Mental Health
Written by Nina Lacour
Contemporary, Paranormal, Mental Health
Publishing September 29th 2020
272 Pages
Thank you to Text Publishing
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★★★☆
Mila is used to being alone. Maybe that’s why she said yes. Yes to a second chance in this remote place, among the flowers and the fog and the crash of waves far below. But she hadn’t known about the ghosts.Newly graduated from high school, Mila has aged out of the foster-care system. So when she’s offered a job and a place to live on an isolated part of the Californian coast, she immediately accepts. Maybe she will finally find a new home, a real home. The farm is a refuge, but it’s also haunted by the past. And Mila’s own memories are starting to rise to the surface
Eighteen year old Mila is transitioning from an adolescent in foster care to a homestead estate in Mendocino California, an isolated coastal community and an internship educating children. At the homestead, everyone contributes, the chores, the weekend farmers market and maintaining the property and accommodation. The farming community are welcoming although cautious of Mila and beyond the fields of flowers, the dreamlike mist that settles upon the land and the pebbled beach, the ghosts dance upon the fields under the moonlit sky.
Mila is an interesting character, enigmatic and a fragmented version of herself. The community is her opportunity to alleviate her anxiety and find solace, escaping her early adolescent years and the tragedy that had befallen her family. Harbouring secrets, Mila is tormented by her former stepfather, a man who manipulated her single mother and kept Mila captive, figuratively and literally.
Mila is responsible for the education of nine year old Lee, anxious and afraid of ghostly apparitions. Lee is an intelligent boy, my heart ached for what he continued to endure, his anxiety was often overwhelming and the adults within the property settlement seemingly believed that a nine year old child was able to manage his own anxiety. Mila is unqualified and a few of her interactions with Lee seemed inappropriate. Using storytelling as a means to share and provide a feeling of solidarity, Mila tells the story of a wolf, ripping a young woman's heart from her chest, representative of the situation of Mila herself and her stepfather. She goes on to share the story about how she was conceived and how her mother had decided her father wouldn't be given the opportunity to become a parent. I understand that Mila is young but with seemingly no experience with children, I'm not entirely certain she understood the sensitive nature of Lee's anxiety or working with children. A small annoyance that didn't impact my overall enjoyment but I found Mila's actions concerning.
On the farm, Mila is befriended by Liz and Billy, who are seemingly in a sexual relationship. Mila is experiencing ongoing traumatic stress from her adolescence and begins sleeping between the young couple each night as a comfort mechanism, the two young women also bathing together. Their relationship isn't defined but I suspect Mila may be attracted to the young couple, pleasuring herself after overhearing them being intimate. The property community appeared as a humanism, unstructured environment, a commune of spirited and likeminded people. Perhaps I'm cynical but the community is similar to a congregation but rather than preaching religion, they promote togetherness, your personal journey to wellness and although it appears to be a positive environment, I couldn't shake the sinister undercurrent and expected there may have been something awful happening at the farm.
Nina Lacour is an incredible author, her themes of sadness, mental wellness and loss are told beautifully, artistically and poetically. Watch Over Me is an engaging read but not particularly immersive. The liberation of healing through symbolism was quite exquisite but the narrative, characters and community were too peculiar and underdeveloped unfortunately.
Contains sensitive issues such as homophobia, transphobia and conversion therapy
Written by Harry Cook
Contemporary, Mental Health, Queer, Australian
Published August 2020
352 Pages
Thank you to New South Books
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★★★★☆
A gloriously upbeat LGBTQI novel of love, hope and friendship, showing that although it's not always rainbows and fireflies, life's too short to be anyone but yourself...
It started with a kiss... As love stories often do. Jesse Andrews had the arms of a Greek god and he was on the track team. The night of our kiss fell on a Friday.
Then, only a few days later, Fin's world is turned upside down and not in a good head over heels in love way, when Jesse cruelly outs him. An event which ultimately leads to his family leaving town.
