e-ARC, 388 pages
Release Date: February 6, 2024
Published by: Levine Querido
Read from: January 14-15, 2024
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley
TW: Mention of a school shooting, Mention of death of a sibling, Grief, Guilt
For Readers Interested In: Literary, Magical Realism, YAHarriet Adu knows that her brother’s death is her fault. I mean, it’s not actually her fault, but it still kinda is, isn’t it?
She would do anything to live in a world where she could take back what she said that morning.
Then a strange girl shows up at Harriet’s high school – a girl who loves the same weird books Harriet does, who doesn’t vibe with anyone at school the same way Harriet does – and that different world suddenly seems possible. The girl speaks of a place underneath the subways of New York, where people like them can go and find a home. A place away from the world of high school, grief, cool people, and depression. A place where one may be able to bend the lines of reality and get a second chance at being a better person.
Will Harriet open the door?
With You’re Breaking My Heart , award-winning author Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich offers a remarkable speculative novel that will hit home for anyone who yearns for that one chance to do things over.
*MY THOUGHTS*
I can’t say that I was exactly ready for this book. When I heard about it I was thinking there was going to be some talk of grief and the guilt that she felt. And for the most part, that’s what I got, but there was so much more to it that I wasn’t expecting. And I can’t lie, it threw me off a bit. Not in a bad way, but it just wasn’t what I was expecting.
Ok so the very first thing was the way they portrayed the grief. The mysterious girl coming in and thinking all the same things, and being the only one who likes the same thing she does. It was interesting tho that everyone else could see her tho. I thought it was also weird that she was there to help her and she literally did nothing to help her. I hated that she didn’t have anyone. She needed to get help. As the book goes on she is given even more hard times while she’s trying to keep it together. Her guilt manifested into some really weird things.
Usually I am a huge fan of books on serious topics, but this one is speculative, so it seemed like it was out there. I wish we hard learned more about the accident and what all those images and animals had to do with her grief. Like the rats? Was it just from the story her mom used to tell her? I also didn’t like that there was no explanation for these things. I try to read as a teen since that’s what I would think they’d see in the text, but I think without explanation this might be a little difficult for some readers. Idk, it was weird. But it was also beautiful. The author did a great job in making sure that even tho what was going on seemed weird, it was also set in some really beautiful prose. And I appreciated that.
The ending was just ok. I liked what happened, but I wanted some type of explanation on it. Like she came to terms, she no longer felt guilty, she just accepted it and let it go? What happened? I thought that was just me because I’m not a fan of books that seem open ended, but after talking to my friend, she also thought the same. It just seemed abrupt and I would have liked to have a little more with her finding her family and friends again.
The characters were just okay also. They’re introduced, and some of them even have some large parts, but none of them have a clear ending. Like what happened to her cousin and her brother’s bestie? She tells them what she’s been dealing with, they cry and then it just stopped at her storyline? And her mom let them go on their way, and then disappeared? Idk, I think I wanted more in that aspect.
This book was beautiful and haunting, but I still needed more. I understand that it is a speculative book, but there should have been some more info because speculative or not, I was left mostly confused but with a smile on my face. If that makes sense lol
Overall, I give this
