Did you know that almost three million children and adolescents have a parent who has or had cancer? Knowing that there are so many people who have to suffer from this just makes you want to know how they deal with it.

This book is about a young girl who does not have her parents in her life. The conflict is her mother is always working and cannot always be there. Her dad is suffering from terminal cancer. She only has her good friend, Julian who is always there for her.

This book gives you the perspective of what life would be like with little to no parenting, self-harm, and love for someone who does not love you back. The only time that there is parenting is when her mother comes home from work. Along with this, when she gets angry and sad, she finds a safe spot. Then she will begin pounding on her head until she gets to the number five hundred. This is because she is angry and embarrassed at herself and others.

The book is emotional, and for some people, it might be relatable, because the main character and other characters share their feelings on dealing with life’s situations. For example, Eleanor goes to her dad’s doctor, Dr. Ganesh, to talk about her feelings. Since he is a doctor, he cannot listen and tell her personal information. Over time, she gains feelings for the doctor and tries to kiss him at the end of the book. She is going through this rough time with losing her dad and her best friend. I won’t say what happens with both of them but she needed them at this time.

I think the theme of this book is that if you need help with self-harm and feeling abandoned, you should get help. Before you do something that you might regret. Because in this life in the book, there is little help for a young girl who is struggling in life. There is her mother who comes in at the end of the novel along with her sister. Her sister is in college and just left her family behind. Eleanor’s mother took off time from her work when she learned what was happening to her husband. In reality, a young girl would do something like self-harm to get somebody’s attention.

I recommend this book because it has a nice but sad turn in the book towards the end. Although some parts may be sad, family is an important part of the theme because it highlights the importance of having someone. So, if you want to read a book about how to deal with stress, anxiety, and the death of a loved one, this would be a good book for you to read.

Eleanor is having a tough time. It all centers around her dad's cancer. As the book opens, her mother has left her in charge of injecting her dad with a saline treatment. It doesn't go well and she ends up having to take her dad to the hospital. This doesn't help Eleanor's already fragile psyche. She feels responsible for her dad's relapse.

At the same time, she's falling for the resident on her dad's case, Dr. Ganesh. They both seem mutually interested in one another, even though he is twice her age. Dr. Ganesh gives Eleanor his phone number so she can call to discuss problems with her dad. In a moment of impulse, she texts him a provocative photo of herself, and he cuts communication with her.

Julian is Eleanor's best friend. He is a dancer and has been admitted to a program on the West Coast, which devastates Eleanor. In the mean time, they are in a dance production together at school with a feminist director who wants everyone to get in touch with their inner female.

Here's the thing with this book. It's a character book, not a plot book. I like character books and I think this is a decent character book. Here are some of the things I learned about Eleanor.
1. She loves her dad. She fights for her dad. She has a mega load of memories with her dad. She has to accept that her dad is dying and this is hard for her.
2. She thinks a lot about death on a grand scheme. Each chapter begins with an example of a way humanity could cease to exist. Mass extinction. Nanotechnology. Pandemic. Pollution. To name a few.
3. She has issues with germs. Sometimes she washes her hands until they are red. She soothes her anger by hitting her head against the wall repeatedly and hard.
4. She resents her mom for working so much, and for trying so hard to understand her. In the end, she knows she needs her mom because her dad is dying. This is also true with her older sister. Both relationships improve over the course of the story.
5. She wants to be noticed, appreciated, loved. This explains her flirtation with Dr. Ganesh. She doesn't want to be an adult. She wants someone else to make everything turn out ok.
6. In the midst of her darkness regarding the end of the world and the realization that everyone is going to die, she finally realizes that yes, everyone is going to die, so don't waste one second.

Despite my dislike for teen fiction (I usually read middle grade fiction), I liked the many facets to Eleanor's character and her struggle to cope with her dad's death. ( )

"Nobody was safe. Nothing lasted. Never, in the history of time, could we slow or stop ourselves from self-destruction." ... Wow. Just wow. With those exact words Abby Sher closes chapter 15 of All the ways the world can end. But it doesn't end there, this book follows the life of a young lady by the name of Elenor, "Lenny" for short. In 22 exquisite chapters, Lenny drags herself through life day by day dealing with the fact that her father is "actively dying". Lenny develops extreme anxiety and OCD about the end of the world. She keeps lists about the worlds strangest diseases, environmental catastrophes & any other way mankind would meet its fate. She convinces herself the world is soon to end. But aren't ends, just new beginnings?

Thanks to the #kidlitexchange network for the review copy of this book - all opinions are my own. ( )