Transferring The Pain To Someone Else

“I want to end it,
The pain,”
I tell her.
“I imagine a blade across my wrist,
And only the imagination brings me immense relief.
What if I actually do it.
It will end the pain.”

“Will it?”
She asked.
“That blade will take the pain,
From you, surely.
But that pain will get transferred,
To all the people who thought,
You were better than that.
To all the people,
Who wanted you in their future.”

“Suicide…”, she said as she looked away,
“Is the most selfish way out,
By giving your pain to the few,
Who so deeply loved you.”

Book Review – When We Collided by Emery Lord

Vivi is in Verona Cove with her mother to spend her Summer and she has fallen in love with the small town. She has taken a job in a pottery shop and that is where she meets Jonah. Jonah has five siblings, he cooks for them, manages his dad’s restaurant, and worries about his mom. Jonah Daniels is broken and Vivi thinks she can save him. As she starts changing the lives of Jonah and all his siblings, her past begins to catch up with her. The question is, who will save Vivi?

Genre: YA

Rating: 4.3/5

Death of a loved one is a pretty common subject in YA and another topic that is becoming common day by day is mental illness. Now I have a problem with the portrayal of both these sensitive subjects. Because what mostly happens in books is that at one point they are such a huge thing and then they are solved in an instance, a character has an epiphany and voila, all troubles forgotten. But let’s be honest, this is not how it happens in real life, and to my delight, this is not how it happened in this book.

Jonah is grieving and Vivi notices it immediately. But she gives him space and time to explain his problems to her. Vivi’s patience is what makes Jonah comfortable enough to open his heart to her. But what Jonah doesn’t realise is that Vivi has huge problems of her own. The complex lives of both characters make this book very interesting.

The characters of Jonah and his siblings depict very well how anyone suffering from the loss of a loved one feels. They follow their daily routines but there’s an undercurrent of sadness that can be felt in their every action and interaction.

I found Vivi’s character very refreshing. The way she felt towards her mental illness and dealt with it was something that made me really like her character. Mental illness is not an easy thing and if you have done something wrong while you were psychologically suffering, it’s hard not to feel guilty and only blame the illness. I’m glad that Emery Lord dealt with this topic the right way.

There aren’t many cons of this book except the story gets a bit slow somewhere in the middle. There were moments when I felt like this book will also turn into another focus-more-on-the-love-story kind of book but the problems of family and mending old friendships is what made this book different.

Well done, Emery Lord!

 

Favourite Quotes:

“Sometimes I wonder if she’s whispering to her heart: Beat. Beat. Beat. To her lungs: In, out. In, out. Like it takes all her time and energy to exist.”

“I also know that emotions come from the brain. So why do people feel real aches in their chests? Why does it feel like we carry every feeling in our core?”

Do I recommend it?

Yes, actually, I do recommend it. Just a fair warning though, #may cause crying.

Kbye!