IrinaZ

Review may contain spoilers.

Oh my God! I can't believe what I've just read and more importantly, WHY..

There were so many beautiful quotes and very deep thoughts, that it was impossible to not get too engaged in this book. But it only hurt that much more in the end.

I think, everyone will agree with this:

“I’ve sat in my room these past few days and I think I’ve finally come to understand why people like books so much. Why literature is so popular.” His hand rambled through what was becoming a substantial amount of hair. “It’s because they take you somewhere else. Somewhere not here. Because when things are not the way we want them here, we want to believe they would be somewhere else.”

And this:

“When the landscape of real life gets ugly, we can pick up a book of fantasy and find a beautiful world, all green and filled with sunshine. When we can’t find an end to something sad, there’s always a novel where everything turns out okay and makes us feel better about things. And even though we know they’re made up, we think that maybe there’s just a possibility, in spite of all the ugliness around us, we really do have a chance to make it all work out. Because we read it. And we wanted it to be real.”

So WHY, if the author himself wrote this part, did he turn so cruel on a reader, plotting a heartbreaking tragedy without any light in it, without hope. Just wasted love. Wasted life.

I'm so depressed, I can't stand it! Such a wonderful story, a brilliant writing and in the end - an empty void and lots of pain. I don't even care if I was supposed to learn some kind of a lesson from this story. All I know is how I feel in the end. And trust me, I'm not a pretty sight right now. So my question is again, WHY can't a reader get at least a minuscule of a hope in the end. I wouldn't even mind a guy to find someone else or hell, turn 90 years old and at least hear from someone about what had become of his first love.

The way it ended, you see, makes me feel that there are some things in life we just have to let go of, when I personally prefer looking and fighting for a way out. That's why I read books with HEAs, to keep believing (you may call it deceiving myself, but I don't care!) that there's always a chance, and there should always be hope. Otherwise, what's the point?!

And on a top of all these angry thoughts, I'm really confused about how to rate this book.

So here's my breakdown:

Writing: 5+ (absolutely amazing. If I were to save all those quotes I highlighted, I'll end up posting the whole book)
Main Characters: 5+
Plot (80% of the book): 5
Plot (the last 20% of the book): 2
Steam: 2

Overall: 3.8 stars (unfortunately!)

However, I'd like to add that depressing ending aside, the story about the first love, true friendship and parental support was astounding. I just wish it turned out differently. And can you blame me for it? Even some sort of Goodbye would be better than nothing. I hate unfinished businesses. They make my hands itch to complete things. But that's just my personal opinion. I'm sure, others may find this idea of an ending philosophical, but I'm too heartbroken right now to see some sense. Now I just need to pick up my broken pieces, glue them together again and nurse myself back to life.