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Una Estrella Que No Se Apaga (2014)

by Esther Earl(Favorite Author)

4.6 of 5 Votes: 9

ISBN

8415594356 (ISBN13: 9788415594352)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Nube de Tinta

review 1: This is basically a collection of letters, diary & blog entries written by a girl dealing with cancer, as well as those from friends, family and author John Green. While I empathized with Esther and her family and did not find this a bad read, it was what it was. At one point, I skipped over a large section of message board entries made by Esther and her online crowd. My review may be skewed as I was looking for a memoir worthy of the top award on Goodreads, not a blog. Still, what Esther writes is interesting and worth a look, whether online or in this collection.
review 2: This is one of the hardest reviews I've ever written. Esther seem like she a great kid, creative, articulate, and kindhearted. I'd give Esther the person 5 stars. But I'm not rating what t... morehe I think of Esther, I'm rating the book her family put together after her death. THIS STAR WON'T GO OUT (TSWGO) includes Esther's drawings, a few poems, parts of short stories, instant messages, and portions of her journals and also comments by her family, friends, and writer John Green, who use Esther as inspiration to finish THE FAULT IN OUR STARS (TFIOS). He's quite clear that Hazel isn't Esther and Esther isn't Hazel. Reading Esther's diary entries, I almost felt like I was hearing her voice. I felt like I had a good idea if who she was, although I did see TFIOS and read the book, so I may have been channeling Shailene Woodley's performance. The same writing that helped me envision Esther also annoyed me, because although she's a teenager and I expect to read some teen talk, the number of times I read "duh" and other teen-speak words detracted from her story and the writing. Again, this is where my feelings for Esther and the book diverge. Her writing was engaging, thoughtful and mature for a kid who wrote a journal, never expecting it to be published (or did she?). She had some artistic talent too. There were a lot of repetitive journal entries, I admit to skipping over some of them, particularly the number of religious references. After finishing TSWGO I felt like I had a good idea who Esther was. She was deeply loved by her friends and family. I loved the way TSWGO was presented, including of furious pictures throughout the pages. Putting some commentary from her parents to clarify where Esther was in her illness and treatment framed her journal entries and gave me a window into how much kids with cancer have to endure. I read the book with my kindle app on my iPad and there were some formatting issues that might have been corrected if I read in my kindle, this in no way effects my review, it's just an FYI. There was some confusion with dates out of chronological order and comments between the sections that didn't say who wrote them, and that made me stop and try to figure out who wrote what. That wasn't a kindle app problem.I'm a cancer survivor and I know many cancer survivors and those who have passed. The side effects seem so much crueler on children. While I loved Esther, the only unique part of her book for me was her relationship with John Green, which I feel almost guilty saying. Most kids who have cancer and treatment develop mature insight, empathy, kindness. This is because of their suffering and spending so much time around other kids with cancer, as well parents, doctors and other medical personnel due to health limitations children. I'm not saying Esther isn't special, she clearly was, but no more so than any other kid who has died from cancer. In my opinion, if not for publicity from having been befriended by John, TSWGO wouldn't have been published, but instead would have been something to share with family and friends. I'm sure many people will buy TSWGO, because of the popularity of John Green and TFIOS much more so than the quality and and interest of the book itself. I finished the book in a day, but skipped over the religious parts and some of her fiction and other writings. I had a hard time coming up with the number of stars. I think kids with cancer, teenagers and adults who love TFIOS, her friends, family, some YA readers will love the book. People who take Esther and the book as one in the same will probably like the book more than me. TSWGO isn't a book I'd read twice. I was glad I borrowed rather than purchased it. If I had bought a paperback, I'd donate rather than keep it. For the stars: Esther as a kid is a 5, but that isn't part of the book review. The unique format and multiple contributors is 4 stars, the writing and interest level a 2 to 2.5. So a mixed 3 stars. less

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