Book Review: All These Lives by Sarah Wylie

All These Lives
by Sarah Wylie
Release Date: June 5th, 2012
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Format: Paperback ARC, 245pages
ISBN:9780374302085
Get a Copy: 
       Barnes and Nobles
       Amazon

Goodreads Summary: Sixteen-year-old Dani is convinced she has nine lives. As a child she twice walked away from situations where she should have died. But Dani’s twin, Jena, isn’t so lucky.  She has cancer and might not even be able to keep her one life. Dani’s father is in denial. Her mother is trying to hold it together and prove everything’s normal.  And Jena is wasting away.  To cope, Dani sets out to rid herself of all her extra lives.  Maybe they’ll be released into the universe and someone who wants to live more than she does will get one.  Someone like Jena.  But just when Dani finds herself at the breaking point, she’s faced with a startling realization.  Maybe she doesn’t have nine lives after all.  Maybe she really only ever had one.

Cindy's Review: Yep. Another one of my precious Teen Read Week reads. <3 Ohmergerd. I'm doing a book review when I have a district essay test tomorrow. ;(

The Cover:
Okay. I can't say the cover changed any of my opinion towards the book. At first, I thought the girl was facing a tank. I mean, her hair doesn't even look wet. Well, I don't know, but I know this was probably the scene where she was trying to drown herself. WHY? Keep on reading~

The Characters:
Dani is the main character. She's a normal girl who goes to high school until her twin, Jena, has cancer. That sort of changed everything. Her parents are constantly worried about Jena and Dani can't even get a good night sleep.

The Plot:
The book is separated into sections, counting down Dani's nine lives. You see, Dani believes she has nine lives, like a cat, because she was about/supposed to die three times, but she walked away alive. First was a car accident and two more I forgot what. When Dani learns that Jena has cancer and she only has one life, Dani isn't sure she wants to live on without Jena. 

So Dani decides to spend her lives. As in trying to suicide again and again, until she only has one life left. She tried to drown herself, taking a bunch of pills, running into a tree with a motorcycle, and then she decides to jump off a hill. I cried when she jumped. This reminds me of 6 Seconds of Life. You can find the review when you click the link. Since six seconds of life is basically the whole six seconds of the main character's flashback, while she is plummeting to her death. And All These Lives leads down to her death. And they both jumped off a ledge. And the ending is similar, also. 

Ending:
I don't want to ruin it to you, but I must say, I cried for her, despite every stupid thing Dani does to kill herself. I must say though, at the end, she learned a really really good lesson, the hard way. And yes, I know what this suggests. 

The Bad: 
I can't think of anything bad about it. I mean, it doesn't jump and grab on to me, but if all books did that, then no book will be special.

The Good:
I cried for it. It's that I like crying, but I totally feel Dani's pain. And also, thank goodness I'm almost done with this review. Gotta study for my freakin Friday tests. Ohmygawd.

Rate: (1-10): 8.5

Well, Happy Reading~