The first chapter, told from Helen's viewpoint as she remembers watching Hanna grow up and how their lives drifted apart, made me tear up. And that pretty much sums up how I felt about this book in general.

I wasn't depressed by the novel, or unduly unhappy after reading it, but so much affection could be felt between Helen and Hanna that it made me miss my grandmother (who died a year and half ago, but who battled Alzheimer's for years before that). A lot of what Hanna feels--in regards to the changes in her 'Gran's' behavior and mannerisms, though different from what changed my grandmother, resonated strongly within me.

Other pieces of How It Ends, such as Hanna's relationship with her boyfriend and the communication block that seemed to be in place between herself and her parents, spoke less to me. In regards to her parents, there seemed to be a loss of understanding between Hanna and her parents. In one scene Hanna questions her mother about what she would do if she caught her husband cheating on her.


And I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't her easy, "Divorce him."
...
"You would break up our family?"
...
"I can't stand that you just said that," she said, grabbing a bottle of Italian dressing by the neck and shaking it like she was trying to kill it. "If your father cheated on me, then he made the decision to risk every single thing we had together, knowing that this would destroy us, so no, Hanna, it wouldn't be me breaking up the family, it would be him."

(pages 252-253, How It Ends)

And then a discussion of unconditional love ensues. I think Hanna's viewpoint and her mother's (and her father's for that matter) are so skewed in opposite directions that Hanna can honestly not understand where they are coming from. But you love him, so why wouldn't you forgive him? Throughout the book she struggles with this question. She loves Seth, so she should forgive him because of that love, not because he deserves it or she truly believes he will change.

At times Hanna is an interesting character, but others she is so typically 'teenager' that I grind my teeth in frustration. Maybe because I am beyond the age where I want to hear about petty friendship squabbles or minor dramas involving clothing and nails. Helen, by contrast, is a very interesting woman. She tries so hard to be what Hanna needs, but still Hanna slips away and Helen doesn't understand why (her and her husband Lon are childless, she is Hanna's honorary grandmother). Then as she grows older and more frail everything she ever wanted to tell Hanna--about the truth of her life, about the truth of life in general--becomes vastly important, but it becomes almost impossible.

The ending left me a little hollow inside, from feeling so much tension and emotions throughout the book. Like Hanna I always want to hear stories with Happy Endings when I feel sad, or conflicted with the world. I turn to romances more often when I'm depressed then my normal standby of dark fantasy specifically because I want to read about a tormented relationship that in the end works out happily no matter what ridiculous things happen. Reading about the bittersweet solution the heroine finds to save the world at the cost of her lover, family and life...not so much. ( )

My goodness, Laura Wiess certainly knows how to write a book that pulls a punch and demands a raw, emotional response from the reader. By the end of this book, I was sobbing . . . so sad!!!! "How it Ends" deals with life and death, true love, loneliness, heartache and strength of character. At times Hanna's naivety annoyed me and I wanted to shake her, but I loved Helen's story. A truly beautiful, poignant novel that will require a box of tissues to read. ( )

It was a good read until the last 1/3 of the book and then the story just got stupid. The heroine was a fairly empathetic teen and then it just got silly - she couldn't figure out the main point of the story. ( )

I thought this book was just lovely. It was so different from Wiess's other two books, but in a fantastic way. It didn't fit into the usual mold of books about a teenage girl, because it was so much more than that because of Hanna's relationship with her neighbor Helen.

Helen's life story was so sad and a bit scary to read, but she and her husband built a beautiful life with each other and loved Hanna very much. I loved following Hanna as she sort of had to decide what kind of person to be in life and seeing how her neighbors had shaped her as she grew up. ( )

I was a little reluctant to read this book, I admit. But after I read the first few pages, I was hooked, every chance I got, I read this book. My edition was a tiny paperback so it was pretty easy to sneak it in class.

The point of view of the story alternates from Hanna, a teenager, and Helen, a mature woman with a lot of wisdom. Being inside Helen's head was very intriguing and mysterious, I loved Helen. The author did such a good job at bringing this character to life. But I was more anxious to read from Hanna's point of view, since she is in my age range, and they were two interesting guys in the equation.

But she frustrated me at some point, she only cared about boys, which is completely normal for a teenage girl, but this was kind of to the extreme. She was too flirtatious , but she still manged to be such a likeable character that at the end I just didn't mind anymore. Her choices were poor, but she eventually learned from them, which is a nice thing to read from a book, changes in the main character (for the better) are always welcome.

The plot was brilliant, I don't want to get much into it, or I am afraid to spoil it for you guys so I will just leave you at that. I really liked how everything went together and the ending was a little bit too strong, but I think for this specific novel it could have not ended better.

The differences and similarities between these two incredible women, was amazing to witness.Their relationship is enviable. The love story within this book will bring you to tears. There will be some tearing up at some point, have the kleenex handy.

My Review from: More Than Just A Book (YA Reviews)