simply okay.

Jill is grieving her father that died. They were very close, and she thinks about him constantly. Her mother, Robin, is trying to adopt a baby from a teen named Mandy, and at first Jill is angry about this. Mandy has a horrible life at home with an abusive step father so she moves in with Robin and Jill for the last few months of her pregnancy. The story is told back and forth between Mandy and Jill's POV.

The author did a really good job at showing how your perception of people can be completely wrong. For this reason I think Mandy was the best written character. When we are reading from Jill's point of view Mandy comes off as kind of dumb, asking a lot of awkward questions. When we are reading for Mandy's POV, however, we are privy to the fact that she is aware that she does this, and actually sounds a lot more intelligent than she would seem to anyone speaking to her. Jill comes off as really rude, but deep down she's not so bad.

I liked Mandy and Jill despite their flaws. This story held special meaning for me since I was also pregnant around the same age as Mandy, and I felt the author did an okay job telling Mandy's POV. The ending of this book was completely predictable. I do have some praise for her ending and it is this (view spoiler)

I didn't find this story to be extremely powerful or intense, in fact there were many parts where my mind drifted in boredom, but overall it was a decent story with well written, relatable characters. I don't know what I'm missing here that everyone else adores so much of this book. I liked it, but everyone else seems to LOVE it.

As far as Zarr's writing goes I think she's a fantastic writer, and I will check out more of her books. (less)

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Apr 25, 2012 karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: why-yes-i-ya

i have no idea why i decided to read this book. it is not in my usual range of interests at all. i know i saw a number of positive reviews go past on this here website, but realistic YA is not usually my bag. i like my YA to take place in rubble-filled urban wastelands or in forests where threats take the form of monsters or other horrific desperations. i like my problems to be things i will never have to actually deal with. it soothes me. "run for your lives, kiddies!," i shout through a mouthf...more i have no idea why i decided to read this book. it is not in my usual range of interests at all. i know i saw a number of positive reviews go past on this here website, but realistic YA is not usually my bag. i like my YA to take place in rubble-filled urban wastelands or in forests where threats take the form of monsters or other horrific desperations. i like my problems to be things i will never have to actually deal with. it soothes me. "run for your lives, kiddies!," i shout through a mouthful of nutella and bananas. you should see the splatter...

but this is nothing like that. and it was probably on the high of having looooved paper towns that i decided to give it a go. let's see what these "real-world problems" can do to entertain me.

it wasn't looking good, to begin with. the two narrators are both incredibly unlikable. one is a pregnant teen who is trying to escape her unsuitable home life and lying her way into the lives of a family torn apart by the death of its patriarch, willing to adopt a baby without going through the typical channels of paperwork and putting a lot of trust in a vapid girl who has been raised to be pretty but not much else. the other narrator is the daughter of the family - angry at the world after her father's death, pushing everyone away from her and suspicious of this girl who is moving in with them and displaying some pretty questionable behavior.

they are both dreadful. add to that a mother who is trying to save the word one gluten-free cookie at a time, and an emo boyfriend who is allowing himself to be doormatted while his girl works through her rage at the world.

so why is this book good??

i don't really know, but it is. it is a mystery to me, my affection for it. i suppose it is because the strength of the story can override its own characters. it does a really good job of reminding the reader of the perils of those rocky teenage years. the confusion and the frustration and the not-knowing-why-we-are-acting-like-we-hate-our-parents-when-our-home-life-is-actually-pretty-good. there is a lot of regret in this book, which is really well-executed. and there are some tricky things that are dealt with really well.

i'm glad i gave it a shot, because although i liked it less than paper towns, it is always a good thing for me to step out of my comfort zone, even if only temporarily. do you see how broad and catholic my tastes are becoming?? (less)

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May 28, 2011 Tatiana rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ala-ya-2012, ya, 2011, favorites, b

As seen on The Readventurer

Frankly, I was taken aback by the synopsis of Sara Zarr's new novel when I first read it. Told from the perspectives of 2 teen girls - Mandy, who is pregnant and is considering to give up her baby for adoption, and Jill, the only daughter of a recently widowed woman who wants to take in Mandy's child - it felt just too cheaply 16 and Pregnant to me. Plus there are some themes in YA that I absolutely have no interest in reading about - teen pregnancy is right there, at...more

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Sep 16, 2011 Catie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Catie by: Tatiana

Shelves: read-in-2011, ya, for-review

4 1/2 stars

Reading Sara Zarr reminds me of that old Hemingway quote, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Boy does she know how to do that. Only, she translates every emotion with such stark, raw purity that it feels like I am the one bleeding. Maybe not everyone has been a pregnant teenager with a dreadful home life or a hostile, sarcastic girl who’s just lost her closest support, but I think that it would be hard for anyone not to find something to r...more

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Sep 10, 2011 Jo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: boy-crush, good-grief, gorgeous-prose, just-been-cutting-onions, of-epic-proportions, ya, you-got-a-friend-in-me, for-review, e

“And here I am, all of those small hopes getting me from one day to the next, the way they my whole life.”

Initial Final Page Thoughts.
Wow. Captivating.

