Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Closer to Okay by Amy Watson

1 review

brianaisgoingplaces's review

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challenging reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

In Closer to Okay, we are introduced to Kyle who lives in the Hope House as a result of her severe depression. She cooks meals for all the other residents and tries to stick to her treatment plan so she can finally leave the facility. While I can appreciate some aspects of the novel, this was overall very difficult book for me to get through. There were many things that caused me to pause, do a double take, or set the book down. 
It can be very difficult to write about all the intricacies of mental health and all the different things that can come with it. Every person in the world experiences things a little differently, and it seems impossible to know how the brain functions. Because of all these things, I have some grace for the wholly unrelateble, seemingly stereotypical, overly weepy main character in this novel. I can appreciate the effort made to portray someone’s struggle with metal health, and this book could have solely focused on that. Instead, the romance aspect and explosive episodes with minor characters detract from the book as a whole. 
Kyle has a run in with the male main character, Jackson, pretty early on. He brings her a flat white; she likes it, and all of a suddenly that equates to her randomly hugging him, and now they like each other. The romance between these characters was really hard to believe because it came from nowhere, built into nothing, and somehow was still trying to hang on at the end of the story. Jackson as a character was also a bit strange. The way he was presented in the beginning versus his actions throughout the story made it seem like he changed personalities a time or two. These were characters that I was not rooting for. The conflicts that arose seemed so trite, I didn’t realize they were argument because it didn’t seem like something to even think twice about. 
Because she’s living in a rehabilitation type home with other people who suffer from varied mental illnesses, we get to see Kyle interact with a lot of different people. While this may have been written with experience, the other members of the home didn’t feel like people; they felt like stereotypes, and unfortunately at one point, unnecessary plot devices. They almost don’t serve a point in the story except to be there, and the more I think on it, I’m not sure why they exist. 
The end of this story wrapped up really quickly and strangely. It seemed to come together without really explaining why anything came together, ultimately making a pretty disappointing ending. I suppose the biggest takeaway from this book is that liking someone will help your depression or hurt your depression or you need to love yourself first or that you should hug your baristas for one minute (she counted) on a random city sidewalk and they will eventually fall for you…something along one of those lines. 
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