How To Save A Life by Sara Zarr
The more I read about Mandy, the more I despised her. She really got under my skin, this girl was confused yet I didn’t know if she had a mental issue or if she was manipulative. After reading the book, I was still baffled and I feared for what lies ahead. I partner-read this with a good friend and she had a totally different feeling about Mandy, so it was good to hear her side but I still think Mandy has issues. I’ll try to make my point short and sweet. Mandy wants to give her baby up for adoption because she wants a better life for her baby. She lived with her mom and her mom’s boyfriend whose baby this might be. Yeah, I don’t have time to get into that. This baby could also be the one-night stand she had. Mandy hasn’t had a pleasant upbringing, her mom does everything to please men, including ignoring her child which has rubbed-off on Mandy. Robin has just lost her husband and she wants to adopt a baby. Jill, her daughter is not so keen on the idea but her mother meets up with Mandy via email and Mandy arrives on their doorstep. Nineteen-year old Mandy comes with an enormous amount of her mother’s perceptions and concepts which flood her mind constantly. Mandy is trying to get away from her mom, she know that she is a bad influence yet Mandy still clings onto her mother’s notions. It’s crazy to hear Mandy say these insane thoughts and she knows where she got them yet she does not stop. Here was opportunity and hope standing right in front of her and she was not taking advantage of it. The opportunity that she does see is greed and power which flash before her eyes and I had my guard up for Robin and Jill. I had to plow through his book as there were so many different “now what’s happening” scenarios to discover. Like a walking time bomb, I didn’t know how people were going to react and how their relationships were going to pan out. I just couldn’t predict the outcome. I wasn’t happy with the ending, actually it really upset me. It was too ahhh, for me. There was a nice twist but it was too much like a Kodak moment and I’ll be happy with another book please, let’s see how it really ends
