Weekly Blog Post: The Beautiful Between

The Beautiful Between by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

          So I'm reading this wonderful book that really touches my heart. Why? Because  of the story line itself and not just the themes. Don't get me wrong, the themes are nonetheless more important than the story line. But the story line is what really got me hooked on the the book and it's so touching. The story line tells you about love, friendship, and stereotypes, family, trust, and sometimes, maybe just learning to let it all go sometimes.

          The main character, Connelly, is the girl who gets lost in the theme of love. When you think about it,  no one really knows the meaning of love and neither does Connelly. Love doesn't necessarily mean falling in love in this book and that's why I love this book so much. I think too much people supposedly ''fall'' in love and it's all so cliche and... normal. But in this book, I really see that love is a beautiful thing that doesn't get destroyed no matter what. I like how love is portrayed between Connelly and Jeremy, the boy who she suddenly gets close with, in this book. It's nice to think of love and friends because you know it's not really as much as a big deal. But that doesn't mean it's not fragile. I really see that Connelly and Jeremy have fights and disagreements and had one of those huge fights that you never, ever forget. From that, I really saw how important it is to not take friends for granted and treat them the way you want to be treated. In life, so much people treat other people like garbage and they never even consider the other person's feelings. That completely disgusts me that some people never stop to think before they say something and then, BOOM. You lost it all.

          When you lose something, you have to learn to let it go. I'm sure this is huge theme to a lot of people. Breaking up, dying, moving away; it's all part of learning to let go. For Connelly, it's learning to let go of friends and a family member. I know it's sad when you think of just moving on with life and just forgetting about the past, but it actually makes us stronger. It definitely has made me stronger. Learning to let go of something is probably really hard for some people, but I don't exactly know why. Why can't some people just stop fretting about the past? I think of the future as something to treasure; not to hate. But I do understand that moving on is sometimes part of letting yourself move on. I do know people that refuse to move on no matter what and it's so upsetting when I see them not allowing themselves to think about the future instead of the past. I know the past is important and it has a lot of meanings, but sometimes it's for the better. Connelly and Jeremy do think about the past sometimes, but they don't live in it; and that's telling me that they're becoming stronger over time. The past will affect your future, but your future is always in your hands.

          Sometimes when moving on, you need a friend. I love how Connelly and Jeremy help each other move on with their past. But it's not only the helping each other out thing I love, but the friendship as well. Connelly isn't exactly the most popular girl and Jeremy is the perfect example of a popular guy. Their friendship is just so special and it definitely beats down the stereotype of ''popular guy likes popular girl.'' Their friendship is so different from the others and so beautiful. I like the idea of having a friendship that stands out rather than just blending in with the rest. It makes Connelly and Jeremy a really good team and a good match likewise. I mean, how many of you actually see a popular guy with a unpopular girl and they're not dating? Rare, right? Well, that's what their friendship is, too.

          I like how Connelly has so much trust in Jeremy, even though he's so different from her. I know that tremendous amounts of people including myself, need to learn how to trust. Trust is a really strong bond and connection between two friends; seeing Connelly with such easiness with Jeremy showed me that trust is important. Without trust, a relationship would never last. But insecureness and untrustworthiness sometimes takes over someone's brain and we suddenly don't know who to trust. I hate that feeling because it proves that your relationship with someone is really just a simple thing; it's not a good friendship. I realized from the book that sometimes you really have to learn to trust and believe in someone, whether you like it or not.

          The last theme of this book is family and overprotection. I've always had the kind of parents who were overprotective and expecting me to get back from school then calling them so they would know that I was okay. In this book, I see that Connelly has a mother who is overprotective as well. Her mother definitely reminds me of my own, but this book didn't make me resent my mother more; but love her more. I used to think overprotecting a child was really stupid and useless, but sometimes it's for the child's own good. The parent is just trying to protect the kid from the dangers of the world; not make the child loathe their own parents. This theme really gave me a new perspective on family and overprotectiveness. I'm pretty sure most of you have heard of the story ''Rapunzel''. This book made me think about how maybe the witch was just protecting Rapunzel; not harming her. Now this made me think about how sometimes our family has to do something they really don't want to do, but they know it's for their own good.

          I love this book and it's so frayed that you can see through it; see the problems through it. This book really made me heart beat a little more faster and it made me appreciate a little more, too.