But a fresh start isn't going to change the truth of who Fin is. And it's not going to stop his sexuality causing everyone all sorts of problems. Everyone, that is, apart from his new best friend Poppy, her girlfriend in waiting June, and his latest crush Rye... So, while Fin and Rye are enjoying some seriously intimate moonlit moments together, Fin's parents decide to pack him off to the local therapy camp.
It's a nightmare and there's no easy way out. Can Fin's squad hatch a plan outrageous enough to spring him before the conversion acolytes force him onto the straight and narrow?
As far as the town of Lochport are concerned, Fin Whittle is a heterosexual son, his parents are conservative members of the community and there is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary here. His father certainly didn't evacuate his entire family because his son is gay and this fresh start, terribly disguised as a work promotion, is most certainly not a bigoted overreaction of the sexuality of your child. Most certainly not. They certainly aren't concerned about the welfare of their son after his sexuality became the hottest gossip in the small conservative and religious community, labelled as perverted with unnatural tenancies. Surely their new home in Lochport will set him straight. Insert fist shaking and extreme eye rolling here.
Fin is lovely and tenderhearted, he identifies as gay and although he's confided in a few close friends, isn't ready to tell the world just yet so when he was cruelly outed by his former crush, his confidence took quite the beating. His parents more concerned with how they're perceived rather than the mental and emotional wellness of their son, as though sexuality is a choice and his father can threaten the gay out of him. Fin's distress is palpable and confronting, especially for queer readers so please tread lightly friends. Fin's father isn't old school, as Fin's brother Elliot would describe him, he's a conservative asshole and a foreboding presence in Fin's life.
Lochport is a seaside town with a small and inclusive community of queer students representing gender, sexuality and straight allies. Poppy identifies as pansexual, she's totally in love with June, her former girlfriend, transgender and chairperson of the Queer Straight Alliance. June is a gentle soul, I loved her sense of justice and wanting to educate others to create an inclusive environment. Poppy is a firecracker, fiercely loyal to her friends, brutally honest and won't hesitate to knock anyone down a few pegs for being a dickhead. Everyone needs a Poppy in their life.
Rye, along with his trusty sidekick British Bulldog Thelma, is the perfect example of why we need more kind and compassionate male characters in young adult. He's wonderfully sensitive and wears his heart on his sleeve. Rye has anxiety and when it all becomes too much, escapes to his secret hideaway at Kettle Lake, chilling and watching the fireflies dance upon the water. At the lake under moonlit skies, Rye and Fin begin falling for one another, the coy smiles and gentle touches are beautiful and I treasured seeing them finding solace with one another.
I was absolutely horrified by Fin's father, his beliefs and straight up homophobia. His mother is slightly more understanding but allows Fin to be treated like shit to appease her husband. I wanted to slap them both into next week. Here you have a wonderful young man, smart, sensitive and compassionate, who just happens to be gay and he's stuck with these horrible shithead parents who send him to conversion therapy to brainwash the gay away. Thank goodness for Elliot, Fin's older brother who has returned home from travelling abroad. He recognised from an early age that Fin may have been gay and wants nothing more than to love, cherish and support his brother, standing up to their father so Fin isn't in this fight alone. I don't know what kind of Christian malarkey this is but I was fuming. Conversion therapy isn't something I know much about but how fucking dare anyone tell someone that falling in love, regardless of gender, is unnatural, that they're unnatural and these charlatan assholes should be imprisoned.
The heaviness surrounding queerphobia, conversion therapy and the issues the queer community face is balanced wonderfully with a hopeful and tender story of friendship, falling in love and the strength and resilience of queer teens. It's beautifully written and an incredible young adult debut from Harry Cook, who will no doubt become a force to be reckoned with. Just outstanding!
Written by Eric Smith
Contemporary, Gaming, Friendship, Online Safety
284 Pages
Published January 20th 2020
Thank you to Harlequin Teen Australia
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★★★★★
Divya Sharma is a queen. Or she is when she’s playing Reclaim the Sun, the year’s hottest online game. Divya regularly leads her #angstarmada on quests through the game’s vast and gorgeous virtual universe. But for Divya, this is more than just a game. Out in the real world, she’s trading her rising star status for sponsorships to help her struggling single mum pay the rent.