High Point.
The ladies. The gentlemen. Train stations. Raw. Emotional. Coffee. Pancakes. Pho. Old friends. New friends. Moving on. Siblings. Cornfields, Ferris wheels and stars.

Low Point.
This isn’t really a low point but I couldn’t really think of one so I’m clutching right now. The ending was a little predictable but I think I would have been a...more

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Mar 30, 2012 Emily May rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Emily by: Tatiana

Shelves: ya-na, 2011, fave-ya, contemporary

My thoughts on How to Save a Life remind me a lot of the way I felt about Please Ignore Vera Dietz. In fact, there's one thing I can pretty much quote directly from the review I wrote, about how there are two subjects in young adult books that would normally make me run a mile:

a) teen pregnancy, and
b) coping with the death of a loved one

Both of them are just so overdone, annoying and melodramatic that I find it quite amazing that this novel can march onto the literary scene with its two perspec...more

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Oct 19, 2011 Reynje rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-that-linger, cover-loving, favourites, read-2011, young-adult, heartbreak-warning, dual-or-multiple-pov, contemp-or-realistic, writing-envy

Some stories feel thinner than the paper they’re printed on. Without disrespect to the work that goes into crafting a novel, sometimes reading certain books can feel like nothing more than following words across paper. A perfunctory effort for a temporary experience - there’s nothing really holding me to the story.

Then there are stories that make me forget I’m reading, that draw me in beyond the paper and ink and binding. Stories that I both absorb and am absorbed into - an experience that feels...more

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May 05, 2012 Stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, 2012

Reasons I chose to read this book.

1. I like the song.
2. I liked the cover.
3. Favorable reviews on GRs.
4. Free download from the library.

But I would not have chosen to read the book solely on the synopsis of this book. Reading about pregnant teens is not my firs choice. So imagine my surprise at how much I loved this book. The story is told in dual perspectives.

Jill MacSweeney was once an outgoing girl with lots of friends and a boyfriend, Dillon. She turns inward, and pushes her friends, Dillon...more

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Feb 20, 2012 Annalisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Annalisa by: Leanne

Shelves: young-adult, contemporary

I love Sara Zarr. The way she quietly weaves stories and settings and characters, always broken, ones you want to protect. Honest and raw. Shown not told. Stories you feel.

I normally don't pay much attention to titles, but this one stuck with me, and not just because I kept singing it. I thought it was perfect. All the characters caught up in their own grief and fears and Zarr set out to change them, to save them, through each other. I had an idea how it would all turn out, but I still couldn't...more

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May 10, 2013 Komal rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: ammaaazzziinnggg, beautiful-writing, books-that-stay, doesn-t-get-bettr-than-this, favorites, friendship, real-world-real-problems, sad-sad-world

My initial reaction after completing this book-

If I could, I'd give this book not only 5, but a million shining and glowing stars that would live up to what this book is really worth.

You know, how there are 2 types of books. The first type are the ones that don't leave such an impression on you. They just pass by you without marking their presence and you move on with your life with no alterations on your part.
And the second type are a whole lotta different. They run through your head hours afte...more

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Apr 27, 2013 Keertana rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-favorites, beautiful-prose, books-that-linger, kick-ass-heroines, swoooon, teary-eyed-reads

I cried. As someone who is frequently teased for never having cried during "The Notebook" or "The Titanic" and rather well-known for my ice-cold heart, this admission carries quite a bit of weight. How to Save a Life is a novel that hasn't gone unnoticed by readers, but I remained skeptical about reading it myself. Frankly speaking, I find little allure in novels about teenage pregnancy, let alone when paired alongside with grief. After reading - and absolutely loving - Small Damages earlier thi...more I cried. As someone who is frequently teased for never having cried during "The Notebook" or "The Titanic" and rather well-known for my ice-cold heart, this admission carries quite a bit of weight. How to Save a Life is a novel that hasn't gone unnoticed by readers, but I remained skeptical about reading it myself. Frankly speaking, I find little allure in novels about teenage pregnancy, let alone when paired alongside with grief. After reading - and absolutely loving - Small Damages earlier this year, however, I began to realize that my pre-conceived notions about novels that dealt with teen pregnancy were utterly unfounded. And How to Save a Life simply proved me right. Sara Zarr's most popular novel lives up to its hype and delivered above and beyond my sky-high expectations, instantly making her one of my favorite authors. Ever.

How to Save a Life alternates between the perspectives of Jill and Mandy whose voices are so distinct and yet carry the same underlying current of one who is lost. Mandy, who has grown up with her mother, has always felt the distinct loss of love in her life. Thus, when she becomes pregnant, she vows to take care of her child and provide her in a way her mother has never been able to. Although all Mandy knows is that she is beautiful, her heart is kind and she quickly finds a family to adopt her child. Jill, who has recently lost her father, is grieving. Jill has always been closer to her father, more like him than her mother, and as such, she is unable to understand her mother's desire to adopt a child - and its mother, temporarily. When Jill and Mandy's lives collide and come together under the same roof, their initial interactions are cold and one-sided, with Jill refuses to make Mandy feel at home. And yet, as she will soon find out, Jill needs Mandy and Mandy's child just as much as her mother needs her - and Mandy just may need the both of them too.

