If everything really does get better, the way everyone claims, then happiness should be graphable.
You draw up an X axis and a Y axis, where a positive slope represents a positive attitude, plot some points, and there you go.
This is one of the lines I can relate to in the book. It makes a lot of sense and I pretty much agree with Ezra on this. Yes, it is crap because this is not how real life happens.
The Beginning of Everything , the first chapter alone may seem like a book of tragedy and regret but it is actually full of hope. Of the realization that everything happens for a reason but you only find out after understanding all the hurt, after your heart has been broken. According to Ezra, everyone has a tragedy waiting to happen and when that tragedy happens you realize that it is only the beginning of everything that is meant to happen in your life. When you have come to that eureka moment, everything will fall into place and you understand your mission and place in the universe. Ezra was a Junior when he was hit by a car that ran thru a red light. His car was battered and the last thing he remembered was being alone in the ambulance. He broke his knee and had to rely on crutches to get around. The doctors told him he will never play tennis, ever again. His life has been changed from the popular school jock to a pitying spectacle. He missed prom and finals because of the accident. And the saddest thing about all of it, the reason why he got into an accident was because of his now ex-girlfriend Charlotte. Not that he blamed her. If only he had done things differently that night, like not park his car two blocks away.
When Senior year started, Ezra felt he no longer belonged to his old friends. He felt like an outsider. He was no longer the golden boy. He can no longer play tennis, not ever. He thought tennis was everything...his ticket to college. It was what he was good at. Probably, the only thing he was good at. With this change, he started hanging out again with his best friend way back in grade school - Toby. Toby who had had his share of tragedy.
There is also a new girl in school which seems to pique the curiosity of Ezra. He became friends with Cassidy. And as they got closer, he realized that Cassidy has her own share of tragedy too and that they are doubtlessly more connected than they think they can ever be.
I started reading this book around 9pm and ended staying up until 2am because I had to finish the book. It seemed that my hand had a mind of its own and can't seem to let go of the e-book reader. My hand felt like glued to the device and will only release it when I have read the last word.
I absolutely love this book! I felt an extraordinary kinship with Ezra. I know exactly how he feels right to the marrow of my bones. I like that it was written in a not so dramatic way. It is still straightforward but the emotions and tragedy were never downplayed. I definitely wish I could write the way Robyn Schneider did in this book. Superbly amazing! I dig the way everything turned out and that Ezra was wiser in his age. The way he came to understand everything and accepted it as part of the way life dealt its cards. There are just some things we don't have a hand in and that what we do with what life gives us is how we deal with our individual tragedies.
I did not cry in this book. Not that it did not touch me, but because it was so full of hope which I could really use a lot right now. That there is no need to despair just because things are not what we want them to be. Only in accepting our situations can we actually become the person we are really meant to be. Our tragedies force us out of our comfort zones and teach us to adapt, to change and sometimes cower and hide. But if we learn and adapt, we find that we can do more. We are destined for bigger and better things. Only our own selves are the ones stopping us. And I wish, like Ezra, I too will eventually find the beginning of everything amazing in my life. Not that nothing good ever happens in my life. It just that right now, I actually need a miracle because I sure don't know what I really want to do and where I am headed. Or I know what I want and I know where I want to go but it is so scary and I don't know if I am strong enough go through with it. I am not sure that I will come out of it alive and intact. I'm afraid I might end up more shredded than I ever was from the start.
I give this book five stars. I was so pleased I found this book. Aside from that fact that it made me think about my own life. Ezra is strangely speaking directly to me and telling me to hold on. When things get worst, they will surely get better, because nothing comes after worst. It just makes sense that everything will turn around. Definitely, Robyn Schneider is the next author to watch out for. I think she might soon join my favorite authors list. I am excited to read her other books. I was so delighted with this one that I can't wait to find out if I can have her featured in my "Three of A Kind" post.
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