Gaming is basically Aaron Jericho’s entire life. Much to his mother’s frustration, Aaron has zero interest in becoming a doctor like her, and spends his free time writing games for a local developer. At least he can escape into Reclaim the Sun and with a trillion worlds to explore, disappearing should be easy. But to his surprise, he somehow ends up on the same remote planet as celebrity gamer Divya.
At home, Divya and Aaron grapple with their problems alone, but in the game, they have each other to face infinite new world and the growing legion of trolls populating them. Soon the virtual harassment seeps into reality when a group called the Vox Populi begin launching real world doxxing campaigns, threatening Aaron’s dreams and Divya’s actual life. The online trolls think they can drive her out of the game, but everything and everyone Divya cares about is on the line.
And she isn’t going down without a fight.
Reclaim The Sun is a popular online multiplayer game, players from all over the world board their ships ready to explore the universe, colonise planets and mine for resources. For gamer and streamer Divya Sharma, it's how she earns a living. Through sponsorship and revenue to help her single mother make ends meet while she puts herself through college.
Being a female gamer is hard enough, avoiding trolls and online abuse from arrogant males laying claim to online spaces. Divya has tried to protect her personal information. She doesn't use her real name, location or allow people past the virtual walls she's built around herself, she knows all too well how unsafe the world can be for females after her best friend, gaming buddy and streaming producer Rebekah was attacked in an elevator on her college campus. But when Divya is attacked and ambushed in game by a group of dudebros calling themselves the Vox Populi, the online trolling spills into her real life, comprising her safety.
Any girl gamer who's ever played an online multiplayer can attest to Divya's story. I'm no stranger to online gaming. In my younger years playing Call of Duty online and the amount of assholes who try to intimidate and target females is infuriating. Often console support will suggest you block other users or turn off the in game chat, sure, that solves the issue. I would have thought of that myself but my simple female brain is too occupied with flower arranging and darning socks. The issue is that for so long, they've allowed male gamers to create a toxic environment online where these losers living in their mother's basement get together and drive female gamers from the community. Back then, girls would meet online at a specific time and have female only sessions of online games. Safety in numbers is instilled in us because of men and allowing them to become faceless behind a keyboard only perpetuates their male fragility.
Aaron Jericho is a part time online gamer, his real interest lies in creating games and storyboarding, working for an independent developer who is trying to dodge paying wages for his staff. With no wage and an overbearing mother who refuses to support his dream of becoming a game developer, he's built himself a Frankenstein computer made from dumpster spare parts and pieces found in the neighbours trash. It works and is good enough to run Reclaim The Sun where Divya and her armada has just been attacked.
Aaron is a kindhearted young man and while he's never experienced trolling as Divya is now experiencing, he wholeheartedly supports her and her need for privacy while still checking in to make sure she's doing okay. Aaron's narrative explores the issue of creators not being paid appropriately for their work, taking advantage of because they're afforded experience. Experience doesn't pay the bills. Aaron's blossoming friendship with Divya allows him to escape and seek solace online and although he'd like to meet her, he respects Divya's need for privacy and allows her to set boundaries within their friendship. Never pushing her to meet offline or for her phone number.
The focus of the story is how unsafe online spaces can be for females in particular and like Divya, we can protect ourselves and our personal, sensitive information but online communities whether it be social media or gamer communities, it allows others to have access to us. Streaming her gaming attracts large audiences and although it's wonderful for Divya who can earn money from sponsorship, being a public figure shouldn't mean that her life should be for public consumption. Her private life is her own. These online trolls who are aggressively targeting Divya, her friends and family are dangerous. As soon as your safety is compromised, these faceless assholes become a danger and more needs to be done to be able to persecute those who engage in online targeted harassment and doxxing.
Don't Read The Comments is an incredible narrative of girls fighting back against those who attempt to silence us. Eric Smith is an impeccable author, creating discussion surrounding creating safe online spaces for females and supporting young creators. There's a saying, the standard you walk past, is the standard you accept and we need to be more mindful of one another online. If you see targeted harassment, report harassers. If a young woman is being abused, speak out and if you're a male gamer who doesn't believe in females occupying online spaces, then fuck off.