Unflinching honesty is what I can always count on from Sara Zarr - and I love that. Jill is hurting, lashing out and isolating herself from others to keep her grief contained. And yet, she acknowledges that even without the ache of a missing father, she was always the type of introvert who was distant, prone to say things without thinking and rude to a fault at times. Yet, the very moment Jill came onto the page, I understood her and her narration captured my heart. Whether it was her awkward interactions, screaming for help, with her boyfriend or even the difficult manner in which she tried - and failed - to connect with her mother, Jill is such an endearing character. Although she appears to be a cactus, instantly pricking those who come too close, her inner strength is incredible and her character persona is real in its flaws.

Mandy, on the other hand, was a character I took awhile to warm up to. When we first meet Mandy, she is chatting up a fellow stranger on a train, helplessly trying to ingratiate herself within his life, much to his surprise. And yet, although Mandy seems like a creep at first, we recognize her actions as a sign of longing - for love, for a place to belong, for people who accept her. In Jill's life, Mandy is both worried at the prospect of finding a new life for herself after her baby is born and frightened that Jill's mother will regret her decision to bring Mandy into her home. Jill, of course, does not trust Mandy at all, but with time, these two grow to share a close bond. Mandy's narration is filled more with day-to-day musings or past recollections rather than the busy life that Jill leads, but both are just as poignant. I especially enjoyed all the care given to mention Mandy's child and her own conflicted feelings over giving up the baby and wanting a better home for it. For many teens, myself included, Mandy's feelings are difficult to understand and even for adults, it's a challenge to allow yourself to put yourself in a situation the way Mandy did. And yet, Zarr makes us come to understand Mandy perfectly, delving into her mind and witnessing her steady growth as she comes to realize where - and who - she truly belongs with.

While these two girls, vivid protagonists whose lives seem so real, are the heart of How to Save a Life, so many other aspects made me appreciate it as well. First and foremost, it must be noted that I fell hard for the romance in this novel. For some reason, grief and romance go so well together - not entirely sure why - but for the first time, I think I understood. Jill's grief makes her closed off to others, but one boy in particular is able to understand her and look at her, not with sympathy or pity, but with empathy. With him, Jill is able to confront her past ghosts and come to terms with her father's death, along with the new change in her life that includes Mandy and a baby - one who will be Jill's younger sister or brother. One of the reasons this romance is so strong is because it is built upon conversation. Here are two people who meet and meet and meet again, doing nothing but talking and pouring their hearts out to one another, and that makes it perfect. Furthermore, their ending is open and ambiguous, but that's what makes it oh-so-perfect. It was flawed, but most importantly, it was real and never contrived or forced. It is, hands down, one of my favorite literary romances of all time. And I can assure you, I never expected to find that in this book, but the fact that I did spoke volumes.

Moreover, this book is so much more than a tale of two girls who grow to find solitude and acceptance in each other. Mandy and Jill teach each other so much about life, but they affect the lives of so many others too. Jill's mother, for instance, is also grieving and her struggles as a parent never overtook the plot, but they were given their due. Additionally, there is the comfort that Mandy grows to feel and that feeling of safety, to feel that wrapping itself around Mandy when it was never there before, is so heart-breaking. We don't realize it ourselves, having been enveloped in it for nearly all our lives, but to see it assume its shape upon Mandy was one of the most brilliant developments that steadily occurred as the novel wore on. How to Save a Life is not a novel that can be explained in chapters or with words. It is, truly, an experience of living and letting go and embracing the future. Of accepting others and moving on, no matter what dark forces you have to combat. And, most importantly, of finding the courage to open up to the people who will stand there and fight the dark with you.(less)

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May 18, 2012 Tina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, best-2012, 2012, ya

Original post at One More Page

It's a bad time for Jill MacSweeny ever since her father died. Always a daddy's girl, Jill feels lost without her dad, but now she just feels angry that her mom had decided to do the unthinkable: adopt a baby. And not just adopt a baby, but let the mother of the baby live with them until the baby is delivered. Mandy Kalinowski is the pregnant girl in question, and she's always known how it feels to be unwanted. Mandy wants a better life for her baby, and she thinks...more Original post at One More Page

It's a bad time for Jill MacSweeny ever since her father died. Always a daddy's girl, Jill feels lost without her dad, but now she just feels angry that her mom had decided to do the unthinkable: adopt a baby. And not just adopt a baby, but let the mother of the baby live with them until the baby is delivered. Mandy Kalinowski is the pregnant girl in question, and she's always known how it feels to be unwanted. Mandy wants a better life for her baby, and she thinks Robin MacSweeny would be able to give just that. She moves in with them as agreed, and she finds Robin to be a very nice person, even if her daughter Jill never liked Mandy. But as her due date grows nearer, she's faced with doubts: can she really let her baby go? And if she does, what happens to her after that?

