I was inspired to read this book after hearing the author speak at our local library. The room was full of young people who were reading or had read the book and loved it. The author herself spoke passionately and movingly about her experience of working with young people who have cancer over many years in the children's hospital in Perth, Western Australia. This is a book written from the heart and from direct experience and her profound admiration and awe for the teenage patients/students she taught (as an English teacher), and still teaches. AJ Betts is a wonderful speaker and had a knack for engaging her young audience and reflecting back to them their own awesomeness. We laughed and cried, listening to her....and somehow after all that, I expected more from this book than it delivered. I've given it three stars because there is some truly beautiful writing within, and because the book gets better as it goes along. I found the start of the book quite flat, bordering on boring. The characters just weren't well-enough developed to really believe in...a little two-dimensional. Especially Zac's mother, and for a long time, Mia, though we get more of a sense of who she is later in the story. Overall, I felt this book had a lot going for it, but not enough work put into fleshing out the characters, and something a little strained about the structuring of it. I agree with other reviewers that there's not much to recommend Mia early on in the story, and this may be a major flaw as she is one of the main characters, so we do need to empathise with her.On the other hand, there is a simplicity to the narrative, and a contemporary context that clearly appeals to many young adult readers who have recognised themselves in these pages, and even, apparently, had life-changing insights while reading it. I have two young friends reading it right now, both enjoying it very much. So perhaps it's just a matter of personal taste and style.It's nothing like TFIOS and shouldn't be compared to it. Completely different style of writing and different story. There were times when Betts' writing reminded me a little of Jodie Picoult's - a way they both have of capturing a moment with poetic brevity.Overall an enjoyable at times moving read....but not spectacular. Maybe this book would have affected me more deeply if I didn't feel like it was building on The Fault in Our Stars momentum. It was definitely its own story, but that's mostly because the characters were not as engaging or interesting as Hazel and Gus. Zac was mainly just a nice guy without a whole lot of depth, but Mia was much more interesting. Betts did do a great job detailing what a teen might go through when he or she loses a limb, and the complications and limitations that can put on life. Apart from Gus's self-consciousness when Hazel sees him naked, there was not much mention of what Gus must have gone through physically and emotionally when he lost his leg in The Fault in Our Stars. However, Zac and Mia thoroughly examines Mia's depression and grief over what has happened to her. I was not necessarily looking for a romantic story, but I do wish a bit more had been put in rather than at the very end. I will put this in the hands of teens who ask for Fault in Our Stars read-a-likes, but like me, I think they will find the story lacking the poignancy of John Green's work.
What do You think about Zac And Mia (2013)?
This is a must read it is so inspirational and I have to admit I cried...
—nkd8