Aaron is a kindhearted young man and while he's never experienced trolling as Divya is now experiencing, he wholeheartedly supports her and her need for privacy while still checking in to make sure she's doing okay. Aaron's narrative explores the issue of creators not being paid appropriately for their work, taking advantage of because they're afforded experience. Experience doesn't pay the bills. Aaron's blossoming friendship with Divya allows him to escape and seek solace online and although he'd like to meet her, he respects Divya's need for privacy and allows her to set boundaries within their friendship. Never pushing her to meet offline or for her phone number.
The focus of the story is how unsafe online spaces can be for females in particular and like Divya, we can protect ourselves and our personal, sensitive information but online communities whether it be social media or gamer communities, it allows others to have access to us. Streaming her gaming attracts large audiences and although it's wonderful for Divya who can earn money from sponsorship, being a public figure shouldn't mean that her life should be for public consumption. Her private life is her own. These online trolls who are aggressively targeting Divya, her friends and family are dangerous. As soon as your safety is compromised, these faceless assholes become a danger and more needs to be done to be able to persecute those who engage in online targeted harassment and doxxing.
Don't Read The Comments is an incredible narrative of girls fighting back against those who attempt to silence us. Eric Smith is an impeccable author, creating discussion surrounding creating safe online spaces for females and supporting young creators. There's a saying, the standard you walk past, is the standard you accept and we need to be more mindful of one another online. If you see targeted harassment, report harassers. If a young woman is being abused, speak out and if you're a male gamer who doesn't believe in females occupying online spaces, then fuck off.
contains sensitivities such as self harm, suicide and depression
Written by Brian Conaghan
Contemporary, Mental Health, Mature Themes
Published October 15th 2019
320 Pages
Thank you to Bloomsbury Australia
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★★★★★
Maggie Yates talks to her best friend Moya every day.
She tells her about Maggie's mum losing her job. She tells her that Mum's taken to not opening the curtains and crying in secret. And she tells her about how she plans to cheer Mum up, find her a fella with a bit of cash to splash.
Moya is with her every step of the way. You're surfing a rainbow if you think someone like that exists round here, she smiles. But I'll help.
But at the back of her mind Maggie knows that Mum's crying is more than sadness. That there are no easy fixes. And that Moya's not really there. Because though she talks to her every day, Moya died months ago.
Maggie has never had much, she isn't wealthy, her single mother yells at her at every opportunity and she's never snogged anyone. The one thing she's always had is Moya Burns, her best friend. While Moya lives a carefree life, she's not all that interested in school and prefers a good old snog and shag, she's always relied on Maggie. Until she doesn't. Now Moya talks to Maggie through a manky old bear, dishing out advice on finding her mum a bloke or to stop being a tosser.
Attending her counselling sessions isn't any better, Maggie scoffing at the new age mediation and loved up approach of Anna, her grief counsellor. Maggie's coping, barely. So when her tuck shop lady mum loses her job and sole income, Maggie watches her mum deteriorate much in the same way as Moya did. She chain smokes, has boarded herself inside and pitches a fit when the curtains are drawn, willing to clobber Maggie at the mere suggestion of opening a window. Maggie's mum has depression and the bad days are outweighing the good lately, which is driving Maggie deeper into a pit of grief and self harm.
Maggie's narrative is harrowing, she's trying to gather her life together after the death of her best friend. She hears Moya speaking though and old tattered teddy bear she carries as a protective shield. It's always been Maggie and Moya against the world but while Moya cycled through skint, tracksuit clad boyfriends, Maggie knew the only way to escape their suburban shithole was to make something of her life.
As Maggie is accepted into art school, Moya continues her snarky commentary by invading Maggie's thoughts. When she's placed in a group assignment with Plum, her boyfriend and Davis, who Maggie begins crushing on, Moya is there, egging her on, giving her useless advice but she helps Maggie to feel not so alone. The night that Moya died, Maggie begun to self harm as a distraction from the pain of losing her friend. As her mum loses her job and with little welfare to make ends meet, Maggie's mum locks herself away in a house of stale cigarette smoke and trashy reality television. When the ache becomes too much, Maggie cuts.
