Juvenile Fiction
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
2013
Hardcover
310
A sixteen-year-old boy wrestling with depression and anxiety tries to cope by writing poems, reciting Walt Whitman, hugging trees, and figuring out why his sister has been kicked out of the house.
WrensReads Review:
Ehhhh.
I liked the premise of this book well enough: a boy who deals with anxiety and depression who is going through high school and family issues. But was it an enjoyable read?
It was enjoyable enough that I pushed through it with little ease. The writing style is what got me. I didn’t like the writing. It felt way too young for me. I know “well it’s young adult” but I felt like it was “younger adult” which is fine, I guess.
Really I skimmed over a few pages because I kind of got the idea of somethings.
I did relate to how he took certain situations out of their borders tho. Anxiety does that. Or how one thing can really make you go into a dark place even though you tried your hardest not to.
James is relatable. He has family issues, his sister got kicked out of the house and his parents are abusive (yes, both the banshee and the brute). He tries to figure out what exactly happened with Jodie (his sister) and why she was kicked out of their house and school. It’s like a puzzle.
He also has a girl he likes. So that’s the other thing.
I liked the idea of and the story of this book. I just think the writing could use some work.
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