I was pretty sure I was going to like How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr, but I was surprised at how much I ended up loving it. I'm a big fan of Sara Zarr, not just her books but her posts at the Good Letters blog. She's quickly becoming one of my sources of inspiration online, and I like that her books reflect what she believe in. I wanted to read this as soon as I got it, but I kind of feared that I wasn't ready for the emotional punch that it had, especially after most of the reviews said a lot about tears being shed and all that. But the good reviews gave me something to look forward to, so reading it at the start of 2012 felt like a perfect gift for myself.

Like in Sara Zarr's other books, there is a quiet beauty in how Jill and Mandy's story unfolded. They were two characters from the opposite ends of the spectrum, clashing horribly at first. Honestly, I thought both characters were unlikeable. When I read Jill's parts, I wanted to shake her for being so bitter and out of it. She reminded me a bit of Macy in The Truth About Forever, but also not quite because Macy seemed easier to approach compared to Jill who completely shut everyone out. Mandy, on the other hand, is someone who I would probably steer clear from if I met someone like her in real life. I could understand why Jill would rather avoid her, aside from the fact that she was carrying the baby that Jill never wanted to be a part of their family. Mandy is socially awkward and more often than not, the things she says hit the wrong note in other people who do not know how to be patient with her. I admit to be that kind of person, unfortunately, so sometimes reading Mandy's chapters were a struggle. Oh, but I also ached for her so much, too. The two grew on me as the story went on, and it wasn't even because there were drastic changes to their personality. In fact, the changes that happened to them didn't feel like changes at all -- they were choices. The choice to do something right, to think of others first, the choice to love in spite of and because of things they cannot understand. It all unfolds beautifully in the story, and it filled my heart with so much love for these two girls that I just want the best for them too.

Normally I would ramble on about how the plot was good and how the other characters were equally as good here, but to be perfectly honest, I can't. Not that the other characters weren't good (they were, and they were very fun to read) or the plot was bad (it wasn't, although the predictability factor is high). It's just that the book really concentrates on how Jill and Mandy's lives were changed and saved by the choices that they and the people who loved them made. It all came together so beautifully that I didn't care if I sort of predicted the ending pages ago -- it was still worth getting to it. I was happy that it ended that way. Overall, How to Save a Life is a story of family and love, and how that kind of love can really save a life.

I end this review with a quote from her post about the book on the Good Letters Blog, which I think sums up why I loved this book so much:

As reluctant as I am to talk about “themes” in my work or to explain it or myself, I can see, after four published novels and three unpublished, that this idea of intentional family, of claiming and being claimed, is one of the themes lurking beneath and hovering around all of my work.

My stories seem to always involve people choosing to love other people, in spite of the pain those people have sometimes brought them, in spite of the way they let each other down, in spite of both their minor imperfections and deep flaws.

In the interviews I've done about How to Save a Life thus far, nine times out of ten I'm asked if I worried that one of the characters, Jill, was unsympathetic or unlikeable. No, I say. I didn't worry about it. My editor did, to an extent, and I worked a little on showing glimpses of Jill's humanity. But not much. Because the point about love, this free will love of the people we call family or true friends, the people we take into our lives, the ones that lead us to claim “you are mine,” is that it doesn't depend on them (or us) being sympathetic characters.

It's the kind of love we all hope for.

(less)

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Sep 25, 2011 Newengland rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: finished-in-2011, ya

Lord. A book about pregnant teenagers. In my hands. Read by my eyes. How do I get myself into these things?

Starts out, I ordered the ARC (releases in 1/12) because of the cool cover. What's weird, though, is that the cover on Goodreads shows a girl on the bench to the right. My ARC shows two empty benches. < cue Twilight Zone music > I also thought the girls in my classroom might like it. On that count I'm right. They will. Even I did. How, how, how?

A tip of the hat to Sara Zarr. She took...more

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Dec 15, 2011 Wendy Darling rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic-fiction, young-adult, poc, 2011-favorites, read-2011, readalong, 2011-publication

Really, really great. I'm putting all the other Sara Zarr books on my TBR immediately.

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Sep 08, 2011 Jess rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Sara Zarr writes the sort of books that are populated with characters who feel so real, you know you'd recognize them if you met them on the street. I couldn't put this one down - I felt desperate for the characters to get to some emotional resolution. The good news is that the ending is satisfying but not too tidy. Just enough is left to your imagination.

The viewpoint alternates between Mandy, a pregant teen, and Jill, a high school senior whose widowed mother wants to adopt Mandy's baby. Yeah...more

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Apr 18, 2013 Mike rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: realistic-fiction, bad-books-have-good-covers, death-by-plot, detailed-reviews, not-so-good-ya, saved-by-characterization, what-the-hype, contemporary, teen-pregnancy, abuse, rape, problem-novels

I have so many thoughts on this book that I hardly know where to start. Is it normal to feel so strongly about a three-star rating? Because three-stars theoretically means you didn't have strong feelings on way or another. But here I go, with my feelings:

I didn't like most of the characters. That's not to say that they weren't well-developed, because they were - I felt like I knew Jill and Mandy and Robin after reading the book. The problem was that Jill and Mandy, the two narrators of the story...more

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Feb 28, 2012 Paige rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, fantastic, favorite-books, romance

This book was brilliant.