Although we only see Moya through Maggie's perception, her character is larger than life. She's rough around the edges and wouldn't hesitate to knock you into next week but she loves Maggie, hiding her feelings between crass jokes and snarky comments. Fractures start to form in Moya's character as Maggie considers applying to art school. Moya felt as though she's being left behind, picking up with another tracksuit clad tosser who treats her like shit. Moya wants to be loved, deserved to be loved and assholes seemingly used and abused her, her casual boyfriend posting photos on Instagram without her consent, the comments and abuse coming thick and fast. Moya tried shaking it off, pretending she didn't care. She did. Maggie blames herself, if only she'd been there, if only she said something, if only Moya had still relied on her.
The storyline is confronting and packs an emotional punch. Poverty, suicide, depression, grief, toxic relationships, abuse and self harm. Many of these issues go hand in hand and Brian Conaghan has skilfully layered them throughout the storyline to create genuine characters who endure and survive what are ultimately shit circumstances, illness and hardship. They're flawed, genuine and most importantly, relatable. I loved the bright moments in Maggie's life, when she remembers Moya, sitting in the bath together removing their public hair, Moya's politically incorrect commentary, meeting Davis, her new and very unassuming friend Plum wanting to call their band The Flaps, Maggie and Davis setting her mum up with a man without her knowledge and while of course I don't condone catfishing, the misguided experience brought Maggie and Davis together.
This is by no means a love cures all storyline, actually love just makes Maggie's life more complicated, it drove home the message of how important emotional support can be. I loved grief counsellor Anna. Even as often as Maggie scoffed at her methods and lashed out at her, she was patient and showed an incredible amount of kindness. She also wasn't afraid to tell Maggie a few home truths when push came to shove.
It was bloody brilliant. I'm always a little sceptical when it comes to male authors writing about the teen girl experience, yes, yes, sexism and that but it felt incredibly authentic. Maggie could be a girl that lived next door, sat behind me in class, she's a girl I would have been friends with, I even see parts of myself reflected in Maggie.
Borrow a copy, buy a copy and ditch that tracksuit clad boyfriend and read it. While you're in the bath removing your pubic hair if that's you're thing. This is what young adult is about.
Written by David Burton
Contemporary, Mystery, Mental Health
256 Pages
Published October 1st 2019
Thank you to UQP
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★★★★☆
When Shaun finds a dead body floating in the lake of a quiet mining town in outback Queensland, he immediately reports it to the police. But when he returns to the site with the constable, the body is gone.
Determined to reveal the truth, Shaun and his best friend, Will, open their own investigation. But what they discover is far more sinister than a mining mishap or a murder, and reveals a darkness below the surface of their small town.
In the small regional town in Queensland, drought and land erosion is prevalent, nonetheless the coal industry continues to thrive. Fourteen year old Shaun relocated from Brisbane with his parents, his dad begun employment in the local mining industry, a prosperous position until his mental health deteriorated, suffering a chronic injury and takes his own life. Shaun refuses counselling despite the insistence of his mother, his unresolved grief begins to resurface when Shaun finds a deceased body washed on the banks of the local reservoir. The nondescript man removing his workboots before having entered the water. Despite his truancy, Shaun reports the body to the local police who are sceptical, so when he accompanies a young officer to the crime scene and the deceased is missing, Shaun is branded a troubled young man and the investigation concluded before it has begun.
His mother believes Shaun harbours the residual effects of the suicide of his father so Shaun enlists the cooperation of best friend Will, a young man who thrives on adventure and together they investigate the death of a young man and their small town that deserves answers.
Shaun is a sensitive and intelligent young man, a friend and the son of a man who took his own life. In the small mining community, Shaun understands the anguish of mental illness and the repercussions of a large corporation financing the local economy. Shaun's single mother is employed at the local supermarket and although she's concerned for Shaun's mental health, she has no alternative means of financial support. Shaun is understandably enraged at the treatment of employees at the Rosewood Mine, treacherous conditions, inadequate support and mismanagement contributing to the suicide of his father.
