book review: where rainbows end

Where Rainbows End by Cecelia Ahern (Love, Rosie)

I got interested to read this book when i saw somebody tweeting about the movie Love, Rosie. Obviously, i immediately searched the trailer up on YouTube and made a mental note(again) to read the book soon. I initially downloaded the e-book but when i was at the bookstore the other day, they didn't have the book i wanted to buy so i picked this one up instead. My first reaction when i found it on the bookshelf at Kinokuniya was "OMG I LOVE THE COVER!". I read it in less than 3 days.

The story was mainly about Rosie and Alex, who were inseparable best friends since they were very, very young. They went through pretty much everything together; mostly getting into trouble in and out of school. When they're not together or aren't allowed to talk in class, they would write letters to each other. Alex has a habit of spelling 'know' as 'no' and Rosie keeps correcting him for years, but he keeps insisting that he was correct. They never minded that their best friend was someone from the opposite gender. Rosie always dreamed of becoming the manager of a hotel, and Alex always wanted to become a doctor. As they were approaching their final year of high school, Alex suddenly had to move to Boston, US with his family because his dad got offered a great job. While they were thousands of miles apart, Rosie and Alex still wrote letters and emails to one another. Rosie had planned to study hotel management in Boston so that she could be closer to Alex. Alex got offered a place at Harvard University, which would be quite near to Rosie's university. Everything was going perfectly as planned, until something unexpected turned up and changed it all.

***

Where Rainbows End is a very unique book, mostly because of the way that the story was written. Unlike most books, this one uses the style of letter-writing, Instant Messaging, texting, newspaper articles and emails. What was also interesting was that the story started out when Rosie and Alex were five-years-old, so you could easily see the development of the characters' maturity through the improvement in their writing. At first, the letters were not very descriptive so it's a little tough to imagine what the characters all look like(unless you've already watched the trailer for the upcoming movie).

Since the story was told in chronological order, deeper into the book the characters start to become more descriptive in their letters(sometimes i reckon Rosie is a little too descriptive, but that's what makes her character different from others) but it was understandable that Cecelia Ahern would have to somehow put in some sort of descriptive writing in the book. It worked out just fine, and what was captivating was the unintended humour that was included. The letters/messages were not only between Rosie and Alex but there were also many messages between Rosie and her family and friend, Ruby. Alex also communicated with his brother and sometimes with Rosie's family. It was great, because you could explore the personalities of the other characters in the book.
For instance, Rosie's mother was always very polite and sounded very "grown-up" in her letters. Ruby was very casual and sometimes sarcastically direct, which showed a great example of friendship in the story.

I really like Rosie's thoughts and opinion about things like life, time and ambition. I even found myself writing down some of her thoughts on stick-it notes because they were very relatable and spot on. Other characters' thoughts such as Steph(Rosie's sister) and Ruby's were also interesting. I even felt teary when Rosie's mum and dad wrote a very heartfelt letter in the end. There were very few swearing in the book, which was nice because it didn't feel too snappy but not too innocent. That made it a little more realistic, i suppose. I really like things that are 'realistic', don't I?

[Spoiler section. Do not read if you plan to read the book. I'm serious]

OhmyGod the feels for the first 200 pages were so ASDFGHJKL the book had such a great start that the emotions i felt were on a rollercoaster ride! It's not like anything big really happened but i guess i got teary a few times because i somehow saw myself being able to relate with the story in some ways. My first sort-of heartbreak was when Alex couldn't made it to the debs which changed pretty much EVERYTHING. The next scene showing how Rosie started to avoid him and suddenly changed her mind about going to Boston created a fair amount of suspense, seeing how it was very out of the blue. When i found out that she got pregnant and realised that it wouldn't have happened if Alex had showed up, my heart dropped a little because she had to give up her dreams to raise her baby. Reading how hard it was to raise baby Katie, i got excited when she finally took a break and went to visit Alex in Boston.

It was frustratingly upsetting when just as something good was going to happen between them when Rosie suddenly kissed him, Alex didn't kiss her back and had to announce that he was getting married to Sally. *heart shatters* I kinda hated Alex for not realising his feelings for Rosie at that time. The moment of silence between them before the kiss was interesting though, especially when they both kept mentioning about it later in the book. It was somewhat an interesting theory that you'll know if they are "the one" when you can have that silence. It's something to think about, particularly when they haven't had it with their other partners(later in the book).

I wanted to cry reading Rosie's Best Woman speech at Alex's wedding. It was so touching when Alex insisted that she stood beside him for his big day and that Katie was his flower girl. It was even more heartwarming that they had such a great time, even better than with the actual bride. It was heartbreakingly beautiful, because Rosie wasn't the bride but she was the one who made Alex's day special.

When she finally started to date, i had my doubts but i was happy that she was moving on with her life. After she described Greg's proposal, Alex told her how he would have proposed to her because she deserved so much better than what Greg did for her. It was sad because it's how things should have been, and Alex knew Rosie so, so well that it didn't make sense that they weren't together.

It was admittedly relieving when both marriages were becoming shaky after many years. OHMYGOD ALEX'S LETTER. OH MY GOD I CAN'T. It was such a beautiful letter, my hopes went up so high and i got so excited. I loved how he described the way he felt when she walked away from him and towards Greg at her wedding. I loved how he admitted he was jealous and knows that she deserves someone far better than Greg, someone who would accept her for all that she is, flaws included. I loved how he said that they stood next to each other twice in two weddings, but it should have been them who married. I loved that we was finally doing something to fix things. I HATE GREG SO MUCH FOR HIDING THAT LETTER. And i was also frustrated that Alex decided to back away when Greg sent him the email telling him to back off.

The next 200 pages weren't as intense as the first. It was more for passing the time, and showing how hard and hectic life gets. I felt that the book would still be fine if some chapters weren't included, such as the divorce-chatroom conversations and the salsa-dancing and stuff. But i understand that Cecelia wanted to show how life really was, and how some things take a very long time to happen. Reading the book, sometimes i was taken off-guard when i realised that a year or two had passed by since the last letter that i read. Time seemed to have passed by so quickly but everything took so long. It was frustrating for somebody impatient like me to read, because i always wanted my life to move fast but i know that it can't. It just naturally can't for me, and this book succeeded in letting me realise and accept that. The ending was a pain because it took SO BLOODY LONG for them to FINALLY be together, but i thought it was beautiful because of that. I finally allowed myself to watch the Love, Rosie trailer again and i think i nearly cried, haha. They changed a lot of things, but i'm still very excited to watch it and love it as a movie, and not in comparison to the book because i understand that they can't fit everything in. I CAN'T WAIT.

[End of Spoiler Section. You may read the conclusion below,lol]

I learnt many things from this book; from the value and worth of friendship, the sacrifices and love of a mother and father, the patience and care of a sister, the determination of a teacher, the hardships of marriage, the importance of passion to pursue your dreams, and having faith in what you're fated for. It was wonderful to witness decades of some people's lives and learn what they have learnt from it. Although it was fictional, but there are many truths to what was written. Books like these make me feel a lot less guilty for reading fiction, since some people claim that reading fiction is pointless because they're 'not real'. Well, it's not pointless if you're able to extract the benefits from it, and i try my best to.

I rate this book 4.9 out of 5. I would give it a 5 but 4.9 sounds more right. I'd recommend this book to anyone who doesn't just want to read about romance(it's actually hardly lovey-dovey), but also about life. It's not a chic-read by the way. I have a friend who's a male and he thinks it's quite nice too(i think). Anyway, enjoy!

One of my favourite parts of Rosie's thoughts