Because You'll Never Meet Me

by Leah Thomas

Ollie and Moritz are two teenagers who will never meet. Each of them lives with a life-affecting illness. Contact with electricity sends Ollie into debilitating seizures, while Moritz has a heart defect and is kept alive by an electronic pacemaker. If they did meet, Ollie would seize, but turning off the pacemaker would kill Moritz.

Through an exchange of letters, the two boys develop a strong bond of friendship which becomes a lifeline during dark times - until Moritz reveals that he holds the key to their shared, sinister past, and has been keeping it from Ollie all along.

• ISBN10: 1619635909
• ISBN13: 9781619635906
• Publish Date: 2 June 2015
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 22 January 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
• Imprint: Bloomsbury Childrens Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Stephanie]

I liked this book, but I didn't love it. I felt sad and strange about Moritz and Oliver, and I wanted to know more about their stories. But it got pretty weird toward the end and I just, I don't know. It's hard to explain my feelings about this book. Just know I gave it 4 stars and that's pretty good.

[Angie]

I definitely did not expect Because You'll Never Meet Me to be as weird and fabulous as it was. I loved the sound of the blurb, with two boys writing to each other, forming a friendship, but never being able to meet because of their medical conditions. Well, that blurb does not even come close to revealing all of Ollie and Moritz's complications. I don't want to spoil it either. This is just a book you'll have to read yourself to uncover all of their secrets!

Because You'll Never Meet Me turned my heart into goo, and then it broke it, then put it back together, then made my small heart grow three sizes. Ollie only has his mom and his doctor, since he lives in a cabin out in the woods, far away from electricity. He just reads, does origami, and plays the glockenspiel. His doctor recommends that he starts writing to Moritz, after some disastrous events involving a girl, his only friend ever. Moritz is in Germany, and he also doesn't have any friends because of reasons. Thus starts the beginning of a wonderful friendship. These boys tell each other everything, and help each other try to make sense of their very different worlds. Just...aahh! My heart!

Because You'll Never Meet Me is just amazing. I want to go on and on about it, but I cannot spoil things! The story does get super weird once Moritz shares certain facts, but it's a weirdness that 100% worked for me. It's weird, but also sad and terrible, but fascinating. I also loved watching Ollie learn how to socialize and realize that his world isn't just him. Then there's Moritz who thinks horribly of himself, and he learns other stuff too that I can't say. It just melted my heart! It's sooo good!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[ellieroth]

Original de: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Cada cierto tiempo, me encuentro con libros que me dejan sin palabras. Ese tipo de libros que me hacen sentir sobreprotectora, quiero que lo lean pero quiero que le guste a todos. Lo que es imposible. ¿Te ha pasado? Tengo la suerte que me pase constantemente ¿Qué mejor que encontrar este tipo de libros entre tus lecturas?

¿Cómo te explico Because You'll Never Meet Me? Para empezar, está narrado de una manera que es mi favorita, mediante cartas. Enviar cartas es algo que siempre he querido hacer, tener amigos postales, lamentablemente el servicio postal en mi país no es el mejor, así que ahí quedan las ganas. Pero, a diferencia de Ollie y su alergia a la electricidad, puedo mensajear gracias al Internet. Siento que muchos de los que tenemos amigos en el extranjero o lejos, terminaremos con un gran cariño por ese libro en esa parte.

Para mí fue algo curioso, la traducción literal del título sería "Porque nunca me verás/conocerás" o "Porque nunca nos encontraremos" (hay para elegir, editoriales en español, las dos están bien :D). El 80% de mis amigos están en el extranjero y el otro 20% que está cerca, tiene suerte si me ve alguna vez. Soy como los ovnis, aparezco de vez en cuando pero nadie lo cree.

Si tuviera que describir el libro sin dar mucho dato, sería que es como una conversación entre Marvel y DC Comics, uno muy alegre y el otro un tanto dark. (también me pareció como si mi personalidad virtual y mi personalidad real estuvieran hablando).

La relación entre Ollie y Moritz es extremadamente, es impresionante el cambio de personalidad que puedes leer y sentir en los personajes. Me gustó que la autora no norteamericanizara del todo, que dejará varias palabras en alemán aquí y por allá, conocer un poco más de su cultura. Qué tan acertado es, eso sí no lo sé, pero lo que leí me gustó.

El libro no es 100% Ciencia ficción, según la Leah Thomas es más speculative fiction, no encontré una traducción adecuada, pero si entendí bien sería algo así como teorías de conspiración, cosas un tanto increíbles que tendrían algo de verdad. Sociedades secretas, poderes ocultos o experimentos en humanos. No sé si se entienda, ojalá que sí.

Because You'll Never Meet Me es un libro que debería estar entre tus prioridades en futuras lecturas, el final fue... Me gustó bastante, creo que es perfecto, muy pocas veces un libro me sorprende, no lo digo porque quiero hacerme la muy inteligente, es solo el hecho de haber leído un poquito de todo mi habilidad de sospechar y dudar de todo. Aún así, el giro que dio, me sorprendió. Quizá estuve tan metida en la historia que olvidé empezar a sospechar.

Because You'll Never Meet Me sin duda otra de mis mejores lecturas del año.

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[Kelly]

20% strange. 80% lovely.
http://www.divabooknerd.com/2015/07/because-youll-never-meet-me-by-leah.html
Because You'll Never Meet Me was one of the most unique contemporary fusion reads I've come across. It blended the strange and endearing, with a science fiction twist. The storyline is told in a series of letters between Oliver and Moritz. Ollie is allergic to electricity, he and his mother live in a cabin to protect Ollie from the devices that most of us can't live without. Surrounded by powerlines, their property is shared with Junkyard Joe, a man who uses the land to hunt. It's there that Ollie meets Liz, a girl with a sense of fun and mischief. Liz is the reason why Ollie now waits in their driveway, for the girl who may never arrive.

Moritz lives in a bustling German city, navigating the tumultuous halls of high school where he is bullied and abused by Lenz, a boy insistent on making Moritz's life miserable. In public, he wears opaque goggles to hide his 'disability', but Moritz isn't blind. He can see through his extraordinary senses of sound, touch and scent. But life for Moritz didn't begin with a loving family, and his story leaves Ollie wanting to know more about the aloof boy.

The letter's between the two boys were absolutely lovely. Ollie needed to fill the space with constant chatter, while the untrusting Moritz learnt to trust Ollie through their interactions. We learn more about Ollie's mother, his absent father and about Liz, the girl that Ollie has fallen in love with. While Moritz shares the story about the only father he's ever known, his own sexuality and dealing with the pressure of being different. I loved the back and forth letter format, it gave the reader an incredible sense of both Ollie and Moritz's inner thoughts being told from their own point of view. As the story progresses, it shifts from contemporary to what could only be seen as science fiction. I loved the twist, but was hoping it could have been eased into the storyline, as I felt slightly disconnected.

A warm and well written story about two boys oceans apart, that find solace in one another, their thoughts and secrets. A lovely debut novel from an author who will no doubt only go from strength to strength.