The investigation is fraught with danger. Shaun and Will believe the young man is a casualty of the Rosewood Mine and begin the search for evidence of negligence.
Woven throughout The Man in the Water is the reoccurring theme of mental health, community responsibility and removing mental illness discrimination, especially in traditionally male dominated workplaces. While Australia strides towards inclusion and equality, toxic masculinity is an issue rarely acknowledged or discussed. Young men are expected to appear stoic and detached and to appear otherwise is often seen as weakness. This is especially prevalent in male dominated workplaces where employees are essentially discouraged from expressing concerns and mental health issues. In the incidents of the Rosewood Mine, employees are separated from their families, exposed to unsafe conditions, unsupported by their employer and intimidated by union delegates.
The Man in the Water encourages discussions surrounding mental health, suicide and neglect within our small town communities. Communities often without mental health professionals and counselling services. The uniquely Australian narrative is authentic and superbly written, the epitome of compassionate and conscientious young adult literature.
Written by Emma Smith - Barton
Contemporary, Mental Health, Diverse
320 Pages
Thank you to Penguin Teen Australia
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★★★★★
How can I hold myself together, when everything around me is falling apart?
Neena's always been a good girl, great grades, parent approved friends and absolutely no boyfriends. But ever since her brother Akash left her, she's been slowly falling apart and uncovering a new version of herself who is altogether more dangerous.
As her wild behaviour spirals more and more out of control, Neena's grip on her sanity begins to weaken too. And when her parents announce not one but two life changing bombshells, including that they want her to have an arranged marriage, she finally reaches breaking point. But as Neena is about to discover, when your life falls apart, only love can piece you back together.
Be happy. That was the last words Akash Gill told his sister Neena before disappearing that night, asking her to sneak out to a party with him. It's been seven months since he left, seven months since Neena's mother has left the house, seven months since their lives were irrevocably changed. Neena has always been a model student and loyal friend, navigating the world with Akash at her side. Since he disappeared, Neena's life is no longer her own. She sneaks out to meet his former girlfriend Fiona, hoping to find information on why he left, drinking to numb the pain and follow Akash's path, living life according to where the winds blow. Not how their parents dictate.
Neena Gill is an interesting character, her grief is palpable as we discover the impact Akash's disappearance had on the quiet and reserved young woman. Neena increasingly isolated herself from her best friend Raheela and although as a result of her unimaginable longing, Neena meets Josh at a party through Fiona, her brother's former girlfriend and the two instantly hit it off. Neena is quite the unreliable narrator, shaking off her so called good girl status in the pursuit of information. At first. She becomes a fixture in Akash's social scene, soon realising there was more to her brother than the artist, the covert party boy, a son, a boyfriend and the spark that set the world ablaze.
The Million Pieces of Neena Gill explores the turbulent and often confronting themes of grief, alcoholism, mental illness and substance abuse, issues that were beautifully written with incredible care and consideration. It also portrays the expectations placed upon the offspring of immigrant parents and I really enjoyed the interactions between Neena and her Pakistani born parents once they found common ground.
Although the reader is introduced to Akash through brief snippets and Neena's memories of their childhood, his character is larger than life. The storyline slowly navigates around his character as the central focus and how the disappearance of a loved one leaves a gaping hole in the lives of friends and loved ones. It also explores the many facets of grief, denial, isolation, destructive behaviour, self sabotage, depression and anxiety. Neena's mother developed agoraphobia and was unable to leave the house, the couple's friends coming over each night to banquets Neena's mother would spend the day preparing, Neena's father spending long hours at work to avoid the confrontation of home while seeking solace in his local church to pray for his wayward daughter.
