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kirstenrose22's review
4.0
I quite enjoyed this, especially the aspect of is-she-or-isn't she (crazy / an unreliable narrator / etc.). The end left a little to be desired, I thought - she let it dwindle too much to give her character a promising ending - but overall this was a fun book.
madzfenn's review
4.0
"Part of being healthy is being able to hold and remember who people actually are instead of who we wish they were. It's a daily struggle against a brain that tends to want to cling to a fairy tale hope, but it's also the only way to guarantee a life surrounded by those who build rather than destroy. In the end the loss is about letting go of what I never had in the first place."
roeckitcody's review
4.0
this book was like the scene in a movie where the water slowly rises as a character is trying to escape from a dangerou situation except that scene lasts an entire book.
this book follows Cassie O'Malley as she is leaving this psych ward and entering the everyday world once again. she is going to college at Dutton, the college her mother went to.
and this book tells a story of Cassie and her mother. and everythinf that entails.
it is heartbreaking.
it is hopeful.
it is a rush of water pulling you under the current.
it is finding oneself even in the darkest of times.
it is everything.
it is a slow, slow burn if soulcrushing beauty that I want everyone to read.
full review to come. :)
this book follows Cassie O'Malley as she is leaving this psych ward and entering the everyday world once again. she is going to college at Dutton, the college her mother went to.
and this book tells a story of Cassie and her mother. and everythinf that entails.
it is heartbreaking.
it is hopeful.
it is a rush of water pulling you under the current.
it is finding oneself even in the darkest of times.
it is everything.
it is a slow, slow burn if soulcrushing beauty that I want everyone to read.
full review to come. :)
moco71's review
4.0
This book was so sad...about a dysfunctional family and a daughter who never feels she is worthy of being loved by anyone. She checks herself out of a mental hospital once she turns 18 and heads to...college!? Good story.
bluelishi's review
Putting this on hold for now, way too fucking slow for my liking and I just can’t get myself to read this right now.
35% read (2020 - however, put the year earlier to not count to my challenge)
35% read (2020 - however, put the year earlier to not count to my challenge)
lydiastorytime's review
5.0
This story is beautifully written. I love all of the images of water and I relate so deeply to those images as well as many aspects of this story. I loved that this book showed a realistic picture of mothers and wives who abuse, fathers who neglected and are abused. It’s not the narrative that we often see around domestic abuse but it’s one I lived with growing up. The way her mother switched moods so quickly and lived in a fantasy were so realistic and relatable. The description of her fathers whole body being a sigh struck so true to my story. I have never read a book where I saw my parents and my experience of them reflected so clearly. This kind of representation matters so much and was so healing. It’s healing to feel so understood by a story and so connected to characters. The primal ache for a mother and knowing yours never was one is so beautiful described. So many times in this story I felt like the author had been reading my thoughts all my life.
My only complaint is that I wanted more. I always long for books to show a fuller recovery process. The last chapter did this with a few sentences to wrap things up. I just wish to see more representation of the time and work recovery takes and that journey as well as the one to start recovery. I think the ending made sense with the flow of the story though. But I know it’s a sign of a good book when I want more or feel like I will miss the world of the story.
Im so thankful for this book. I’m so thankful for people like me who survive and the people who see us and write our stories. Feeling seen even by a work of fiction is deeply meaningful especially for survivors of abuse who so often feel invisible. Thank you.
My only complaint is that I wanted more. I always long for books to show a fuller recovery process. The last chapter did this with a few sentences to wrap things up. I just wish to see more representation of the time and work recovery takes and that journey as well as the one to start recovery. I think the ending made sense with the flow of the story though. But I know it’s a sign of a good book when I want more or feel like I will miss the world of the story.
Im so thankful for this book. I’m so thankful for people like me who survive and the people who see us and write our stories. Feeling seen even by a work of fiction is deeply meaningful especially for survivors of abuse who so often feel invisible. Thank you.