The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

The Beginning of Everything

written by Robyn Schneider
published August 27th 2013 by Katherine Tegen Books
genre Young Adult/Contemporary/Coming of Age/Romance
a stand-alone
335 pages
read in English/Indonesian (not yet translated)
originally titled as Severed Heads, Broken Hearts

***

Golden boy Ezra Faulkner believes everyone has a tragedy waiting for them—a single encounter after which everything that really matters will happen. His particular tragedy waited until he was primed to lose it all: in one spectacular night, a reckless driver shatters Ezra’s knee, his athletic career, and his social life.

No longer a front-runner for Homecoming King, Ezra finds himself at the table of misfits, where he encounters new girl Cassidy Thorpe. Cassidy is unlike anyone Ezra’s ever met, achingly effortless, fiercely intelligent, and determined to bring Ezra along on her endless adventures.

But as Ezra dives into his new studies, new friendships, and new love, he learns that some people, like books, are easy to misread. And now he must consider: if one’s singular tragedy has already hit and everything after it has mattered quite a bit, what happens when more misfortune strikes?

"We move through each other's lives like ghosts, leaving behind haunting memories of people who never existed. The popular jock, the mysterious new girl. But we're the one who choose, in the end, how people see us."

Ezra Faulkner was the 'it' guy, the guy you would exactly want to date in high school: A popular jock who's also the captain of a team (tennis varsity, in this case), President of Junior Class, hanging with the popular crowd... And you would want to be the popular girl she's dating. But it was all in the past, before an accident left Ezra with a shattered knees and removed all the dreams he had.

Now Ezra's suffering in silence. He sees himself as the one whose life is screwed by the tragedy; having to use a crane to walk, not talking and keeps avoiding his old buddies, fired from the tennis varsity team, cheated by his girlfriend, and all. It's horrible. All those big plans he had about getting a scholarship for college is no longer exists. He used to had all his life planned ahead, now it's all just a fragment of memory. Ezra is no longer the guy who has high confidence and happy, he's now quiet, has a lot of insecurities about himself, and feeling sad pretty much all the time.

At this time Toby, a guy who used to be Ezra's bestfriend in the past (before Toby's own tragedy strikes) comes and invites Ezra into his own crowd: the debate team. Then Ezra meets Cassidy, the girl whom then he fall in love with. Being in Ezra's head is kinda depressing since he's full of these negative vibes directed toward himself, so reading about how he falls in love with Cassidy was a relief. They do many things together, one of my favorite part was when Cassidy took him sneaking into a university class unnoticed. This experience ended up with Ezra's feeling 'freshened' and I love reading what he thought about it.

"I've never been walked out of a classroom with my mind racing with what I'd learned, and I wanted to savor the feeling as long as possible. It was as though my brain was suddenly capable of considering the world with far more complexity, as though there was so much more to see and do and learn."

I know how much fun college could be, Ezra, I know! ;)

The first pages of The Beginning of Everything was truly enjoyable. Robyn Schneider didn't waste much time to laid out the problems, and she mastered the art of writing a story from a high school boy's point of view excellently; not once I ever stopped for a moment feeling that this isn't how a boy supposed to think! No. Ezra's voice, eventhough like I said above, kinda depressing at times, but also believable, full of charm, witty and likeable (On another note, he reminds me a lot of John Green's characters. Particularly Looking for Alaska's Pudge). I instantly understand how easy it was for Ezra to be the it guy, because everyone who know this guy will simply love him. He's clearly the main factor that made reading The Beginning of Everything fun.

Ten Books I'd Like to See as a Movie or TV Show

Sometimes when you read great books you just want the movies that are playing in your head to be something real; you start imagining this actor as the main character, this particular scene to be located in a certain place.... Plus point, movies attract more people to watch it (first, then they'll read the book later). It's a win-win situation between book lovers and movie goers.

So here is the list of books I'd like to see as a movie (in which the world is a perfect world where they don't ruin movies based on a book...) :

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

To be honest, I didn't fancy the book as much as I expected to but I think it would be great to see it on the big screen. Circus screams joy and wonderful tricks being showed, and the romance between Marco and Celia would be a great addition to the storyline.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

I have so much love for this series and I would be pretty terrified if they plan to make movies out of it. But who wouldn't want to see Akiva & Karou being portrayed beautifully, also all those chimaera and seraphim creatures? Daughter of Smoke and Bone would make a great fantasy movie.

Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

The main reason of why I want this book to be a movie is because I want to hear the actual song of Audrey, Wait! so bad. I wouldn't mind if they pick someone else (not a boy with ginger hair) as James, though...

Stolen: A Letter to My Captor by Lucy Christopher

Australian wilderness. London. Camel. Being completely surrounded by desert with no one else beside your captor. Paints. Stockholm Syndrome. This is totally random, but my version of Tyler while I was reading the book was Jake Abel. I'm sure there will be tears running down the audience's faces at the end of the movie.

Jika by Windy Ariestanty, Alanda Kariza, Rahne Putri dkk

Jika
dan hanya jika

Oleh Alanda Kariza, Artasya Sudirman, Bella Pangabean, Desiyanti, Feba Sukmana, Gita Romadhona, Hanny Kusumawati, Mita M Supardi, Nanette Isdito, Novi Kresna Murti, Stella Ang, Windy Ariestanty
Kumpulan cerita
Diterbitkan Agustus 2013 oleh Gagas Media
224 hlm

***

Apa yang tebersit dalam hatimu, saat kaki sudah menjejak di masa sekarang, tetapi sebuah ingin masih tertinggal di masa lalu? Kau mungkin berharap semesta mengulang jika. Apa yang memenuhi harapmu saat melihat esok masih terlalu gulita dan gelap tak mampu kau kira? Kau mungkin mendamba banyak jika. Jika, dan hanya jika. Tiga belas penulis mengabadikan rentak yang mereka temui di perjalanan dalam foto. Lalu, mereka beri “jika” ke dalamnya, ditambah rindu, cinta, dan harapan yang kadang hampir selesai. Menjelmalah, tiga belas “jika” penuh warna.

Angan-angan. Bersama napas yang kuhidup dan 

kuembus, jutaan khayal bertransformasi menjadi energi 

yang memompa nadi, mengirimkan pesan pada hati

mengajak diri untuk memulai suatu perjalanan.

Don't judge a book by it's cover lama-lama nggak berlaku lagi buat saya. Dari dulu, buku dengan cover cantik-menarik-dan ciamik selalu berhasil menarik perhatian, entah apakah isinya sepadan dengan bentuk fisik tersebut atau tidak. Begitu juga dengan Jika. Cover ini buat saya gorgeous banget! Penggunaan ambigram kata Jika di cover sangat unik (Ambigram: Jenis typografi dimana sebuah kata bisa tetap dibaca sama meskipun dari berbagai sudut pandang. Coba bolak balik cover buku Jika ini sebagai contoh), kayaknya baru sekali ini saya nemu buku dengan ide desain cover yang pakai ambigram.

Tapi Jika tidak hanya memuat kumpulan cerita. Halaman-halamannya dihiasi dengan foto-foto indah yang membuat pembacanya lebih menikmati dan meresapi setiap cerita maupun sajak yang ada. Pada Setumpuk Jika di Manhattan, Alanda Kariza menghadirkan sosok Navita yang sedang mencari Ayahnya di New York demi menjadi wali dalam pernikahannya dengan Leo. Jika saja aku tidak membuat Ayah dan Bunda berpisah, semuanya tidak akan menjadi seperti ini adalah premis dari cerita pembuka tersebut.

Lalu Rahne Putri hadir dengan Kisah Cinta di Balik Pintu Renta yang sangat menyentuh. Saya sudah lama follow beliau dan selalu terkesan tiap kali membaca sajak-sajaknya di Sadgenic, dan bagian partisipasi Rahne dalam omnibus Jika punya sebuah paragraf yang jadi favorit:

Sebuah mimpi tidak selayaknya egois terhadap mimpi yang lain. Biarkanlah mimpi berkembang, dan biarkan cinta tersimpan di sela-selanya. Biarlah jarak dan waktu menjadi benalu sementara, dan jika kau percaya, cinta bisa kau bangunkan sewaktu-waktu bersama-sama.