The romance plays a very small role throughout the narrative, which I appreciated tremendously. Neena's life is complex enough and although her relationship with Josh brought her joy, it was a bandaid for a much larger issue. Josh's character was lovely, gentle with Neena and genuinely cares for her. Her brother's former girlfriend Fiona appears to be unlikeable and not only enabled Neena's behaviour but manipulated Neena and used her to her advantage. Neena often perceived her world and the interactions with others entirely different to how they were portrayed, Fi is still questionably sketchy as she's strongly disliked by Neena's parents and her former best friend Raheela but also struggled with life without Akash.
One of my favourite aspects of The Million Pieces of Neena Gill was the writing. It was beautiful and well considered. A story of hope, healing and learning to live in the moment. A deeply moving, poignant and quietly stunning prose from an brilliant debut author in Emma Smith - Barton.
Written by Orlagh Collins
Contemporary, LGBT, Mental Health
Published March 7th 2019
320 Pages
Thank you to Bloomsbury Australia
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★★★☆
Vetty's family is moving back to London, and all she can think about is seeing Pez again. They were inseparable when they were small, roaming the city in the long summers, sharing everything. But everyone's telling her it'll be different now. After all, a boy and a girl can't really be friends without feelings getting in the way, can they?
Vetty thinks differently until Pez tells her she's not like other girls. But what does that even mean? Is it a good thing or not? Suddenly she's wondering whether she wants him to see her like the others, like the ultra glamorous March, who's worked some sort of spell on Pez, or the girls in the videos that Pez has hidden on his laptop.
How can she measure up to them? And who says that's what a girl is supposed to be like anyway?
Helvetica has never quite felt herself since her mother passed away after her cancer diagnosis and her father relocated his young family from London to Somerset, exchanging the vibrant city for a cottage retreat. Living in Somerset, the family are now returning to London to resume their lives, including seeing Peregrine once more. Helvetica and Peregrine were childhood friends, neighbours and adventurers but have since lost contact.
Since the loss of her mother, Helvetica has adapted into a mothering role for younger sister Arial, both sibling names a tribute to their mother's love of fonts. Their father now widowed, moving his young family to the country with his sister and her partner while he continued to work from their small cottage on the family property. Grieving and overwhelmed, Helvetica begun to reinvent herself to assimilate and suppress her sexuality.
Throughout the narrative, Helvetica identifies with an attraction towards males and females, realising she's bisexual and feeling a sense of ownership and belonging. It's a defining moment of her sexual identity and within young adult literature. Our adolescent years is when we are exploring our sense of identity which often includes our sexuality and experiencing Helvetica's feelings of confusion is palpable. Another aspect of Helvetica's sexuality is when she discusses her feelings with her Aunt who identifies as lesbian. When describing her attraction towards females on the eve of their same gender wedding, her Aunt assumes Helvetica is also a lesbian in which she later apologises. It would have been wonderful to have experienced her unconditional support for Helvetica during their conversation, rather than have an adult place labels upon her sexual identity. Although it's presumed to be a moment of compassion and understanding, even camaraderie could be interpreted as bisexual or pansexual erasure which some may find distressing.
Peregrine is an interesting character but incredibly abrasive and narcissistic. After Helvetica moved to Somerset, the phone calls became less frequent, messages left unanswered. A young girl grieving, navigating life without her mother and caring for a younger sibling, when returning to London and her small apartment across from the lavish home he shares with his parents, Peregrine was irritable, resentful and seemingly refusing to accept responsibility for his behaviour. Including his addiction to pornography. Peregrine describes his compulsion as an inadequacy and that he's unable to have a sexual relationship because he feels desensitised, impotent and defective. It's important to emphasise that relationships exist beyond a physical relationship, potentially insensitive to those who identify as asexual.
It was wonderful that female masturbation is explored and as a positive experience. Younger sister Arial is also approaching adolescence and is curious about her body and sexuality and with her father emotionally absent, Helvetica helps Arial to understand about body changes, her period and sexuality. It was a gentle and genuine moment between siblings. The friendship Helvetica and March share is beautiful. March is Peregrine's girlfriend, although he also treats her with an incredible amount of disdain. March confides in Helvetica about her relationship with Peregrine and it was lovely to see their friendship existing independently of Peregrine.