If you've read any of my reviews, you probably know that I usually start with a description at the beginning. This description usually explains how I came to read the book and what I thought about it in a few concise sentences. These introductions can be about a paragraph or two, and are usually longer than I'd like them to be.

But for How to Save a Life , I have nothing else to say. Besides the fact that this book was brilliant.

Seriously, I could end the review right her...more

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Oct 22, 2011 Alyssa rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Contemporary readers wanting something fresh.

Recommended to Alyssa by: Tatiana

Shelves: 2011-read, emotional, great-books, great-realistic-fiction, highly-anticipated, i-love-this-cover, own, really-excited-for, reccomended, ya-romance, ya-loved, arc-2011, multiple-povs

How to Save a Life touched me in the way not many novels have. Sara Zarr, an expert in her field of YA contemporaries, crafted a unique story of family, love, independence and dependance, without alienating her readers with a story too bizarre to believe. With inspirational writing and beautiful, multidimensional characters, this novel isn't one soon to be forgotten.

The MacSweeneys lost a husband and father a year ago, and while the wife, Robin, has been doing everything she can to keep going -...more How to Save a Life touched me in the way not many novels have. Sara Zarr, an expert in her field of YA contemporaries, crafted a unique story of family, love, independence and dependance, without alienating her readers with a story too bizarre to believe. With inspirational writing and beautiful, multidimensional characters, this novel isn't one soon to be forgotten.

The MacSweeneys lost a husband and father a year ago, and while the wife, Robin, has been doing everything she can to keep going - even if it involves changing - her daughter, Jill, is just trying to stay the same, and keep his memory in complete tact. When Robin springs the idea of open-adoption on her daughter the winter after the death, Jill's in absolute shock. How can her mother even think of bringing life to a home so ridden in death? How can she accept a random high-school dropout into their home for a month, accept her child, without a lawyer or a contract? How can she possibly be trying to replace her father?

Open adoption? Although it isn't an oddity, or rare, it's not something talked about much on the streets; luckily, Zarr was able to open her mind, and the mind of readers, to spontaneity and unconditional, irrational love. There's a very subtle theme in How to Save a Life, and it's that you can be loved no matter what has happened to you or who you are, and that everyone has a right to be loved. Some of the lines could have come off tired and preachy, but Zarr wrote with a certainty that screamed to me as a reader, that told me she had some pretty solid things going for her. This book reads like a very mature YA novel - it could very well be an adult book, and I'm sure an adult audience would appreciate this more than an average teen - aside from the ever-there presence of adolescents and their extremities.

The characters in How to Save a Life are hard to like. They're aloof, odd, horrible and rude. They all have huge faults, they're all creatively insane, and they each have their stupid moments. And they're all a little bit muddled, and hurt, stung. The thing is, though, is that it's very hard not to relate to them. Because, man, did I see a hell of a lot of myself in Jill, as I'm sure many people will. Jill isn't a simple character - most real people aren't - and she was very hard to deal with. She broke out in tears a lot, she was coldhearted and bitchy, she was unable to deal with loss and understanding love, and she had no idea where she wanted to go in life - for these reasons, I think she's one of the most enjoyable characters around. Mandy, the pregnant eighteen year old with a messy past and an attachment issue, is uncomfortable at first, as she's simply one who's everywhere with everything (from her emotions to her decisions to her thoughts), but I guess she's the person you'd be if you aren't a Jill.

Zarr writes love interests well, too, even if they don't always seem like love interests at all times. Absent but mentioned, apart but disjointed, the boys in How to Save a Life are more than just the catalysts for their women. Zarr wrote relationships, all kinds of relationships, with a startling acuteness that read like a mirror of reality, because really, boys who wear makeup, and ripped jeans, and listen to Otis...they're real, they're alive, they have feelings, but they're rarely done well in literature. The mother-daughter relationship between Jill and Robin, and Robin and Mandy was heartbreaking and realistic, because really, mothers and daughters? Their relationships? They're a lot more complicated than some authors make them out to be, and they're very hard to reflect, even in real-life conversations. The sisterly-stuff going on between Jill and Mandy touched my heart deeply, and each conversation that went on between them brought tears to my eyes.

I want to recommend this book to everyone with and without an open mind, and for readers of YA that are tired of boy-meets-girl, girl-has-home-problem stories. I love those books, but sometimes, you want something a little more...real. How to Save a Life is one of the best written dramas I've read all year, and I think you'd be missing out by not giving this spectacular novel a go.(less)

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May 09, 2012 Kristi (The Story Siren) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: bea-2011

Sara Zarr is such a fabulous writer. Every time I read one of her novels I am amazed at her story telling abilities. She can take a story that sounds so cliche and make it into something powerful and moving. She can take characters that I abhor and found annoying and make me care for them and their fictional existence.

