Book Review: "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott with Mikki Daughtry and Tobias Iaconis

It's been said (although the provenance of the quote is questionable) that, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results." While this adage holds true in many aspects of my life, in this case it applies to my penchant for reading tearjerkers yet being surprised when I'm sobbing (once again on a plane, no less).

Knowing that I'd probably cry, I still couldn't stay away from Five Feet Apart, even though the movie adaptation is supposed to be released this weekend, I think. I didn't just read this book, I devoured it, all in the course of a quick plane trip. And while it elicited the expected emotions, I really wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did.

Even though her cystic fibrosis has kept her from doing some of the things she has wanted, Stella has always taken control of her disease, at least as much as she possibly can. She's a big fan of to-do lists (she loves crossing things off) and she hosts her own video series about CF on YouTube. But no matter how much control she tries to take, she can't avoid frequent extended trips to the hospital—and try as she might, she can't protect everyone around her.

What Stella and her family are hoping for is a transplant. It won't save her life completely, but it will give her more time. However, in order to be eligible for a transplant, she has to protect herself from any possible infections or viruses, which means she can't get less than six feet from anyone else with CF, even her best friend, Poe, with whom she essentially grew up in the hospital. When they're both in the hospital together, they have to rely on texting, Skype, and talking through surgical masks and from doorways.

Will has been in and out of hospitals all over the world, and he's tired of it all, especially his mother's single-minded crusade to help him beat a dangerous bacterial infection. Who knows how much money she has spent on getting him in a new drug trial? Will is just waiting until he turns 18, so he can walk away from the hospital and the drug trial, and live (and die) on his own terms.

Stella can't stand to see anyone throwing away their shot at survival, no matter how limited time must be. Will's refusal to participate in his own treatment is something she can't control, and that angers and saddens her. She doesn't love his devil-may-care attitude, and he doesn't love her control-freak tendencies.

As their friendship deepens into something more intense, they face more obstacles than they can handle. They literally cannot get more than six feet from one another. Even a sneeze could infect Stella and knock her off the transplant list. But what is the solution? Is having to keep a physical distance from one another better than not having each other at all?

You probably can predict a good amount of what will happen in Five Feet Apart (although there are some sort-of surprises), but it didn't matter to me in the slightest. In a short number of pages I became totally invested in these characters and their lives, even though I knew ultimately there would be some sorrow involved. Yes, there were some similarities to The Fault in Our Stars but I didn't necessarily feel as if Will, Stella, and Poe were masters of sarcasm and wry observations as the characters were in the former.

This book is based on the screenplay of the movie, so I'd imagine there won't be much deviation, but again, it doesn't matter. I know I'll sob in the theater just as I did on the airplane (thank goodness the lights were off), and I'll think about how much I take for granted. And then I'll smile wistfully as I think about Will, Stella, and Poe.