I thoroughly enjoyed Helvetica's journey but felt the narrative was sacrificed for Peregrine's issues that seemingly took precedence. All The Invisible Things is an entertaining and arresting contemporary novel and wonderful coming of age.
I thoroughly enjoyed Helvetica's journey but felt the narrative was sacrificed for Peregrine's issues that seemingly took precedence. All The Invisible Things is an entertaining and arresting contemporary novel and wonderful coming of age.
Written by K. Ancrum
Contemporary, Mental Health, LGBT
336 Pages
Published October 30th 2018
Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia
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★★★★★
Jack once saved August's life, now can August save him?
August is a misfit with a pyro streak and Jack is a golden boy on the varsity rugby team but their intense friendship goes way back. Jack begins to see increasingly vivid hallucinations that take the form of an elaborate fantasy kingdom creeping into the edges of the real world. With their parents' unreliable behaviour, August decides to help Jack the way he always has, on his own. He accepts the visions as reality, even when Jack leads them on a quest to fulfil a dark prophecy.
August and Jack alienate everyone around them as they struggle with their sanity, free falling into the surreal fantasy world that feels made for them. In the end, each one must choose his own truth.
Written in vivid microfiction with a stream of consciousness feel and multimedia elements, K. Ancrum's The Wicker King touches on themes of mental health and explores a codependent relationship fraught with tension, madness and love.
Following the nonlinear narrative of seventeen year old August Bateman, August is incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital, keening and desperate to find Jack Rossi. Jack and August are unlikely friends, Jack the popular, athletic student while August is an introvert, hiding behind fashion labels in the hope no one will discover his low socioeconomic status. Beyond the confines of school, August and Jack and inseparable. Throughout the narration, we experience the codependent and often disturbing friendship between the two young men, the possessiveness, toxicity and domination. It's frightening, fascinating and will captivate readers until the final page.
August is a young man who feels like an impostor in his own skin. After his parents separated, August's mother developed a deep depression and retreated to her basement where she spends her days watching game shows. From a young age, August had learned to fend for himself by becoming self dependant and taking care of his mother. Unable to work and with only meagre support cheques from his father, August sells drugs to make ends meet, his side project well known throughout the wealthy student community. It's his friendship with Jack that sustains August, caring for his friend in a world that was created for them and them alone.
We get to know Jack through the eyes of August, who often views his friend with rose coloured glasses. Jack is popular, attractive and athletic, not to mention not even remotely in the same orbit as August. But somehow, their friendship works. Growing up, the boys liked to explore their surroundings, from the surrounding forest to abandoned buildings, Jack with his crown made of sticks and makeshift sword, August his loyal champion by his side. But Jack's childhood games have become increasingly disturbing, his imagination existing between two separate worlds sharing the one space. He sees people and objects within his vision from another time, no longer a game and claims the residents of this historical plane need his help to find an object. An object that will save their world. It begins to blur the lines between fantasy and mental illness as Jack experiences delusions, luring August into a world he can only experience through Jack's illness.
August and Jack's friendship takes an intense turn while playing in the forest, August slips into the river only to be rescued by Jack. An act of bravery leads August to believe that he now owes Jack, his life, his spirit and whatever Jack will now ask of him. Jack begins to feed upon that toxic devotion and begins to lay claim over August, often resorting to physical intimidation and abuse that August has become dependant on. Similar to being in an abusive relationship where the victim may believe they are deserving of abuse or that toxic possession is a way of expressing love by their abuser.
August and Jack are very much a product of their individual environments. Although Jack is from a wealthy family, his parents are often travelling or simply absent. August feels a deep responsibility to care for Jack, understanding his feelings of abandonment and isolation. On the surface of what seems to be a friendship of codependency, is a dangerously toxic love story, an all consuming love that threatens to destroy them both. Written with a passionate intensity, I was swept away by the relationship and hopeful that these two abandoned beings would survive their ordeal.
It was messy, complicated and utterly brilliant. I was enamoured by August and Jack and consumed by their relationship. Beautifully written with a dark, brooding realism rarely seen within young adult fiction, The Wicker King is phenomenal.
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