Die Unwahrscheinlichkeit Von Liebe (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
First off i would like to say i really enjoyed this book and that A.J Betts is a fantastic author. Her writting style caught me off guard considering the premise of this book. I expected another "fault in our stars" kind of cancer book with a heartbreaking love story but what i found was quite different. This novel follows the lives of zac and mia, two australian cancer patients with entirely opposite personalities. Zac lives by humour, numbers and facts while mia lives in a state of anger and fear. Following through the story i found that i didnt connect with the characters (though i guess this may be partially due to my lack of understanding about their situations). I still loved each character whole heartedly and i found that the humour throughout the book created a lighthearted sense rather than a deep and emotional feeling. I found myself smiling and laughing consistently at silly little lines or comments made by the characters. I love that this was based in Australia, it feels like a breath of fresh air for us aussies always having to read about the woes of americans. As well as this, the romance was something i particularly enjoyed. The fact that A.J Betts wrote a novel that is more so based on the ideal of picking yourself up, dusting yourself off and moving forward with the support of another rather than a love before you die kind of thing really makes a difference in my eyes. Its good to experience something that feels real. My main problem with this book though, was that it lacked some detail and explanation at points, i feel that if we were given perhaps, a better explanation of particular parts of the characters lives it may have created a better connection between myself and the characters. I give this book a 4 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in reading a lighthearted, Australian read :) I have noticed that several reviews have compared this novel detrimentally to The Fault in our Stars, an opinion that I personally do not hold: it is the story of different teenagers suffering from different forms of cancer in a completely different place. The experience of teenage cancer treatment is far from universal or singular – as shown by the entirely different reactions of Zac and Mia to their treatment – but I was struck when reading this (and The Fault in our Stars, which I had mistakenly thought I would hate and see as a sentimental piece of rubbish) how much rang true with my own experience undergoing cancer treatment in my adolescence.For me, the most powerful elements of this book were the ‘insider’ references and observations that A.J. Betts has clearly amassed from her time spent in hospitals. These include the references to methotrexate, Zac’s half-joke that Mia’s loud music was destroying his white blood cell count and the multifarious role of his mother in hospital as a welcomer, optimist and irritant. As well as this, Betts effectively conveys the gap that these teenagers feel from their peers when returning to normality: Mia’s slow-motion horror when realising the banality of her former friends’ obsession with non-existent pimples, which she can now observe from the other side of a metaphorical goldfish bowl, and Zac’s list of forbidden activities, sympathy prize and self-correction to the use of the past tense when describing his sporting ability. This is combined with profound pain that cancer treatment patients must experience—the nausea, the breathlessness, the difficulty walking and the suicidal thoughts—one of the rawest and most compelling aspects of the narrative.Betts explores in this way a central problem for teenagers who have been diagnosed with cancer: the fact that it is so far removed from ‘normal’ teenage experiences that it is almost impossible to discuss. It is perhaps easier to stomach cancer when it is defined as an ‘old person’s disease’ – it is a fear for so many, and those who are treated for it must suffer so much, that others don’t know how to react except with sympathy, which becomes jarring to the point of insulting for teenagers who crave normality even more than their socially-pressured peers. This is why it is refreshing to read Zac joking about his diarrhoea, moon-face and guilt-likes, and why Mia’s running away, although sometimes a little forced, seemingly far-fetched and frustrating for the reader, is actually an effective literalised physicalisation of the mental denial and gradual coming to terms that every (teenage) cancer patient must face. I wish these characters had been around for me to listen to when I was going through treatment, and I’m glad they exist now for current and future patients, and anyone who wants a realistic insight into the disease, beyond the statistics, and to be part of the growing conversation about teenage cancer.
What do You think about Die Unwahrscheinlichkeit Von Liebe (2014)?
Would give this 6 stars if I could. Loved it.
—akatsuki21
