You would have heard about this novel by now, given the promotions for its cinematic launch. All of a sudden everyone is reading it, including me (who is a sucker for a trend!) I avoided this book at first because I thought it would ONLY be about leukemia, and I couldn't bear the thought of reading about an illness. However, on beginning this book, you are catapulted quite dramatically into the life of a family with a child with leukemia, and you find that it is all about the rebellion from the other children in the family. The thought goes through your head that of course the parents need to be at the beck and call of the sick child, but actually, it is not quite as easy as that, and sibling jealousy is rife even in this extreme case. I felt frustrated by how oblivious the parents were to their other children's needs, but was enthralled by the family dynamics.
There is a devastating ending, which would have required a whole box of tissues at the cinema, but apparently, Hollywood, in its infinite wisdom, decided that the film needed to be completely different to the novel. How do novelists feel about this, I wonder? I would find it insulting!! It happens in so many films, as though the writers go, "Yeah, we like the blurb, but we'll do everything else differently," (a la P.S. I Love You, White Oleander, Timeline and heaps more). I'm thinking I will wait for the film to get to DVD because some time will have passed and I might not be as annoyed at the scriptwriters, by then. For what the film is, it is supposed to be rather beautiful. But read the book first.
My rating:
*****
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