This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl in The Under-Hyped Readathon!

Jan 21, 2014 Charlotte Jones rated it it was amazing

This book is the story and experiences of Esther Earl, a girl that John knew and was a huge part of the online Nerdfighter community, who unfortunately died of cancer at just 16 in 2010. I can’t claim to have known her but her story is one that I think everyone in the community knows a little about and I just wanted to read her story in her own words, as well as from the viewpoint of the people around her.

I couldn’t review this book in the way I usually would because you cannot put a non-fiction This book is the story and experiences of Esther Earl, a girl that John knew and was a huge part of the online Nerdfighter community, who unfortunately died of cancer at just 16 in 2010. I can’t claim to have known her but her story is one that I think everyone in the community knows a little about and I just wanted to read her story in her own words, as well as from the viewpoint of the people around her.

I couldn’t review this book in the way I usually would because you cannot put a non-fiction real-life story into the same group as fiction, so this will be more of a discussion and a recommendation than a review.

From the beginning of this, I was in tears. John Green’s introduction was the most heart-warming yet devastating things that I have read. I always knew that there was a connection between Esther and The Fault in our Stars but reading this book really proved just how much Esther’s presence effected John and how her story is one that needs to be seen as complex and human, and how Hazel is not Esther, though without Esther, Hazel wouldn’t exist.

The book itself really captures the feeling of the book. Although it is sad, I like that the publisher decided on a bright cover and packaging for this book because it stops it feeling like a bleak depressing story. Of course, it is sad but the colourful pages, the inclusion of photographs, drawings and handwritten passages, make it a lot more approachable and real. Esther was a real person, a complex and unique individual and I think that this book really does reflect that and stops it being another cancer story.

One thing that was a little odd for me to read about was Esther’s faith. I am not a religious person and usually reading about someone’s religion would distance me from the book, but in this case I completely understood her faith and her belief in it. In such a dire situation it was refreshing to read Esther’s words on faith and her cancer in all its honestly. She is completely honest in these pages and it just adds to the sadness of the book. As John Green has said many times, Esther was a young person who was not defined by her illness and I think that this definitely comes through in these pages.

I have said that this book is sad; I mean I cried through the majority of its pages, but it is also full of hope and love and happy memories. Esther is someone that will continue to inspire me in my life and I urge you to pick up this book and be inspired by Esther’s story too. This is one of the most human stories that I have read and I can’t recommend it enough.
DFTBA (don’t forget to be awesome). ...more

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Apr 24, 2014 Antonia rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, i-own

I'm so proud of having read this book and I'm also so infinitely grateful for Lori and Wayne Earl, John Green and, of course and above all, Esther Grace Earl for giving courage, hope, inspiration and LOVE to me and so many other people worldwide.

A memoir, an autobiography, of a 16-year-old girl who dies of cancer after a battle with it for almost 4 years. But Esther, as so many times was stated in the book, wasn't only a sick girl. She was a True Star, a radiant comet, whose eternal hope for lif I'm so proud of having read this book and I'm also so infinitely grateful for Lori and Wayne Earl, John Green and, of course and above all, Esther Grace Earl for giving courage, hope, inspiration and LOVE to me and so many other people worldwide.

A memoir, an autobiography, of a 16-year-old girl who dies of cancer after a battle with it for almost 4 years. But Esther, as so many times was stated in the book, wasn't only a sick girl. She was a True Star, a radiant comet, whose eternal hope for life created a sparkle that surely will never go out. She was the kind of person that loved with all her heart and soul and always had the soothing words right at the tip of her tongue for everybody. Even though she sometimes stated that she wasn't so brave or perfect or strong, she really was. Because she proved with her brief, but so brilliant and inspiring life, that in the end of the day all that will have mattered will be how much we loved, both ourselves and everyone around us.
I fell in love with this book the way you fall asleep, slowly, and then all at once. (Yes, because John Green is a big part of this book and I just couldn't prevent myself from quoting one of his most famous lines, hehehe...). I loved how the book circulated between Esther's own writing and entries from her parents, her online and real-life friends, her fellow "Wizards" from the community of the Harry Potter Alliance and so on. Also, I loved her own stories at the sunset of the book. She could really become a great writer, so much potential will now be fully unfolded only in Heaven. Esther's drawings, letters and all the pictures taken by her family and various friends (plus, some of the scripts from her YouTube videos) were all combined together into a magnificent masterpiece that will surely live in my heart for all my numbered days.
5 out of 5 stars, of course, and I recommend it to everyone. It will make you cry again and again, hope, love, but above all it will make you realise that forever is a concept that can only be real when you never allow death to defeat you. It doesn't matter if you die old or young, not really, because, as Esther perfectly proved, you can leave a mark in this world, not only by doing something utterly significant but also by noticing the little things that can make other people happy and trying to make them happy for as long as you can.
Esther, Rest in Awesome, Little One. Your Star Won't Go Out, we won't let it, because you never stopped believing that everyone else's stars could go out as well. Even with one foot in the grave, you fought and gave inspiration, love, passion and hope to everyone who had the privilege of knowing you. I wish I had the honour to know you face-to-face and hug you, even once. I hope Heaven treats you fairly. You reminded me that life is so good and we must live it fully, wildly, and honestly. Thank you for having lived, thank you for being a True Star. I will definitely meet you one day, awesome soul. <3 ...more

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