Up until his diagnosis, Lane lived a fairly predictable life. But when he finds himself at a tuberculosis sanatorium called Latham House, he discovers an insular world with paradoxical rules, med sensors, and an eccentric yet utterly compelling confidante named Sadie—and life as Lane knows it will never be the same.
Robyn Schneider's Extraordinary Means is a heart-wrenching yet ultimately hopeful story about the miracles of first love and second chances.
I had a feeling that this book was going to cause me immense emotions, but I still went ahead and read it. That was my mistake.
Throughout this book, there was dread hanging over my head. When the setting's a place for kids with terminal illness, one kind of has to assume that someone's going to die. But it didn't go at all how I expected.
I held out through the end of this book and closed it without shedding a single tear, but then I broke down completely and got really angry at the world. Schneider's writing was beautiful and made me contemplate life in such a gorgeous way.
The premise was at points a little contrived, but this was forgivable. I enjoyed how Lane treated the situation and what this eventually led to, and I enjoyed how it initially felt so close to the books about students at boarding school that I used to read when I was young.
The group of characters Lane eventually fell into was fun and believable. They all felt like real people, and their dynamic was playful and carefree, a complete contrast to the atmosphere that the setting provided.
Schneider knows how to capture the vitality of life and this was an example of gorgeous writing. Anyone who likes John Green will like this one, and Schneider is an author to look out for.
9