I’ll admit. I wasn’t looking forward to reading this book. As much as I love Sara Zarr…. pregnant girl, recently deceased father. The whole thing sounded like an after school speci...more

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Dec 31, 2012 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, ya

Some books touch you without explaining why. How to Save a Life was one of those books for me. I suppose there is something about trudging through life’s curve balls that calls to me. As I’m sure it does to several others as well. It’s inspiring to see people pick themselves up, dust themselves off and find a new semblance of strength and happiness.

How to Save a Life isn’t the most authentic book I’ve ever read. The ending is much too happy, the characters forgive too easily, and come around all...more

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Sep 07, 2011 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemp-realistic

In a word? Real.

Through the perspectives of two teen girls, HOW TO SAVE A LIFE explores two extremely intense, emotional, and dramatic experiences — the sudden death of a parent and an unplanned teen pregnancy (and all the complications, pain, loss, fear, love, and hope that can arise from each) — in a compelling and page-turning way that never resorts to melodrama or forced emotion. On every page, through every confrontation and thought, through the internal and external changes both girls endu...more In a word? Real.

Through the perspectives of two teen girls, HOW TO SAVE A LIFE explores two extremely intense, emotional, and dramatic experiences — the sudden death of a parent and an unplanned teen pregnancy (and all the complications, pain, loss, fear, love, and hope that can arise from each) — in a compelling and page-turning way that never resorts to melodrama or forced emotion. On every page, through every confrontation and thought, through the internal and external changes both girls endure and bring about, I believed these girls. I knew them. They were just so real.

Angsty, lost, deeply wounded by the sudden death of her father and the huge hole his absence has left in her life, Jill MacSweeney is dangerously close to shutting down, shutting herself away from the world. Yet something inside her still flickers, something still open to new love and friendships, no matter how hard she rails against it in her day-to-day life. Naive and immature on the surface, Mandy Kalinowski is understandably desperate for love, connection, and the basic human acknowledgement that she’s a person, that she matters. Like Jill, Mandy has been torn apart by the loss and longing that comes from a broken family. Their lives intersect when Jill’s mother, still reeling from the death of her husband and desperate to put her family back together, decides to adopt Mandy’s unborn baby. She invites Mandy to stay with them in Colorado during the final weeks of her pregnancy so that they can handle the transition without lawyers or agencies. And while not all readers will have experienced the death of a parent and planned adoption of a new sibling like Jill has, or a teen pregnancy and difficult home life like Mandy has, Zarr still brings the story to all of us in personal and memorable ways. Who hasn’t struggled to find their place in the world? Who hasn’t felt the desire to run away, to start again? Who hasn’t doubted their closest relationships, struggled to find “home,” or felt like an outsider in their own families?

The story is told in first person alternating points of view, which is a huge and admirable challenge for authors because the characters’ voices and perspectives must be unique, equally compelling, equally important, and wholly necessary. And each alternating scene must cover new ground while at the same time conveying each characters’ thoughts, feelings, and reactions to shared moments and events through their own unique perspectives. Zarr crafts the point of view switches beautifully. I was immediately drawn to each girl for very different reasons, and found myself at times connecting with one more than the other, then my feelings would change, then change again, until ultimately I was so wrapped up in the outcome of their shared story that I simply couldn’t put the book down until I knew how things would turn out for both of them.

Zarr has a talent for telling the story. By that, I mean, her books are never weighed down with extraneous detail, melodrama, or flowery, unnecessary language. Like her previous works, HOW TO SAVE A LIFE showcases this minimalist style beautifully, but it also weaves in layers emotion and detail so delicately — almost imperceptibly — that by the last page, the characters will so thoroughly invade your heart that you’ll feel like you’d been through it yourselves, right along with Jill and Mandy. It’s a rare gift for an author to be able to disappear completely from the narrative, and Zarr does it seamlessly. I forgot about her as I got lost in the pages, in the lives of these girls. Zarr makes the storytelling seem effortless — something I admire and appreciate as both an author and a reader.

I’ve read and enjoyed all of Zarr’s books, but HOW TO SAVE A LIFE is officially my favorite.(less)

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Jul 16, 2012 Courtney rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: abuse, grief, young-adult-literature, benevolence

After the sudden death of her father, her rock, seventeen-year-old Jill is trying to cope the best way that she knows how – by unleashing her anger and self-loathing on everyone around her. During the ten months following the accident, Jill has managed to alienate her friends, her boyfriend, and her mother in a feeble attempt at self-preservation. While she is busy living in her downward spiral, her mother decides to fulfill a dream that she and her husband shared. She wants to adopt a child and...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Laurel Garver rated it 4 of 5 stars

A thoroughly character-driven story with two very different narrative voices, HSL kept me turning pages because of the emotional tension. In the midst of a whole lot of interiority are characters you worry will go off the deep end at any moment. How Zarr manages all the emotional teetering on edges without ever going melodramatic is certainly worthy of study.

I missed the literary flair we saw in Once Was Lost and Sweethearts; that's what lost the fifth star for me. Good writing, but not sigh-wor...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Amy or "Ames" rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, young-adult, library-books, read-in-2013, favourites, i-heart-the-cover-art, psychology, m-tbr, rape

What I thought of when I saw the title: The Fray's How to Save A Life.

