Extraordinary Means

They say that a good writer can make you feel something. If this is true, then Schneider is the best writer that's ever lived. I have fallen crazy in love with the characters and the romance between Lane and Sadie. I will admit, I bawled my eyes out at the end. It is a brautiful story.

The most depressing book I've read and I mean that in the best way possible. It's combination of tragic love story, inevitable ending, and dark humor it is a huge page turner. You will be come more and more warped into the story wishing it never ended. I love this and highly recommend it.

  I wanted to read Extraordinary Means because the subject of teens dealing with illnesses always catches my eye. The idea of that diseases can resurface and be resistant to treatment is a nightmare but one that I would love to see explored in a story.     The two main characters Lane and Sadie actually knew each other before they ended up in Latham House, a place for teens to be quarantined until they are no longer contagious or until they pass. But there is a huge misunderstanding between the two. They met at a camp in middle school and Sadie has a different idea of who Lane is because of some events that we find out hurt her pretty badly.     I liked them both and knew that there was plenty of room for character development. Lane is smart and very driven, he has goals for Stanford and finding out he was sick and then getting off track because the academics at Latham House are nothing like what he was used to.      Sadie is more introverted because she was picked on some in middle school. She lets a few people in and they are all artists or dreamers, like her. She loves to photograph and play with photoshop, and always has a project going on.     The medical aspect was pretty scary. They were resistant to treatment that used to work, but are away from normal society because it is contagious. They wear sensors that help the medical staff to monitor them with the least amount of contact possible. While some end up no longer contagious and sent home, there are also the kids that get really ill, and some who die. It is pretty sad how it becomes almost commonplace when they are locked out of their dorms because they are cleaning out a room of a classmate who passed.      I liked the secondary characters as well, especially Nick, Charlie and Marina. They all became a tight circle of friends. They complemented Sadie and Lane well and made a good dynamic. Maybe they never would have been friends outside of Latham but that is one of the themes of the book. That Latham is a step back from the real world, helping a lot of teens to get perspective and to slow down their lives. Lane realized a lot about his ambition and how much he was rushing through his life, always trying to get to the next step, and never really living in the moment.      One thing that I expected in some ways, but wished that it didn't happen the way it did was the ending. When I heard the comparisons to other novels I knew with almost certainty what would happen, I just hoped it would have just been a secondary instead of that plus a main.  But it was foreshadowed a lot and although I wish more for the hea rather than how it played out, I can understand why.  Bottom Line: Great premise and characters, wish differently for ending.

“I’ll meet you there. I’ll wait for you there. And I hope I’m waiting a very long time.” Robyn Schneider’s novel, The Beginning of Everything, won me over when I read it two years ago. It was one of those stories that really packed a punch and had me thinking long and hard after finishing the book. It was a realistic story that wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, and because of that I really related to the story and found myself completely invested. I’m happy to say that Extraordinary Means had me feeling the exact same way. Since I’m one of those readers that goes into stories blind without reading the synopsis, I had no idea what this story was about. Immediately we’re thrown into this kind of bordering school where Lane is living. At first I had no idea what he was at this school. Was he a juvenile delinquent who had been in trouble with the law? Did his parents decide for another reason that he had to be living at a different location, far away from them? Then I find out that this is a special school for kids that have a rare and very contagious disease, TDR-TB. With no cure and a small chance of a remission, most of these kids found themselves staying at this school longer than they had hoped. Some were lucky enough to go into remission and be sent home, others sadly didn’t make it and passed away while at the school, and the rest stayed there hoping for the best. Sad, right? Yeah, this story definitely had the tears bordering on my eyelids quite a bit. That morning, standing at the window of my dorm room as I buttoned up my shirt, I felt like an entirely different person. It was as though someone had taken an eraser to my life and, instead of getting rid of the mess, had rubbed away all the parts that I’d wanted to keep. This story is told through the points of view of both Lane and Sadie. Lane is brand new at Latham House and completely lost. He’s immediately shocked at all of the rules and the way they live here. Yes, it’s a school… but there isn’t any homework, the students are all required to have “rest periods” every day, and they are extremely strict on eating and nutrition. Lane finds himself staring at a group of kids that he would just love to become friends with. They’re the kids that seem to be enjoying life, even at Latham House. Then he realizes that one of the girls, Sadie, looks very familiar to him. It turns out Sadie and Lane had gone to a summer cap together. Though they weren’t friends at this camp and never even spoke to each other, they had both remembered the other instantly. Their friendship starts off a bit rocky at first, and Lane has no idea why. “Here’s a secret,” I said. “There’s a difference between being dead and dying. We’re all dying. Some of us die for ninety years, and some of us die for nineteen. But each morning everyone one this planet wakes up one day closer to their death. Everyone. So living and dying are actually different words for the same thing, if you think about it.” I loved both Sadie and Lane. And this is one of those stories that isn’t just about the MCs with secondary characters to fill in the gaps. This story was about the ENTIRE case of characters. They were all such a huge and important part of this story. The friendships and the romances in this story were the best part for me. I have already recommended this story to others, and I will continue to do so. This is one of those stories that readers of Rainbow Rowell and John Green will respect and enjoy. It’s a sweet story with a strong message. You will probably shed a tear or two, as I did, but it’s all for a good reason. It will leave you feeling content and happy that you read this story when you’re finished with it.

G

I very much enoyed this book. The synopsis got me. I never heard of a book about teenagers with TB in modern times. Its a great story of first love amongst an incurrable disease. There were some parts I got choked up and some parts I had to laugh.

I highly recommend this book. This author is amazing ok? She can tell a very realistic fictional story. She can develop characters so you love everything about them. Even their flaws. I loved this book. It made me cry,laugh,think,wonder, and most of all...it made me forget. It made me forget everything going on. I got lost in Lane and Sadie's world. I became part of the book. I felt like I was there the entire time. Watching them while they broke rules...and when they kissed. Its basically a great book and I highly recommend it. Worth every penny.

So you’re sick, let’s send you away so we don’t have to deal with you. That is how I felt about the characters in this book. Ok, I know that’s a little cold but it’s not the 1700’s and when they placed the characters in a sanatorium because they have tuberculosis, it just sounds a bit harsh to me. Latham House, a house for patients who perhaps might spend the rest of their lives within its walls just waiting for a cure. Sadie has been a residence for a while before Lane arrives but they have known each other long before they were patients at the Latham House. Sadie is holding a grudge against Lane from an incident when they thirteen-years old. It isn’t long though before the two of them are friends again and the past is behind them. Lane’s has always had a structured world, working hard and achieving goals, but Sadie is trying to convince Lane that he is missing out on life and that he could still achieve his goals just get them differently, enjoying the journey, having fun in the process. They are to follow a routine at Latham House but for a group of teens being stuck behind these walls gets to be too much and they have to break a few rules just to have a bit of fun. It wasn’t a complex story; I felt no deep connection to any of the characters as they filled out the storyline. The emotions were there but my heart wasn’t in it. It just wasn’t the story for me.