e-Audio, 03:45:35
Narrated by: Amber McBride (the author)
Release Date: January 10, 2023
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Read from: January 2-3, 2023
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley (I received a copy of this audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Clinical/Major Depression, suicide, self harm
For Readers Interested In: Mental Health, Disability (Unseen), Novels in Verse, Fantasy, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, YAThey Both Die at the End meets The Bell Jar in this haunting, beautiful young adult novel-in-verse about clinical depression and healing from trauma, from National Book Award Finalist Amber McBride.
Whimsy is back in the hospital for treatment of clinical depression. When she meets a boy named Faerry, she recognizes they both have magic in the marrow of their bones. And when Faerry and his family move to the same street, the two start to realize that their lifelines may have twined and untwined many times before.
They are both terrified of the forest at the end of Marsh Creek Lane.
The Forest whispers to Whimsy. The Forest might hold the answers to the part of Faerry he feels is missing. They discover the Forest holds monsters, fairy tales, and pain that they have both been running from for 11 years.
*MY THOUGHTS*
Now y’all know novels in verse are not my jam. This was actually hard for me to get through as well. I had no way of knowing how deeply this was going to end up touching me by the end. It was well worth the read.
Now the reason I don’t like novels in verse, is because they usually have so much imagery and double meanings and all the other things. And with my ADHD and me always having to do something else while I’m listening to a book and having it on super speed lol I sometimes miss a lot. Novels in verse force me to slow down, and that’s just what this book did. Now the writing style and the fantasy elements also had me stuck there too. Like this book was so lyrical and beautiful! I didn’t catch all the symbolism, but for what I did, I thought it was amazing.
Please be kind to yourself regarding this book tho. It depicts self-harm and suicide ideation/attempt. Please don’t read if this is something that can cause you to spiral. With that being said, this book took me through the ringer. I was in tears as soon as I figured out what was going on. It wasn’t that it was sad, it was more so that I hated that Whimsy felt that there was no way out. I hated that she felt so alone.
Then there’s the plot. This is where it gets tricky for me. Like I said, I’m not a novel in verse fan, so me not understanding what this was trying to say was probably a me problem, not a book problem, so I won’t say I didn’t enjoy it. The way this is told is so haunting and yet beautiful at the same time. I loved it. But what I got from it, is during her time there at the hospital for treatment, she’s beginning to come out of her depression, with the help of her new friend, Faerry. I do believe that he was in her mind, but that could be for you, the next reader, to decide. This is why they’re so hard for me. They have so much that is left out, and I have to make my own interpretation or get what they want me to get out of it. However, that’s not good for me. I find myself wondering if I guessed right on things all the time. I have Pure O OCD and let me tell you, I have a hard time letting random questions like that go.
This book was very much out of my wheelhouse, but with its amazing writing and the haunting words used to tell the story, this book touched me like I didn’t think it would. If there’s any books at all that have surprised me, it’s this one. A novel in verse about a teen who needs help? Doesn’t sound like me, but it worked oh so well!
Overall, I give this
