This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00HUCV23A | Format: PDF
This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl Description
A collection of the journals, fiction, and letters of the late Esther Grace Earl, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 16. Essays by family and friends will help to tell Esther's story along with an introduction by award-winning author John Green who dedicated his #1 bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars to her.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 8 hours and 2 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Brilliance Audio
- Audible.com Release Date: January 28, 2014
- Whispersync for Voice: Ready
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00HUCV23A
While Esther Grace Earl never did get to grow up, her family and friends did make her dream of becoming an author come true.
I have no idea how to review a book like this. I personally loved it. Yes, it was sad- but it was also full of joy and love. The book is a compilation of journal entries, posts, letters, pictures etc. from Esther, her friends and family as she deals with both living and dying from cancer. I was struck by how much love and admiration this young girl inspired in those around her. I think it is an amazing tribute that her family went on to make this book happen. And I love the idea that everyone who reads this book will contribute to Esther's wish to be an author 'someday'.
The book is filled with real stories from the daily life of a teenaged girl- some are sad, some are funny- it runs the entire range. It was easy to be drawn in and feel as if I were getting to know Esther myself.
There are some very sad, depressing parts of this story- for me, it was a real tearjerker but I couldn't put it down. This is not a novel and it does not read like one. This story is told in bits and pieces from many sources. It made me think alot about what would be left behind at the end of my life, how my story would read.
John Green (The Fault in Our Stars) writes a lovely introduction. Esther was very involved on the internet. Even though her physical world became somewhat limited due to her illness, she managed to expand virtually where she could not physically. She garnered a large and close-knit community of friends and support through the internet.
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.
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