Reactive Attachment Disorder is an incredibly sad thing because it's the hallmark of neglect, parental and otherwise, sometimes leading to 'excessive familiarity with relative strangers' to fulfil the all-consuming need for love, attention and affection they've never received. Witnessing Mandy forming unhealthy attachments to people she's just met is excruciating. Once you hear her story, you just want to pull her away from he...more What I thought of when I saw the title: The Fray's How to Save A Life.

Reactive Attachment Disorder is an incredibly sad thing because it's the hallmark of neglect, parental and otherwise, sometimes leading to 'excessive familiarity with relative strangers' to fulfil the all-consuming need for love, attention and affection they've never received. Witnessing Mandy forming unhealthy attachments to people she's just met is excruciating. Once you hear her story, you just want to pull her away from her old life and insecurities, give her a hug, take her home and take care of her and her unborn baby.

I felt for each and every one of the characters. They may not be the most likeable in the world but they're real, complicated and going through terrible times. I understood why each acted as they did: why Jill rejected the notion of her mother adopting a baby so soon after her dad died, why Robin (Jill's mother) wanted to do this and why she didn't go through legal channels to do so, and why Mandy lied so she could find a loving home for her baby to grow up in, thereby preventing her from suffering the same childhood she did and growing up to be like her or her mother.

I sympathised with Jill. Struggling with her identity, redefining herself after her dad's death and figuring out what she wants and who she wants to be is difficult enough, but then having to accept this new person into your life who'll provide you with a baby sister, puts on even more pressure to come to terms with her grief, with her future and the need to move on, embrace life and take risks again.

It's a deeply moving and depressing read, so much so that I was desperate for the predictable happily ever after. Thankfully, I got it. I would've been pretty mad if I hadn't. A new family and a new beginning is formed from the wreckage of four lives, bringing me to tears with the emotive subject matters of abuse, grief and fear for the future and the truly deep and realistic observations in the writing, together with fact that four lives, not one or two, are saved, make this a rare and favourite read.(less)

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Apr 30, 2012 Kyle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-favorites, best-books-of-all-time, favorite-characters, favorites, made-me-sob-my-black-heart-out, mind-blowing, phenominal, really-excited, what-did-i-just-read, will-definitely-re-read, awesome-writing-style

This book is made on pure win.

Whoever reads this, whether you hate everything, or love everything, read this book. It's wonderful. I don't think I've ever cried so much during one book. Hell, I was even crying when the book ended so predictably wonderful!

If you have any kind of soul, I can picture you at least somewhat enjoying this wonderful piece of literature.

Maybe not the shining, screaming 5 stars I gave it, but a 4, maybe even a 3. There are some reasons why this book, and the other nove...more

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Mar 06, 2012 Kirstin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library, cybils2012

Mandy is pregnant and looking to give her child up for adoption. Jill’s recently widowed mom, Robin, is looking to adopt a baby, and an open-adoption website helps them find each other. Robin invites Mandy to move in with them while they wait for the baby’s arrival — two decisions that cause Jill, still reeling from her dad’s death, to flip out.

It’s like her mother has become someone Jill doesn’t even recognize. Jill has enough to worry about without a pregnant stranger living in her house and w...more

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Feb 20, 2012 Yue [Wonder of living] rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, favorites, realistic-fiction, romance

Holy freaking crap.

This book is the reason I read. It's the reason I write. Because books like these inspire me. They make me want to share this story and make people feel the way I feel about this book.

If I wasn't clear enough: I love this book.

Truly, honestly one of the best books I read this year, if not the best book.

How to Save a Life (Am I the only one who starts singing How to Save a Life by the Fray whenever I see this title?) is about two girls, pregnancy, life, love, adoption, acceptan...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Kwoomac rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, complicated-protagonist, coming-of-age, contemporary-lit, sassy-teen, of-course-i-cried, reviewed, teen-angst, young-adult, death

I fell in love with the characters immediately. The story is told in alternating chapters by two teenage girls who have been thrown together. Both are lost and broken, if for different reasons. Here's Mandy trying to sum up her life: A lot of times when I look at the world and everyone in it, I feel like they know something I don't know. I'm not dumb; I can see how it works. But it's like double Dutch jump rope. In grade school I would watch the ropes fly and see girl after girl jump in and eit...more I fell in love with the characters immediately. The story is told in alternating chapters by two teenage girls who have been thrown together. Both are lost and broken, if for different reasons. Here's Mandy trying to sum up her life: A lot of times when I look at the world and everyone in it, I feel like they know something I don't know. I'm not dumb; I can see how it works. But it's like double Dutch jump rope. In grade school I would watch the ropes fly and see girl after girl jump in and either get it right or get tangled in the ropes and laugh. I'd stand there with my hands ready and my body going back and forth, trying to get the rhythm and the right moment, and Ms. Timble, the PE teacher, would say, "Come on, Mandy, everyone's waiting," and I couldn't do it. I couldn't figure out how to get in. How heartbreaking is that !?!

