Lina S. reviewed on 9/15/2014 + 8 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 3

As a character, Craig falls rather flat for me. The depiction of his depression falls even flatter. We might get a paragraph about his "Cycling" every so often, some parts of his depression that he's named in capital letters so we know it's serious business, but there's really so little insight into it and so little emotional description. I've dealt with depression since I was a teen, and there's so much that goes into it. This book barely scratches the surface, it's just something that's periodically mentioned. If Craig didn't keep saying "I'm depressed, I'm depressed" I wouldn't have guessed it. It reads a lot more like someone talked to a depressed teenager, picked out a few key phrases, and recycled them throughout the book.

So Craig goes into treatment, makes a ton of friends, and in the span of 5 days suddenly GETS everything. And hooks up with a girl in his room. Brilliant.

Beyond that, several characters (including Craig) don't have a very consistent voice throughout the story. The stuff about pot seems like it was thrown in randomly as a way to try to connect to teens. And dude, being depressed does not make you cool. People don't like or connect to you more. You mostly get pity, and people you aren't even that close to letting you know they're "there for you". Yeah, depression's really common in teens. It's not some big bonding experience, and with that teenager mindset it's often a game of "my ish sucks worse than your ish".

The last page was the one I liked. "Live, live, live." There's the message, there's the real hope that comes with actually moving forward in treatment and clinging to life.

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