How It Ends is a heartbreaking story about a teenage girl named Hanna and her elderly neighbors Helen and Lon Schoenmaker. The Schoenmakers have treated Hanna as a granddaughter, and Hanna has relied on them for advice and comfort since she was a little girl. Now, Helen has developed Parkinson's Disease and has become completely handicapped--she cannot eat, use the bathroom, talk, write, walk, or do anything on her own. As Helen realizes that the end is near, she decides it is time to tell Hanna the truth about how her and Lon met. To do this, she has Lon record an audio book about her life, called How It Ends. Rather than using the names Helen and Lon, he records it using their middle names, Louise and Peter. Hanna listens to the audiobook with Helen, not realizing who or what it is about until it is over. One thing I loved about this book was the way it was a story within a story--it was like reading two books at once, and the way the audiobook How It Ends is so compelling and it just draws you in and then breaks your heart, as you realize the tragic story about Helen and Lon. The book, in my opinion, reminded me of a Nicolas Sparks novel because of the emotion behind it and the idea of young but tragic love. Helen had a hard life as a child, and fell head over heals in love, only to end up dying from Parkinson's while Lon suffered from heart problems. I really loved this book and it really was a good read, i would defiantly recommend it.
