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A review by kylielovesbooks
Hollow Chest by Brita Sandstrom
4.0
What an extremely emotional book! I was definitely not expecting so much emotion to come out of this book. I was expecting something kind of spooky and got a heartbreaking, heartwarming, story.
This book is set during WWII and Charlie's brother Theo is coming home from being injured in the war. But Theo is not the same as he was before he left. Something is missing. And Charlie is starting to see terrifying wolves around London that no one else can see.
The characters were great, Charlie was such a strong 11/12 year old. Theo told him he had to take care of the family (mom and grandfather and cat) while he was in the war and that's just what he did. He stopped at nothing to do everything he could to help Theo get better when he came home. Charlie's mom was so loving and hard working and just really a great mom. I absolutely loved Charlie's Grandpa Fitz, he lost an arm when he was in the war and he really can relate to Theo when he comes home which I think was a great support system. I think my favorite character though was the cat Biscuits! Yes, she was a cat, but she was written absolutely hilariously. She was Charlie's rock and she had such a sassy personality.
This book really deals well with things like PTSD and depression, both the people who are dealing with them and the people around them who want so badly to help. It's heartbreaking watching Theo come back and have nightmares and have such a hard time fitting back into his family and dealing with this PTSD. It was also heartbreaking watching Theo's family try and fail to help him, especially since this is something I am currently going through myself.
I thought I was going to blow through this book, but it took me a lot longer than I thought it would. I think it's because it is just such a heavy topic that is really personal to me, I couldn't read a lot of it at a time (I was also busy!). The whole book was interesting and it had nothing to do with the actual book. It was well paced and so funny despite the heavy topics.
Thank you to HarperKids for the free copy!
This book is set during WWII and Charlie's brother Theo is coming home from being injured in the war. But Theo is not the same as he was before he left. Something is missing. And Charlie is starting to see terrifying wolves around London that no one else can see.
The characters were great, Charlie was such a strong 11/12 year old. Theo told him he had to take care of the family (mom and grandfather and cat) while he was in the war and that's just what he did. He stopped at nothing to do everything he could to help Theo get better when he came home. Charlie's mom was so loving and hard working and just really a great mom. I absolutely loved Charlie's Grandpa Fitz, he lost an arm when he was in the war and he really can relate to Theo when he comes home which I think was a great support system. I think my favorite character though was the cat Biscuits! Yes, she was a cat, but she was written absolutely hilariously. She was Charlie's rock and she had such a sassy personality.
This book really deals well with things like PTSD and depression, both the people who are dealing with them and the people around them who want so badly to help. It's heartbreaking watching Theo come back and have nightmares and have such a hard time fitting back into his family and dealing with this PTSD. It was also heartbreaking watching Theo's family try and fail to help him, especially since this is something I am currently going through myself.
I thought I was going to blow through this book, but it took me a lot longer than I thought it would. I think it's because it is just such a heavy topic that is really personal to me, I couldn't read a lot of it at a time (I was also busy!). The whole book was interesting and it had nothing to do with the actual book. It was well paced and so funny despite the heavy topics.
Thank you to HarperKids for the free copy!