I Fell in Love with Hope: A Novel

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One such inspiring story is Lancali’s romance tale called Love in a Dark World. The story revolves around two thieves named Sony and Sam who meet each other at a desolate place like hospital where they fall in love unexpectedly despite their difficult circumstances. It teaches us that sometimes even the darkest places can bring forth something beautiful. All in all, this book was simply not for me. The writing style was overbearing, the characters were flat, and there wasn’t a plot I could get hooked on to. One possible way to approach this might be to focus on sharing your thoughts about one of the characters in the book. For example, you could discuss how Sony and Sam’s relationship develops over the course of the story, or reflect on how Neo’s mischievous smile adds levity to an otherwise serious plotline. Neo doesn’t just write stories, he becomes them. Most of the little things he writes ring true, give a certain chill, but then again, most little things he writes get erased or tossed away. That’s how it’s always been.

That’s why we came up here, right?” C piles on. “We said we’d plan it today. Our great escape from the hospital.” Neo glances his way. The possibility of today, but grander, stirs between us. C shrugs. “What’s stopping us?” Not when there’s a storm between your ribs.” Neo taps the scars of blood vessels climbing C’s collarbones. “Your veins brew lightning. It’s trying to escape.” In a desolate place where thieves roamed free, life seemed doomed for the sun-eyed boy named Sam. But then he met Sony, the main character of Lancali’s heartwarming romance tale “I Fell in Love with Hope”. The two found each other in the unforgiving landscape of a hospital and their lives changed forever. In an eerie twist of fate, they joined forces with the greatest thieves of all time, including Coeur, Neo, and Mon, to pull off their last heist. Together they had an air of freedom and hope that was contagious. In general, the writing was incredibly naive. The plot was buried under purple prose, distracting from whatever was happening. There were countless times where dialogue would be split with paragraphs and paragraphs of monologues, and when a character would speak again, I would have no clue who was talking or what they were even responding to.

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That is two instances of the author blatantly romanticizing suicidal tendencies, using their illnesses as a springboard into it. He points at Neo—“You have surgery tomorrow”—and to C—“and you have an echo appointment”—then to Sony—“and you aren’t even supposed to be out of bed. Now get upstairs!” It’s a gift.” Sony sighs, her one lung filled with ambition. “Now watch me work, and don’t break my concentration.” The steady white noise keeps you sane. Stretchers pass and staff walk in their assigned lanes like they’re on some kind of medical highway. Apart from that, there is bland, tasteless food and bland, tasteless decor to accompany your sentence. That’s all a hospital is, really. Not a place to get better or a place to be treated, but a place to wait. By the way, the trigger warnings in the book are BURIED. They’re in the foreword — which should actually be called a preface, by the way — under paragraphs and paragraphs of the author kind of ranting about why this book means a lot to her. The TWs are not listed out; they’re simply lumped into another paragraph. Many people could not find the TWs are were very upset with this book. They fact that the TWs don’t stand out at all should have been my first red flag.)

Another option might be to explore some of the themes that emerge throughout Lancali’s work. The idea of overcoming adversity is central to “I Fell in Love with Hope”, as Lancali portrays characters who must navigate challenges ranging from abusive parents to failing hearts. By exploring these themes and discussing how they relate to our own experiences, we can deepen our understanding of both ourselves and others. But even if all that had been rectified, the fact that this book promotes self-destruction, insinuates that nurses/doctors are blind to/complacent about their patients’ issues, and romanticizes dangerous topics and notions is what makes this such an uncomfortable, disappointing read for me. Now, when they go home, they don’t go home for long. Disease is greedy. It takes pieces of you until you no longer recognize yourself, and Neo, C, and Sony don’t recognize themselves outside this place anymore. Against the unforgiving landscape of a hospital, I fell in love with a mischievous, sun-eyed boy who became my only joy in that desolate place. That’s what made it all the more soul-crushing when he committed suicide in front of me.Despite their illnesses and struggles, they find joy in each other’s company, proving that love can conquer all. Sam’s journey is also a testament to the value of friendship and human connection. His friends Neo, Coeur, and the gentle giant provide support and help him plan his escape from the hospital. Do you think people will remember us?” Sony asks, staring at the sky, toying with her collar. C caresses his scars and the lightning in them. Neo shifts protruding bones against his seat. There was something else about the prose that kept annoying me and I couldn’t figure out what. Then I realized: it’s all so *quotable*. Now that I know the author runs a Tiktok account, it all makes sense: every line felt like it was meant to be put in a “quote video” or whatever. Everything was wrapped in so many layers of metaphor it was impossible to parse. There also weren’t many “service sentences”; everything felt like it was meant to be a gut punch to the point where nothing felt like one. I find this to be a particularly young/immature way of writing—in an attempt to make everything meaningful, meaning is erased, because they don’t know how to properly utilize poetic writing. For example: