As a child, I always loved reading. When I would not mind my parents on the few times they asked me to do something, their first response was to take away my books as a punishment. During Christmas gatherings, I would always ask for a new book and spend the rest of the break completely involved in literary material. In my sophomore year of high school, I would often check out digital books from my public library, including the book that was most influential in my life. It is the same genre and even has a similar storyline to one of my all-time favorite books by John Green, but this one was different in a good way. What is this wonderful book you ask? Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider.
"Being temporary doesn't make something matter any less, because the point isn't for how long, the point is that it happened" -Extraordinary Means
The book takes place in a society where tuberculosis has made an evident comeback and tells the story of a young teenager who is sent to a sanitarium and meets a girl with the same illness. Throughout the book, they become friends and fall in love. A dangerous event when it comes to people who are terminally ill. The story ends like all good books, with a plot twist. You may be asking yourself, what makes this dramatic young-adult love story so special? I would have to say that the writing presented has its way to make the reader think about how short their existence is and how they only get a short time to do something meaningful, but usually just making an impact on one person is enough to matter.
After reading this book digitally, I knew it was always going to be my favorite and I needed a physical copy. I may have had to wait a couple of years due to it not being in stores and my grandmother not knowing how to use Amazon, but reading it for the second time was definitely worth the wait. I have always been interested in medical-themed stories and I had conducted my own research on tuberculosis and sanitariums in the past for my belief in ghosts. I am also a very strong believer in universal signs and that everything happens for a reason, which is why I do not believe that me finding this secret gem of a book was an accident and encourage anyone who needs a bit of inspiration in their fiction to read this book.
