Summary: When Jay goes too far on a bender, he is admitted into a psychiatric hospital where he has to face his addiction and what it means. There he also encounters many patients who end of having an impact on him and his own progress.
My first thought: Why is there a girl on the cover? Jay is the main character and he's male. I didn't think any of the female characters were big enough to make it to the cover, but that's okay. The birds, the clock, and the window all have symbolism and importance in the book which I get, but why isn't Jay the one on the cover? I don't know.
Second thought: The main character's name is Jay and the author's name is Jay... How much of this is fictional and how much is his story? Personally, I am not a fan of the author naming the main character off of themselves, but that's just me. It is not a biography or memoir, but Jay did base much of this off of his own experience with mental illness.
Third thought: I thought this was YA because the cover looked pretty typical YA and the description didn't sound very much like adult fiction, but Jay is not a teenager. He is an adult. Still important topic, I was just confused for a little bit until I realized it.
I really enjoyed how unafraid this book was to talk about mental illness, addiction, and getting the necessary help. It was bold, but also necessary. This is not a topic to hide because that will only make it worse. People rarely want to talk about it, but I really liked that this book discussed it in depth. It also did not make it a picture perfect ending, they are still flawed (as we all are). There are still many difficulties and struggles that have to be faced and it is HARD, but it is possible to manage them.
I just thought Jay had a great balance between the hope/possibilities and also that it's not a straight incline back up from the bottom. Instead, there are dips and valleys.
The main character is Cuban and it had some great diversity, but I also felt like it objectified women quite often. Their sexual appeal and such were mentioned a lot and wasn't something I was that happy with.
You really get into the main character's head as he describes everything and I thought that mindset was done really greatly. However, the dialogue was pretty choppy and didn't feel the most realistic. It wasn't the most important part of the book, but there were certain parts that felt like very forced dialogue.
There are a couple parts that go into the backstories of other people in the hospital which reminded me of Orange is the New Black and their flashbacks. I liked this because you could see how other people were led there, but I don't think the author took this far enough. It felt like last minute additions instead of a well-thought out plan to weave into the overall story.
Overall, I thought this book took on a powerful topic and did it justice. However, I was disappointed about some of the more minor details.
I encourage people to read more about mental illness and addiction because the more people know, the less stigmatized it will become and hopefully options to help will become more open.
No comments:
Post a Comment