Absorbing.
A depressed girl contemplates suicide.
Sixteen-year-old Anna has astonishing talent as an artist, but she feels apart from the world. She has friends and a loving family, all apparently white, but even when her beloved grandmother dies she cannot seem to feel anything. A standout student at an elite arts academy, Anna paints the bridge she hopes to jump from, and it becomes the centerpiece of the school’s art exhibition. Despite failing at several suicide attempts, Anna remains quite determined to kill herself, although she never articulates why, even to herself, and she conceals her impulses from everyone else. At last, however, she makes one too many attempts and winds up hospitalized. There, she receives treatment that brings her back to reality, and she also learns unexpected facts about her family’s past that hold clues to her condition. Kilbourne writes Anna’s story in first-person chapters told by Anna, her mom, and Anna’s best friend, creating suspense by juxtaposing the different viewpoints. It’s a convincing and affecting narrative about depression, stressing the fact that it is not the sufferer’s fault. In the end, readers get a full picture of how good treatment can restore even suicidal patients to a full life. (Readers will wish they could have learned what finally happened to Anna’s bridge painting, though.)
Absorbing. (Fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4597-3431-9
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Dundurn
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression.
After surviving a suicide attempt, a fragile teen isn't sure she can endure without cutting herself.
Seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis, a white girl living on the margins, thinks she has little reason to live: her father drowned himself; her bereft and abusive mother kicked her out; her best friend, Ellis, is nearly brain dead after cutting too deeply; and she's gone through unspeakable experiences living on the street. After spending time in treatment with other young women like her—who cut, burn, poke, and otherwise hurt themselves—Charlie is released and takes a bus from the Twin Cities to Tucson to be closer to Mikey, a boy she "like-likes" but who had pined for Ellis instead. But things don't go as planned in the Arizona desert, because sweet Mikey just wants to be friends. Feeling rejected, Charlie, an artist, is drawn into a destructive new relationship with her sexy older co-worker, a "semifamous" local musician who's obviously a junkie alcoholic. Through intense, diarylike chapters chronicling Charlie's journey, the author captures the brutal and heartbreaking way "girls who write their pain on their bodies" scar and mar themselves, either succumbing or surviving. Like most issue books, this is not an easy read, but it's poignant and transcendent as Charlie breaks more and more before piecing herself back together.
This grittily provocative debut explores the horrors of self-harm and the healing power of artistic expression. (author’s note) (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-101-93471-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2016
Exactly what the title promises.
A grieving teen’s devotion to romance films might ruin her chances at actual romance.
Liz Buxbaum has always adored rom-coms, not least for helping her still feel close to her screenwriter mother, who died when she was little. Liz hopes that her senior year might turn into a real-life romantic fantasy, as an old crush has moved back to town, cuter and nicer than ever. Surely she can get Michael to ask her to prom. If only Wes, the annoying boy next door, would help her with her scheming! This charming, fluffy concoction manages to pack into one goofy plot every conceivable trope, from fake dating to the makeover to the big misunderstanding. Creative, quirky, daydreaming Liz is just shy of an annoying stereotype, saved by a dry wit and unresolved grief and anger. Wes makes for a delightful bad boy with a good heart, and supporting characters—including a sassy best friend, a perfect popular rival, even a (not really) evil stepmother—all get the opportunity to transcend their roles. The only villain here is Liz’s lovelorn imagination, provoking her into foolish lies that cause actual hurt feelings; but she is sufficiently self-aware to make amends just in time for the most important trope of all: a blissfully happy ending. All characters seem to be White by default.
Exactly what the title promises. (Romance. 12-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5344-6762-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
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