By Jovanna Brinck
Courier Columnist
This Star Won’t Go Out is a beautiful memoir containing a journal entries of a young girl who is diagnosed with cancer.
Esther Earl was diagnosed with thyroid cancer when she was twelve years old. She wrote about her experiences and life in a journal that she thought no one else would ever see. However, when she died at age sixteen, her parents discovered her journals that she wrote in throughout the years and decided to share her story, from her perspective, with the rest of the world.
This book begins with an introduction by John Green, who met Esther while she was battling cancer and was fascinated by her story. John Green is a very famous Young Adult writer and he shares a fairly popular Youtube channel with his brother, called theVlogBrothers. He talks of her positivity she kept throughout her whole battle and the potential she could have had as a writer. Green actually got inspiration from Esther for his bestselling book, The Fault In Our Stars, which has become a major motion picture. In The Fault in Our Stars, the main character is also diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Although Esther died before the book was published, it was still made in her memory.
Esther’s journal entries are so personal and descriptive that readers feel like they are right with her experiencing everything she is. My favorite thing about this book is how raw the events in her life are. She talks about doctor visits, procedures, and even video chats with her friends while she’s laying in bed because she’s too weak to walk. Everything isn’t always positive in Esther’s life, but she makes the best out of what she has.
I would recommend this book to anyone who forgets about how lucky they are to be healthy and living. Esther has a life-changing illness, but that doesn’t get in the way of her being grateful for all the things she does have, like a loving family and supportive friends.
This book doesn’t have a super intriguing plot, since it is describing the everyday life of a person, but it is still something amazing to read. As sad as it is, readers experience the downfall of Esther’s health and witness the end of her life. One thing that makes this book resonate with you is how abruptly Esther’s journal entries stop. Although she lived for a few months after she stopped writing, it is apparent that she just wasn’t strong enough to continue writing. The book ends with an explanation from Esther’s mother and father on how the rest of her life played out after she stopped writing.
If you don’t want to cry while reading a book, do not pick this one up because this book is about as emotional as it gets. I would have to admit that while I’m not too much of a softy when it comes to reading sad books, a few tears fell from my eyes at some points. Nevertheless, this is an eye-opening book that depicts the reality of living with cancer and is a book everyone should pick up.
