Book Review: How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love books about families, and I don't mean families in the crazy, psycho pro-lifer way. I prefer dysfunctional families, but oddball ones are good too.

Jill MacSweeney's life has turned upside down since her father died in a freak car accident. She isn't sure about anything anymore, and she hasn't felt like herself since. She wonders if she will ever feel like herself again, and if she never does, who does that make her?

Mandy Kalinowsky is pregnant and isn't sure whether the baby is a product of a one-night-stand in July or all the nights her mother's boyfriend barged into her room.

Robin MacSweeney is terrified of being left alone with her husband dead and her daughter, Jill, graduating soon and leaving. She decides to participate in an open adoption, and take in Mandy's baby.
****
Narrated by Jill and Mandy, Sara Zarr takes us on an emotional roller coaster of a story. As always, I found several parts along the way that I wanted to share with my friends because they were just so brilliant and insightful. I also ended up in tears at the end. Ugh. I hate being a girl sometimes!

Sara Zarr captures the personalities and lives of two young women from very different socioeconomic backgrounds with enough accuracy and compassion. And now, I'm going back to my tissues.

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This just in from Sara's Friday Five: She'll be joining the Smart Chicks Kick It Tour 2.0

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