Alicia kim's blog

Introduction:
Five Feet Apart is a romance and young-adult novel by Rachel Lippincott, published in 2018. It was made into a film in 2018, starring Haley Lu Richardson and Cole Sprouse. It won the best young-adult novel in 2018. It is about a girl and a boy who meet in the hospital and have to stay five feet apart all the time. They started developing feelings for each other. It is a heartwarming story of two teenagers.

Plot:
Stella is a high school senior with cystic fibrosis. She has to go to the hospital when she gets sick. Stella has to be very careful about her health so she can get on the list for a lung transplant. At the hospital, Stella meets another patient named Will. Will has a serious type of cystic fibrosis that is usually fatal. Stella tries to avoid Will at first because patients with cystic fibrosis can’t be too close to each other. But Stella ends up helping Will with his treatments. They become close friends. Stella has to have surgery, and Will comforts her before the surgery. Stella realizes she has fallen in love with Will. However, the hospital staff tells Will he can’t be near Stella because it could make her sick and kill her. Despite the risks, Stella and Will sneak around to spend time together. They go on a “date” at the hospital, staying five feet apart. On Will’s 18th birthday, Stella plans a surprise party for him. But then one of their other friends, Poe, suddenly dies. Stella is very upset after Poe’s death. But she and Will decide to go on a walk together. They end up falling into a frozen pond. Will saves Stella, but then realizes he has to let her go so she can get her lung transplant. Eight months later, Stella’s health has improved with her new lungs. Will is traveling to Brazil. Stella and Will see each other at the airport, and they stand 5 feet apart, still loving and caring for each other.

Analysis:
One of the ideas in the book is forbidden love. Stella and Will are never meant to be together because they have to keep their physical boundaries with each other. However, they started creating feelings for each other even though they were not allowed to. They met each other secretly by staying five feet apart from each other. The ending of the book is a bit bittersweet as they meet each other for the last time but they still love each other. Another idea of the novel is survival. Stella and Will are both in a fatal condition and the novel, it’s shows how they support and help each other through hard times and in the hospital. Stella and Will are a good example of the connection between forbidden love and survival. They were able to empathize with each other because they knew how they felt during the diagnosis. The theme of following the rules and rebelling against them is shown throughout the novel, as Stella and Will come to see the benefits of the other’s point of view. Because Stella lost her sister, Abby, and her parents got divorced, she thinks that she is all they’ve got. She is committed to the medical treatments so that she can get a lung transplant. However, Will has a more severe condition than Stella, which leads him to think he doesn’t have many days left to live. He uses the rest of his life to travel and try doing new things he wasn’t able to do before. When Will tries to break apart from Stella because he feels he is posing a threat, Stella suggests they should take one foot away from the rule, which was originally six feet. This shows how Stella is getting comfortable breaking rules.

Conclusion:
Five Feet Apart is a coming-of-age novel by Rachel Lippincott. Stella and Will are each a patient of cystic fibrosis. Stella is committed to the medical treatment to get a lung transplant meanwhile, Will doesn’t have many days left to live so he spends the rest of his life doing what he never tried before. They meet as patients in the hospital and stay five feet apart from each other. They fall in love but have to let go when Stella is put in danger because of Will. They meet each other before Will goes to Brazil. The book shows forbidden love and survival. Through these themes, the book shows clear details about Stella and Will’s relationship. Another theme is the connection between following the rules and rebelling against them. The novel shows the theme clearly between Stella and Will. They get influenced by each other’s “rules”. The novel shows the relationship between Stella and Will as healthy and beneficial for each other as they get close to their goals.