Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider: Book Review

*No. of pages: 336

 *Average Rating on Goodreads: 4.03/5

 *My Rating on Goodreads: 5/5

 

SYNOPSIS via Goodreads:

At seventeen, overachieving Lane finds himself at Latham House, a sanatorium for teens suffering from an incurable strain of tuberculosis. Part hospital and part boarding school, Latham is a place of endless rules and confusing rituals, where it’s easier to fail breakfast than it is to flunk French.

There, Lane encounters a girl he knew years ago. Instead of the shy loner he remembers, Sadie has transformed. At Latham, she is sarcastic, fearless, and utterly compelling. Her friends, a group of eccentric troublemakers, fascinate Lane, who has never stepped out of bounds his whole life. And as he gradually becomes one of them, Sadie shows him their secrets: how to steal internet, how to sneak into town, and how to disable the med sensors they must wear at all times.

But there are consequences to having secrets, particularly at Latham House. And as Lane and Sadie begin to fall in love and their group begins to fall sicker, their insular world threatens to come crashing down.

Told in alternating points of view, Extraordinary Means is a darkly funny story about doomed friendships, first love, and the rare miracle of second chances.

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Review:

*MAY CONTAIN MINOR SPOILERS*

They say that Robyn Schneider’s Extraordinary Means is John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars meets Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park but I beg to disagree. Extraordinary Means is its own captivating story about life as art, pain, beauty, change, magic, possibilities, chances and “what ifs”. Robyn Schneider managed to form a story about a tragic love story as two young persons finds love in the most unexpected place where love is nothing but a lost cause. Mixed with romance, humor, and inspiration—Extraordinary Means would teach us that life goes on until it doesn’t.

Life, for the characters in this book, is undoubtedly unfair. They are young and they are supposed to be enjoying their youth, not protected in Latham House where their meals are monitored, where teachers are afraid to give them French homework in fear they would die because of it, and where med sensors are bracelets. That’s why over-achiever Lane, was determined to be well enough to leave Latham House as soon as possible because stacks of AP tasks and applications for Stanford University awaits him. Little did he know that he would meet someone from the past—Sadie. And little did he know that Sadie feels strong resentment for him over an occurrence during their time back in summer camp when she was 13 years old.

Before entering the walls of Latham House, Sadie was a nobody in the outside world. But being in Latham House with her newfound friends, she was cool. She was a rebel, she was confident—a girl she would have never been out in the real world. And the same goes for Lane. Before, he lived a predictable life, too keen to achieve his goals but when he got close to Sadie and her friends, he realized that he was missing out on life, only realizing it now when death can come knocking on his door and to anyone in Latham House anytime.

The characters in Extraordinary Means are unique and amazing. Witty, funny, and their personalities mold in such a beautiful way that you can never expect from someone who had been neglected of the chance to live a normal life. But they are living, and they are surely making the most out of it together. They are extraordinary, fun, and marvelous. It pulled a lot of heartstrings, that they changed for the best even if Tuberculosis took a lot from them, creating such harsh and drastic changes that are way out of anyone’s control. However, they were still able to start having good stories even in the most unexpected place—they still had magic in a place where everything seemed to be composed of nothing but false hope.

Relationships in Latham are absurd. Because an individual either goes home or leaves the face of the Earth, bottom-line is: someone always gets left behind. That’s why even though falling in love is not an option, Lane and Sadie did. Every experience they’ve had, every extraordinary and fun moments they shared, was supposed to begun years ago back in summer camp. It was just how it should’ve been four years ago if only one of them had the courage to say hello, a lot of what ifs crossed their minds because now that it is happening, they both know in the back of their minds that it is not meant to last no matter how beautiful it may seem. But, despite the tragedy of the story, Robyn has this creative way of making her readers forget about the tragic part and just make your toes tingle due to it being so romantic!

Latham House promised miracles just like any facility of some sort—but Sadie, on the other hand, who gave up on miracles long ago and saw Latham as a place for waiting instead of miracles. Yet Lane came in and she realized that Lane might be the miracle that Latham House has long promised.

However, the magic of their group subsides when the miracle Latham House promised really arrived—a cure. Everyone rejoiced over the too good to be true fact that they are finally going to be healed and can rejoin everyone outside. Everyone rejoiced but Sadie, who can no longer see the outside world as her life. She was afraid. Whilst everyone including Lane talked about possibilities, plan, and ideas for the future—she mourned over another change yet again and the fear that their group would cease to exist once they no longer share that one thing that brought them together—sickness. Sadie was terrified on where her relationship with Lane may end up, seeing that he is eager to live his old life again while Sadie does not know how to take a step forward for the future she thought she would never have again.

That’s when things came tumbling down and the flow of the story is unbelievably exciting and inspiring. I felt myself clutching my chest as everything gets ruined. They were supposed to be invincible, their group was supposed to stay.

Robyn Schneider did not disappoint with the ending, which I admit was the opposite of what I felt with the The Beginning of Everything. I loved everything about Extraordinary Means even though it broke my heart to tiny pieces. Inspiring, captivating, realistic, painful—it would make you rethink of your life, of your past and future, and make you take a second look on how you are working on your present. Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider is a highly recommended book that would teach us how to love and how to live even if life might no longer go on.