Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book):
Soon to be a major motion picture in March 2019!
In this moving story that’s perfect for fans of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, two teens fall in love with just one minor complication—they can’t get within five feet of each other without risking their lives.
Can you love someone you can never touch?
Stella Grant likes to be in control—even though her totally out of control lungs have sent her in and out of the hospital most of her life. At this point, what Stella needs to control most is keeping herself away from anyone or anything that might pass along an infection and jeopardize the possibility of a lung transplant. Six feet apart. No exceptions.
The only thing Will Newman wants to be in control of is getting out of this hospital. He couldn’t care less about his treatments, or a fancy new clinical drug trial. Soon, he’ll turn eighteen and then he’ll be able to unplug all these machines and actually go see the world, not just its hospitals.
Will’s exactly what Stella needs to stay away from. If he so much as breathes on Stella she could lose her spot on the transplant list. Either one of them could die. The only way to stay alive is to stay apart. But suddenly six feet doesn’t feel like safety. It feels like punishment.
What if they could steal back just a little bit of the space their broken lungs have stolen from them? Would five feet apart really be so dangerous if it stops their hearts from breaking too?
MY OPINION: ****
DISCLAIMER: I watched the movie before I read the book
I don't know if watching the movie before reading the book lowers my feelings for the book but for this one, I was slightly disappointed. I was expecting to SOB like I did in the movie (Oh, don't worry, only cried 4 times... only died a little inside... it's fine!).
First: THE MOVIE
I LOVED IT SO MUCH DEFINITELY THE BEST MOVIE OF 2019 IF NOT EVER. COLE SPROUSE IS A GOD AND THE ROMANCE WAS JIFLEJSLIHFOJEJAWOFUOFIJE AND I WAS CRYING IN A DARK MOVIE THEATRE WITH MY SOBBING FRIEND
I'm okay, don't worry.
Now that that's all out there PLEASE go watch it!
Anyways, on to the book!
Will and Stella were so SPOT-ON compared to the movie. I loved Will's snarkiness and his sarcastic comments. His view on life was slightly cynical but was also relatable. Stella's overly-organized self was so perfect and I loved the character maturation in both of them from beginning to end.
The book was so short. I would have loved if it was much longer but it was slightly helpful since I'm trying to finish books lately. I honestly loved the writing style and seeing the dialogue from the book that I remember from the movie always brought a smile to my face.
Both Will and Stella have CF (Cystic Fibrosis), which is basically an illness in your lungs. I'm not going to go too into because I don't really know a large amount about it other than what I read in this book. I loved how the author brought awareness to this somewhat rare disease and taught people what it was like dealing with this. It sounds awful and I hope that one day in the near future a cure is found.
Will. He's sarcastic. He's cynical. He has B. Cepacia (not entirely sure if that's how you spell it?), which basically makes his lungs sjfoiewj and he can't get any replacement lungs. The infection is very bad and basically incurable. He's on a new drug treatment at the same hospital as Stella when they meet. Because he has such a dangerous disease, it makes his and Stella's relationship that much more forbidden. Obviously, this just makes them want each other more because love works in funny ways.
Stella. She has an entire regimen built for keeping her safe. She's very organized: she has daily to-do lists that she actually keeps up with (let's be real, nobody keeps up with their to-do lists anymore). She even built an app to remind any people who have an illness to take their pills or do their whatever-it-is-their-disease-needs-them-to-do. I loved the role that she plays in people's lives all around the world despite never having met them. She has a YouTube channel that Will gets extremely addicted to and I loved the references to our modern world (YouTube is a HUGE platform that I rarely see in books).
Stella's obsession with being perfect and doing everything she needs to do is because of her parents. There's a large backstory with her sister, Abby, that I won't spoil but basically, if she dies, her parents will die (metaphorically) with her. This is just further evidence to show how kind and thoughtful Stella is, something that I have started to see less of in books these days.
Poe! My favorite character 100%.
When he died, I didn't cry, though I was so close. In the movie, I was sobbing, though. He was so sweet and I loved his personality and every single thing he said. He always kept a smile on my face and lightened the mood when Stella or Will were going through something hard. I just wish he had a chance to reunite with his parents and ex-boyfriend.
The romance between Stella and Will was to die for. They manage to make the smallest things so heartbreaking. They aren't like generic teenage YA couples: they don't touch, they don't kiss, because if they do, they die. Still, they manage to make hearts flutter and smiles appear because of the real love that they share.
Overall, I would recommend this book to readers who are looking for something Fault in Our Stars-like or who are looking for a star-crossed romance. Speaking of which, I loved the parallels between this book and Romeo and Juliet because I just read that for school and loved matching things.
The ending that they used in this book so should have been in the movie!
Main Character: Stella, Will
Sidekick(s): Poe, etc
Villain(s): CF, death, star-crossed love, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.
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