Book Review: This Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Esther Grace Earl by Esther Earl with Lori and Wayne Earl

Description from Goodreads
A collection of the journals, fiction, letters, and sketches of the late Esther Grace Earl, who passed away in 2010 at the age of 16. Photographs and essays by family and friends will help to tell Esther’s story along with an introduction by award-winning author John Green who dedicated his #1 bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars to her.


My Review
How do you review a book about someone's life? How do you review a book about someone's life that ended so abruptly? How do you review a book about a young person's personal experience with cancer?

It's these questions I asked myself when thinking about my review of this book. And ultimately my thought is that you can't review a book like this. You can instead talk about the effect it had on you personally. Which is really what all my reviews come down to anyway. 


Esther was a brilliant writer, a bright star in her world, and she was diagnosed with cancer. And she dies. That's not a spoiler- it's a fact. And it's right up there in the description. But just because she died at a young age does not mean she didn't have an impact. She had a great one, and now I am one of those people that has been impacted by her.
By her wonderful prose, and her cute drawings, and her spunky attitude. Her need to do something with her life, even though it was a short one. To be upset about her prognosis, but not get discouraged and just let it completely take her over. As John Green says in the intro, "Esther was wholly alive, as alive as anyone else... She did not leave slowly, but all at once, because even when she could not get out of bed, she found ways to be fully alive. " 

The book is full of her personal journal entries, entries by her parents, and stories from her friends- beautiful, wonderful, thought provoking, insight driven, and devastating stories. The hardcover book is color coded for the different entries, and includes wonderful images. I'm not sure if the ebook includes the same things, but the description of the ebook says it does, so I really hope so!

Although this book did make me really, really sad, it also made me happy- to know such a person existed and touched so many lives, and that she will continue to do so long after she is gone, is just beautiful. And to know her dream of becoming a published author came true is also beautiful. 


I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads. Because it touched me so profoundly. Thank You, Esther, for reminding me of the need to live completely and love infinitely. 

You can purchase the hardcover of this book here, or the Kindle copy here. 

FTC: I borrowed this book from my local library, and fully intend on purchasing it with my own money soon. All thoughts and opinions are my own.