Book Review: This Star Won't Go Out by Esther Earl

ISBN: 0525426361
Published: January 28th, 2014
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Read from May 25th to June 6th, 2015
Synopsis from Goodreads:

A collection of the journals, fiction, letters, and sketches of the late Esther Grace Earl, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 16. Photographs and essays by family and friends will help to tell Esther’s story along with an introduction by award-winning author John Green who dedicated his #1 bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars to her.

Review:

The synopsis of this book is pretty self-explanatory as to what to expect in this book. It's a collection of things Esther wrote interspersed with bits written by her family and friends, including an introduction by John Green.

I've been a nerdfighter for years, and I've wanted to read this book since I first heard about it. It took me a while though because I'm just so terrible at actually reading books when they come out. Still, I'm incredibly happy to have finally gotten to This Star Won't Go Out. I've known of Esther for years as well, and I appreciated getting to read her writing, including some fiction that she wrote.

The book is emotional in parts. I cried during John's introduction and then again that the end. The book is organized chronologically, and I was bracing myself for the end when I knew things would get sad, and of course, they did.

There's really not much to say about this book. While in many ways it's just a collection of diary entries and other writings by a teenage girl who has cancer, I think that's part of the point. I really admire Esther and the way she wrote about her cancer and her life even in her own diary. It was a nice, if at times heart-wrenching, book. One that I'm not entirely sure I can describe the experience of reading.