Book #64 week #46, Origin by Jessica Khoury

Origin by Jessica Khoury is another book that was given to me and has just been sitting on the shelf so I decided to give it a go. This book reminded me a lot of State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. Both are set in the amazon with scientist researching anti-aging anti-death drugs.

Pia is seventeen. Born in the scientist camp and has never stepped foot outside the electric fence surrounding it. Oh and she is immortal. The goal of the camp is to make more immortal humans. Pia was made that way through five generations of experimentation. She is content with her life. Pia is being set up through a series of mental tests to take over for the head researcher when the time comes. She is brilliant in science and math but knows nothing of the outside world.

Everything is going smoothly until the night of Pia's birthday. While sitting in her glass room she notices an upturned tree has cause a hole in the electric fence. Suddenly Pia finds herself going through the hole and running through the jungle. While on her escaped she runs into a boy quite literally! I should say man he is eighteen after all.  Eio is a member of the nearby indigenous tribe but he does not look like the typical tribe member. He confesses to Pia that his father is one of the scientist from the camp. It doesn't take much to make the sheltered Pia highly intrigued by this new world.

Soon Pia finds herself drawn to Eio and questioning the only life shes ever known and the very people she trusts so dearly. Just days after her first venture outside the gate two representatives of the company funding the immortal project show up to see how things are coming along. The representatives are not pleased with the slow pace of the project and force the head researcher to give Pia her last test forcing her to take over as head of the compound. Finally Pia will know what the catalyst to immortal life is and it is a shocker....

Being the debut novel from Jessica Khoury I was really surprised how much I liked Origin. The writing is good and the story really flows nicely. The character were very interesting with surprising ghosts in their closets and interesting back stories. I found the pace of this book worked really well, there are enough little shockers sprinkled throughout the book that I did not find myself waiting impatiently for the big bombshell to be reveled. If you liked Ann Patchett's State of Wonder you might enjoy Origin as well.

Quote:
“Now, when he touches me, I feel nothing but Eio, pure and whole and constant. Now, when I look into his eyes, I don't see death- but eternity. For the first time in my life, I am looking into someone's gaze and realizing that not only do I understand what's in his eyes... he understands whats in mine.”

Book #63 week #45, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The other day I was at the book store when I saw this one on the shelf. I remembered I had a copy at home that was given to me and I needed a new book to read so in typical me fashion I jumped right in without reading the cover.

The Fault in Our Stars takes place in Indiana and is the story of sixteen-year-old cancer patient Hazel. She is terminal but doesn't have a timeline set in place for her. Due to a new experiment drug (completely fictional just FYI) her tumors are shrinking but her lungs are compromised. She needs to be on oxygen 24/7 just to live.

Hazel graduated high school early and is taking some college courses but her mom worries about her not being social enough. It is because of this Hazel reluctantly agrees to start going to her cancer kid support group again. It is there, through a friend named Issac (who is losing his last good eye in his fight with cancer), she meets seventeen-year-old Augustus. After losing a leg several years earlier Augustus is now in remission.

Hazel and Augustus are both sarcastic, knowledgeable and wise beyond their years. It is not surprising that they soon fall in love however Hazel is cautious. She doesn't want to get close to Augustus because she knows she will leave him someday and she doesn't want him to deal with that kind of pain. During their first meeting Hazel shares with Augustus her favorite book. It is about a girl with cancer but the book ends abruptly in mid sentence and Hazel is frustrated not knowing what happened to the rest of the characters after the apparent death of the narrator. Since it had been ten years since the book was published and no sequel written, Hazel has tried numerous times to contact the author with no luck.  Somehow Augustus finds a way though and soon he is planning on using his Wish (think Make a Wish Foundation type of wish) to take Hazel to Amsterdam to meet the author in person.

Soon they are off, with Hazel's mother of course, but the meeting does not go as planned. The author is a rude drunk who refuses to answer their questions. Hazel is irritated, the author is mean and his assistant is so appalled by his behavior that she quits! After the meeting she takes Hazel and Gus out to the Anne Frank museum. Hazel finally decides to open up to Gus and kisses him at the museum, soon they find themselves back in his hotel room. Before leaving Amsterdam Augustus confesses to Hazel that he has recently learned his cancer is back and it is everywhere. There is no hope.

Gus is deteriorating fast and holds a mock funeral with Hazel and Issac so he can hear their eulogies for him. Eight days later he is gone. Issac tells Hazel that Gus was working on the ending of the book for her but in her search of his house she cannot find it. Gus' mom tells Hazel some pages are missing from a notebook and Hazel contacts the author's assistant hoping Gus sent the pages to him. The assistant finds the envelope and scans the pages to email them to Hazel. Apparently Gus was hoping the author had something to add to this writing because of his way with words, he adds nothing though. Surprisingly enough what Augustus has written is not the end of the story but his beautiful and touching eulogy for Hazel.


Even though I cried horribly and am crying again now just thinking about it I absolutely loved this book. I can't even begin to explain all the emotions I felt reading this. First you have the doomed star crossed lovers, the doting parents that just want a bit more time, the distant friends who try to relate but can't and add in a quirky, mean author who as it turns out knows a little more about this situation than he originally let on. My review does not do this book justice it is just simply wonderful and a must read in my opinion.



Quote:
“Much of my life had been devoted to trying not to cry in front of people who loved me, so I knew what Augustus was doing. You clench your teeth. You look up. You tell yourself that if they see you cry, it will hurt them, and you will be nothing but a Sadness in their lives, and you must not become a mere sadness, so you will not cry, and you say all of this to yourself while looking up at the ceiling, and then you swallow even though your throat does not want to close and you look at the person who loves you and smile.”

Apologies

My many apologies.... I have many reviews to write and have been slacking off quite awesomely. I am working on them and I might write and post them in random order but I will make sure they appear in the correct order when all is said and done.

Needless to say a few of these reviews are for Sookie Stackhouse books (True Blood series) and although I love reading them, can't put them down really, I am having a hard time keeping up with writing about them. But they will be done! Eventually : )