Yesterday I started reading this book, Hold Still, by Nina LaCour, because it's a shorter book, and it looked interesting and lonely on my shelf. As a I read the dusk jacket, I realized that this was going to be a sad book, but a revolutionary one as well.
This book is about two teenage girls, that are best friends, and yet one of those friends, Ingrid, commits suicide and leaves Caitlin questioning everything about their lives, friendship, relationships, and so much more. It's about the desperation of a girl left alone, without answers, and then when she finds Ingrid's journal, with answers she's not sure she can hear or understand. Caitlin is drowning in grief, she is confused beyond belief, and yet there were signs and clues along the way, and still she did nothing. It's an issue she deals with in the book, that I think many people deal with in life, and it's one that the author is not afraid to explore and grapple with in the story. I also love how her friend's suicide and absence makes Caitlin brave, and eventually able to live her life without her crutch, Ingrid. This book is not only about suicide, and how it effects the people left behind, but also about identity and growing up. Caitlin is pushed to overcome her grief, and at the same time she is discovering new things about herself, her friends, her parents, and her love life.
I think this book is good for anyone to read, and although our emotions become a little more defined as we grow older and mature, we still go through the same emotions we did when we were 15 years old. We learn to control them over time, but we still have no control when we go through things like this. This book has a realistic quality that allows readers to feel while reading, not just observe from the outside. It was difficult to read at times, especially if you have ever had a loss, but it's worth it to get to the end. Not all things are great and wonderful, but she is healing, and I think that is what's important in our lives. We not only need to feel things, and grieve, but we need to heal, we need to forgive, and we need to remember that life is important, and we can shape it how we want to.
I would recommend this book to everyone, but to those of you who love novels that are serious, dark, compelling, as well as open, honest, and emotional. It was a very fast read, but it was worth every second, and it makes up in depth what it lacks in length.
Rating: (out of 7 stars)
This book is about two teenage girls, that are best friends, and yet one of those friends, Ingrid, commits suicide and leaves Caitlin questioning everything about their lives, friendship, relationships, and so much more. It's about the desperation of a girl left alone, without answers, and then when she finds Ingrid's journal, with answers she's not sure she can hear or understand. Caitlin is drowning in grief, she is confused beyond belief, and yet there were signs and clues along the way, and still she did nothing. It's an issue she deals with in the book, that I think many people deal with in life, and it's one that the author is not afraid to explore and grapple with in the story. I also love how her friend's suicide and absence makes Caitlin brave, and eventually able to live her life without her crutch, Ingrid. This book is not only about suicide, and how it effects the people left behind, but also about identity and growing up. Caitlin is pushed to overcome her grief, and at the same time she is discovering new things about herself, her friends, her parents, and her love life.
I think this book is good for anyone to read, and although our emotions become a little more defined as we grow older and mature, we still go through the same emotions we did when we were 15 years old. We learn to control them over time, but we still have no control when we go through things like this. This book has a realistic quality that allows readers to feel while reading, not just observe from the outside. It was difficult to read at times, especially if you have ever had a loss, but it's worth it to get to the end. Not all things are great and wonderful, but she is healing, and I think that is what's important in our lives. We not only need to feel things, and grieve, but we need to heal, we need to forgive, and we need to remember that life is important, and we can shape it how we want to.
I would recommend this book to everyone, but to those of you who love novels that are serious, dark, compelling, as well as open, honest, and emotional. It was a very fast read, but it was worth every second, and it makes up in depth what it lacks in length.
Rating: (out of 7 stars)
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