16 May, 2015

#BookReview :: Because You'll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas


Ollie and Moritz are best friends, but they can never meet. Ollie is allergic to electricity. Contact with it causes debilitating seizures. Moritz’s weak heart is kept pumping by an electronic pacemaker. If they ever did meet, Ollie would seize. But Moritz would die without his pacemaker. Both hermits from society, the boys develop a fierce bond through letters that become a lifeline during dark times—as Ollie loses his only friend, Liz, to the normalcy of high school and Moritz deals with a bully set on destroying him.

A story of impossible friendship and hope under strange circumstances, this debut is powerful, dark and humorous in equal measure. These extraordinary voices bring readers into the hearts and minds of two special boys who, like many teens, are just waiting for their moment to shine.


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Because You'll Never Meet Me tells us the story of two boys who, you guessed it right, will probably never meet. On one hand, we have Ollie, who lives in a cabin in the middle of a forest. The reason behind is the fact that he is allergic to electricity making it impossible for him to survive in a modern day city or town or even in a village. He lives there with his mother, tucked away from everyone and everything. On the other hand, we have Moritz, a boy born without eyes and a pacemaker in his heart. Ollie and Moritz write letters to each other, thanks to Ollie’s doctor who told him about Moritz. Knowing that they will never meet, not only because of their physical distance but also because of the fact that Moritz’s pacemaker could potentially cause Ollie to have seizure, they tell each other anything and everything. This is a story of their beautiful friendship.

The book is written in epistolary format – the letters of the boys make up for the individual chapters. I find that I thoroughly enjoy reading this format of literature. The format also gives us the opportunity to hear from both the point of views of Ollie and Moritz. As a result it is a beautiful experience to read this book. The author has kept general flow of the story going in a perfect pace that tells us enough about the boys yet the pace doesn’t feel dragging at any point. Ollie and Moritz are two different characters who are similar in some manner yet very different from each other on the whole. The author has done a fantastic job of giving individual voices to them. It was inspiring to see the ‘voice’ change so drastically every time the chapter changed. To top it off, the character growth and development over the book is so well handled that it happens subtly yet is very much visible. And yes, for those who are always looking for more, there is an underlying mystery that connects them both. What more can you ask for?

I seriously cannot believe that this is the author’s debut novel. It is so awesome! I hope that there is another book down the line that will tell us about the two boys later in their lives.

This engaging novel leaves you wanting for more…



Review Copy received from Bloomsbury India

2 comments:

  1. I'm so glad to see that you absolutely loved this one! I've been anticipating it for the longest time, so I can't wait for it to finally come out so I can read it. It just sounds so amazing! Great review!
    Krystianna @ Downright Dystopian

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