by Lindsey Frydman
rating: ☆☆
published: 20th March 2017
spoilers? yes
Goodreads
Galley provided by publisher
Honestly, 3 stars is probably not indicative of how much I enjoyed most of this book. I say most because, for a good three quarters of it, I was really liking it. The writing was good, the story was engaging, possibly the only issue I had was how quickly they got together (I feel like a slowburn would have suited this a lot more). And then the last quarter happened.
It started off with the reveal that Jake (the love interest) had been abused as a child, as in beaten to the point where he thought he would die. Implied multiple times this happened. And because we're all about using abuse as an angsty plot point apparently, this is only ever mentioned once. Never past that.
Then, at the same time as he's telling Audra about this, he makes this comment:
"But... what about your mom? I mean, was it just your dad who..."
"My mom couldn't stop him, even if she'd wanted to. Sometimes I don't know if she did want to."
Because if she'd wanted to stop him, wouldn't she have left? For her own sake? To save her children?
"She's mentally ill," he said, sliding off the bench. "But it's never been a good enough excuse for me."
Where to even start with this. The assumption that she didn't want to stop him because she didn't leave? The victim blaming? The implication that her having a mental illness was behind her not leaving? The fact that he thinks she's using that as an excuse not to leave? It's all messy. And I wouldn't have minded it so much if the narrative had called all these things out. But guess what. It does not. This is brought up this single time, and never challenged. Just thinking about this quote makes me angry and I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't rate this lower.
Tack onto this, the fact that, at the end, his mother burns down their house, killing herself and his father, and that this is painted as her "cracking"? Even messier.
There's also a point where Audra reads Jake's diary (violating his privacy much?) because she's so curious, and the contents of this diary imply that Jake has had or is still having suicidal thoughts. But don't worry (Jake says), he only ever thought about it, only ever planned where he might do it, he never really considered going through with it. And with that, this plot point is just brushed aside.
With all this, I feel like this book had ample opportunity to explore a love interest with a mental illness. The question is, whether I would actually have wanted it to, given how much it demonises his mother who does have one (an unidentified one, too. So don't worry, we aren't just demonising a single mental illness! It's equal opportunity demonisation).
So yeah. On second thoughts, I'm rating down.
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