Well hello world…my how I have missed you!
For those of you who were waiting with bated breath for my slew of holiday wisdom, I do humbly apologize for letting you down. I have in fact been otherwise occupied with taking care of not 1 but 2 sick children – Trin and David. (Yes, I’m aware that David is 29 but lets face it, he’s male, so by some sort of wildly mutated gene thing guys have going on; they…at the first sign of sniffling…revert to the age of 2… hence the need for him to moan and me accommodate his moaning with hours of “You’ll be ok honey…I promise…you’re not going to die…it’s just the flu.)
Anyhow… (sorry, got a little long winded there) 1st of all I would like to congratulate the Christmas Contest winner Emma! WooHoo… you go girl. 2nd. Surprise!!! I have a review for you. Enjoy!
“Hold Still” is a very unorthodox book. It’s not really all that happy, it’s got chapters of self-deprecation, and several very emotionally damaging messages from a suicidal girl. Now, keeping that in mind, I want to first explain to you my reasons for reading it, I’ll close with reasons I think you should or shouldn’t read it yourself.
Like Caitlin (the main character of this book) I had a friend whom commit suicide in High School, only I handled in horribly. I shut down, I talked to no one, I curled up in a ball…skipped school, and as result almost failed out. I thought that if I just slept I would eventually forget about it, unfortunately all that got me was 1 short step away from the looney-bin.
So, keeping all of that in mind, when I ran across this book I was instantly intrigued. All of these questions popped up in my head; What did I do wrong? Am I the only one that didn’t know how to handle this? Is there a right way? How in the world does someone write about this? Do they know the answer? How?
So I read it…looking for answers, but what I got was more of an understanding.
As I said before Caitlin’s best friend Ingrid committed suicide and she doesn’t exactly know what to do…or what to say. She goes to school, she gets angry with the teachers she thinks could be more understanding and she pushes away the people that are trying to help her cope. He parents are at a loss, she is at a loss, and most of all she is angry. Ingrid didn’t leave a note, she didn’t explain, she just left…and didn’t consider the people that loved her. Or so she thought.
After finding Ingrid’s journal under her mattress Caitlin starts to realize things aren’t so black and white…that the friend she knew was only half of a person. That the “whole” Ingrid was damaged, and sad…and desperate for someone to really see her.
As Catlin struggles with the truth, she builds herself back up, and eventually finds what she needs to move on.
“LaCour’s” writing was average, but for anyone that has actually committed themselves to reading something so sad, it hardly seems to matter.
I do not recommend this book for the everyday reader…because unless you have had this happen to you…it’s just not going to make any since to you.
I do however recommend it for anyone that does fall into the latter category and has lived through this. Not to punish yourself, not to relive it, but to understand the complexities that YOU were feeling…it’s a hard thing to understand, but to see it in black and white makes you feel a little more normal.
Happy reading my fellow Kindle-ites and remember, when you ask someone how they are…actually listen to the answer.
For a complete book description click image
[Rating:3/5]In case you are interested…here is the book trailer.