Then there's Jill. She tries hard to keep everyone at a distance, but at great cost. She's trying to deal with her grief without the support of her mother, her friends, her boyfriend. While she knows that isolating herself from everyone isn't working, she can't figure out how to get out of her own way. Here's a little heartbreaking Jill snippet: I pick up a copy of Pat the Bunny from the floor and rub the front before placing it back on the shelf.

Now you know why I love both these girls. Their lives are so very sad. I spent all my time hoping that both girls were find a way to heal their wounds. Mandy needs to believe that she's a worthwhile person. In spite of what she's been through, she's really an innocent. The lettered she wrote to the man. She met on the train were so raw, so vulnerable. It was painful to read them.

My favorite line from the book is another one of Mandy's thoughts : I want this to be a baby from cornfields and Ferris wheels and stars. Me too, Mandy, me too.

P.S. I've just read many reviews of the book and it looks like just about everyone saw these two girls as unlikable. Huh! I really liked them both. I did work with teens for many years and loved everything about them; their failure to think things through, their random sullenness, their general snarkiness? I liked both characters because they were so real. Teenagers rarely spend their energy on trying to be likable to adults. I say, "Well done Sara Zarr!", for creating such real girls.

P.P.S. The restaurant Casa Bonita mentioned in the book is a real place and I want to go there. I checked it out on YouTube and it's everything you could imagine and more. Definitely going on my bucket list!(less)

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Nov 01, 2011 Rowena rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-review

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked this book up but whatever it was, I was glad that I read this. It's a story about two girls trying to find some middle ground in their lives. One is grieving over the loss of her father and the other is trying to deal with not knowing what her future holds for her. They're both scared young girls just trying to figure out how to keep going when their lives take a drastic change.

This story head hops between the two main characters, Jill and Mandy.

Ji...more I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked this book up but whatever it was, I was glad that I read this. It's a story about two girls trying to find some middle ground in their lives. One is grieving over the loss of her father and the other is trying to deal with not knowing what her future holds for her. They're both scared young girls just trying to figure out how to keep going when their lives take a drastic change.

This story head hops between the two main characters, Jill and Mandy.

Jill lost her father in a car accident almost a year ago and she hasn't gotten over it. She was extremely close with her Dad and she feels his loss each and every day. Her friends don't understand and her boyfriend wants to but Jill is so independent that she keeps everyone at bay. Even her mother. Knowing what Jill is going through, I thought I would be able to connect with her more and feel her pain but there were times when it was hard to watch her go at it with everyone. She can't seem to connect with anyone until a guy from school shows up at her work and starts helping her thaw out. She thinks her Mom is taking some crazy pills because she's adopting a girl's baby and Jill thinks it's too soon to be jumping into something like this after her Dad died but Jill's Mom is adamant about going through with this, much to Jill's chagrin.

Then there's Mandy. Mandy ran away from home because she lived with her emotional abusive mother and her Mom's boyfriend who wasn't a nice guy. Mandy's eighteen and pregnant. She decides to give up her baby for adoption instead of having an abortion and she finds the perfect mother in Robin MacSweeney. With a vague plan in mind, Mandy takes off from Omaha and moves to Denver, Colorado to have her baby. She's running away from the life that hasn't made her happy and she's trying to find her way in life and I really enjoyed getting to know Mandy. She was raised so different from Jill and yet she was better behaved than Jill was throughout the entire book. It was easy to connect with Mandy because she feels so overwhelmed throughout the entire book and lots of bad things happened to her but she didn't let any of that stuff turn her into a raging bitch, which I appreciated.

I couldn't say the same for Jill. Jill grew up, not wanting for anything and yet she was so bitter about every thing. Her bitterness toward a girl who did her no harm and the hurtful things she would say to those that are showing her kindness made me want to smack the crap out of her. When she would say things like, "You don't get to talk about him," it was hard to sympathize with her. As much as I didn't really want her to be with Dylan, I had to give it to him for being so patient with Jill. She didn't make it easy for anyone to be with her and yet Dylan was the constant presence in her life outside of her Mom. The way she treated Mandy in the beginning made me want to kick her in the stomach but Mandy handled it so much better than I ever could.

And that's what made me like Mandy all the more. You could just feel how lost she was and how much she needed someone in her corner and to see Robin trying to be that person made me happy. The whole story comes together so nicely and from the beginning to the end, the words just flowed so well together and I couldn't stop reading. I really enjoyed this book and am curious about reading more of Zarr's work. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of contemporary YA fiction because you'll get a few hours of entertainment out of this book, I promise.

This review was originally posted on The Book Scoop by Rowena.(less)

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Feb 20, 2013 Sarah Rosenberger rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-fiction

In Sara Zarr's capable hands, what could be a cliched story of teen pregnancy becomes much more.

When Jill MacSweeney learns that her middle-aged mother plans to adopt a baby from an unwed, pregnant teenager, she thinks the whole idea is ridiculous. Jill knows enough about psychology to understand that her mom wants to fill the void in her life left by Jill's father's unexpected death, but she still thinks it's a terrible idea. Especially since the mother of the baby, Mandy, is coming all the way...more

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