If there were a list of types of books I try to avoid non-fiction books written about people after they've died would probably end up on that list. There's just something I've always found a little weird and uncomfortable about talking about someone in such a public and financially lucrative form as a book when they no longer have any say in what's being said about them. What saves This Star Won't Go Out from this list would be the fact that this isn't a "story" written by an outside observer all about Esther and what they saw her life as after the fact. Instead the majority of this book is written as events happen, and primarily by Esther herself, through her journals and online posts.

I found this book both very easy and very difficult to read. The subject matter often had me choking back tears and thinking back on personal experiences, yet I couldn't stop reading. The formatting and overall design of the book made 431 pages feel more like 200. (Do not get scared off by the page count! The book is oddly deceptive in its bulk and can reasonably be read in a matter of hours depending on your level of tolerance.)

I want to start with the first thing you will notice about this book. It is clear that a lot of effort went into making the book design unique and interesting to look at. When I talk about book design, especially in non-fiction, oftentimes you get the cover art and then 400 white pages of writing. After reading This Star Won't Go Out it has struck me that this is incredibly unimaginative when considering the potential for design and format. The internal design and expert formatting of this book was not only visually beautiful through the fantastic use of colour, but thoughtful towards understanding the narrative and following Esther's life story.

The breakdown looks something like this: The white pages of the book are only for content written by Esther in her journals. The red-pink pages are dedicated to content from the family's community blog, which is often written by Esther's parents and sometimes Esther herself. The green pages indicate that the content was written after Esther's death. These were solely contributions from Esther's family and friends.

This design was fantastic because it took the narrative and made sure you always knew who's perspective you were getting. Esther's writing never gets mixed up with writing from her family and friends because there is a clear division of content. I think this brought a lot of integrity to the book and allowed for it to contain contributions from different people while retaining its intention of hearing things from Esther's POV and allowing her to tell her own story.

It sort of felt like you were going through a family photo album where parents have nostalgically kept not only photographs, but doodles and letters. My favourite parts of the book were Esther's letters to her family that she would write at the time of a special occasion. I personally found them to be some of the most personal and intimate parts of the book.

I am incredibly impressed with the bravery it must have taken her family to publish this book. It sounds sweet, publishing your child's journals, but I can't imagine it was easy for them to do. Throughout the book Esther isn't just talking about herself and her condition, she also mentions fights with her family, her worries about their money problems, the challenges they faced, and her fears that she is to blame for the stress and tension. It's not all sunshine and roses, but it's also not all cancer and death. I feel like through it's unflinching honesty this book manages to create an amazing balance, which comes across as very, well, graceful.

I'll be honest, the part of the book I was most worried about was the content written about Ester after her passing for the purpose of being put in this publication. I was worried it would come off as too in-memory-of, but I was actually presently surprised. I found it interesting to read about the different views of the people who experienced Esther's light first hand. And while these contributors did eulogize Esther they also tackled the difficult topics giving us a different view of Esther's condition and talking about things like grief, mourning, and how death affects those who keep living. I am very happy that these short entries ended up adding to the book and not detracting from it.

Okay, so, we're getting close to the end here and something I've been avoiding doing in this review is talking about Esther herself. Even though this book is all about her I feel like anything I reveal about her journey or about my personal experience reading this book may simply detract from the experience you may potentially have while reading. I can only say that you should read this book. As I said at the top, it will not take you long and by golly it will be worth it.

I'm a firm believer that perspective is something that can only be gained through experience. And because very few of us will ever have to experience childhood illness the way Esther experienced her illness I think it's important that we listen to her story and remember that there is always something you can gain by listening.

Read this book, tell your friends and family you love them, and DFTBA.