“Evelyn Gonzalez keeps losing people, which is always hard, but has she lost something much more? Has she lost her soul? Evelyn has a nervous breakdown and is institutionalized, after months of sorrow and pain she is thrust back into the world. The world of teenage angst and Calculus. Can she trust people again? Especially after hurtful assumptions and judgments made her miss her junior year of high school. Evelyn is just trying to heal what she lost and graduate from high school.” Blurb as written by author
This book reads well enough. There were a handful of editing errors, but I think I only noticed them because I had been asked to review it. This book has some swearing in it – similar to what you may expect to hear in the halls of your average high school. While it is set in a high school setting, I am more impressed with an author who stretches their vocabulary to share emotions than one who resorts to foul language.
I did get somewhat confused as the story progressed. Evelyn kept alluding to a great loss that has deeply traumatized her. But we have no real clues as to what all this loss entails. It comes out later in the story when Evelyn shares her history with a friend. However, since this story told from Evelyn’s point of view and we share her thoughts, I would prefer to have a few more clues – if not the entire event – explained earlier. I got bored with the story as I couldn’t understand what the big deal was for Evelyn.
Multiple characters switch back and forth between English and either Spanish or German. Frequently it is easy to infer the meaning of the words. However if you don’t know the translations, the author has also included a list of these words with their translations at the back of the book. I enjoyed this element, as often in real life people who speak multiple languages will use a word from a different language that expresses their thoughts or emotions more fully than an English word. The characters are multi lingual, so it makes sense that it would appear in their stories.
Evelyn also gets help from a woman who owns an antique store. Evelyn goes to work for her and she has a healing process. The only thing – I still don’t understand what it is the woman does for her or with her. I felt like that part had a great introduction with a lead in for more information to come later. But then the info never came. The author only references that Evelyn had a session with the woman and she was tired or that she didn’t want to go to another session with the woman. Was it a counseling session? Or a relaxation session? I was confused.
I enjoyed the sense of healing that does finally resolve by the end of the story. There were a few good quotes I liked in reference to healing from the book. One is “It takes a strong character to accept help. It takes an even stronger one to be aware they need help. Weakness has nothing to do with (you getting help).” This is a good lesson for anyone to learn too.
Overall it was a quick and easy read, but one that did not hold my interest and I had a hard time finishing.
Review by P. Farrington