The Last Leaves Falling By Sarah Benwell

I received this galley in consideration for an honest review.

The Last Leaves Falling By Sarah BenwellThe Last Leaves Falling by Sarah Benwell
Published by Simon & Schuster on May 5, 2015
Genres: Young Adult
Goodreads
four-half-stars

And these are they. My final moments. They say a warrior must always be mindful of death, but I never imagined that it would find me like this . . .

Japanese teenager, Sora, is diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Lonely and isolated, Sora turns to the ancient wisdom of the samurai for guidance and comfort. But he also finds hope in the present; through the internet he finds friends that see him, not just his illness. This is a story of friendship and acceptance, and testing strength in an uncertain future.

 

 

 

 

When I got The Last Leaves Falling in the mail and read the jacket copy, I steeled myself for a cry-fest.  Make no mistake, this book is very sad, but it is a peaceful sadness.  Sora is a Japanese teen who is diagnosed with ALS, which is very rare in kids his age.  He is full of promise and dreams, as it is with most teenagers, but he is also very aware that his disease is not curable.  It was interesting because in most books about teen illness, there is always a chance.  There is always a hope that this medicine or the next will work, but there is no cure for ALS. Sora is certainly trying to come to grips with this; his feelings of anger and frustration exist inside him while he tries to keep it together for his mother.  While Sora is certainly the main character, it wasn’t just about him.  He is very aware of the eventuality of his death and what that knowledge is doing to his mother.  For me, this was perhaps the most heartbreaking part of the story.  He wants to talk about it, but his mother’s coping mechanism is to remain steadfastly positive, even though Sora can see that she is hurting deeply.  His closeness to his mother made that relationship both heartwarming and heartbreaking, as did his relationship with his maternal grandparents.  Throughout the book are haiku written by dying samurai and the beauty of those poems was such a wonderful way to show Sora’s feelings about his own death.

Sora’s foray onto the internet and into chat rooms starts him on his path to living fully, even as his physical body deteriorates.  His disease isolates him and the friends he once had have drifted away.   Reaching out to two people he met in a teen chat room is a huge step for him, but getting to know them and letting them know who he is, was just as important.  In many ways, it is friendship that defines this book.  Sora reaches out in order to feel less lonely, and assumes that he is the one who is isolated by his problems.  What he finds, though, is that each of his friends were struggling with something.  It wasn’t a case of the sick kid being an inspiration.  They inspired each other equally, I thought, and it gave Sora both the strength to keep going and the strength to make difficult end of life decisions. Be warned, this is not a book about finding a miracle cure. The Last Leaves Falling is a book about acceptance and about taking control of the terms of your life, however short it might be. It is a story that is both heartbreaking and beautifully told.

 

four-half-stars

About Sarah Benwell

YA author, teacher, traveler, mad. Will always rise to a challenge, even when it involves giant hairy spiders. For lunch. Lives in Bath but prefers living in books or on planes or trains or remote unmapped places. Advocate of diversity in life and bookcases.

Kate


9 responses to “The Last Leaves Falling By Sarah Benwell

  1. I will have to put this on my list to read next year. I love a heartbreaking and beautiful story, but I think I’ve read my share this year. It’s good that you loved this one so much.

  2. A peaceful sadness… that phrase really appeals to me, Kate, and I really wonder how it would be to live with an illness with no cure. Sora sounds like a character who deals with this the best he can, and the fact that he is shielding his mother makes him seem strong.
    Great review!

  3. The words “a peaceful sadness” is what truly got my attention with this review. By the sounds of the synopsis, I feel like I would ball my eyes out reading this story, and yet I truly believe that it is as beautiful as you make it out to be. I will definitely be adding this to my list.

  4. you know that is one reason I didn’t grab this book. I wasn’t ready for the sadness but it sounds good. really good. not to sad more inspirational.

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