Fall For Anything: Guest Review

Najela from Brave New Adventure is here with another review for Psychtember, this time of Fall For Anything by Courtney Summers! 

Summary:  Eddie Reeves father, Seth Reeves, committed suicide and since then her life has fallen apart. Her mother's annoying friend, Beth, has pretty much moved in for the sake of "helping" her mother, and as a result treating Eddie as a nuisance. Eddie's only constant is her best friend, Milo who has been supporting her through this tragic time. But then Eddie meets Culler Evans, a photography student of her father's, has she found someone who can provide answers to her father's suicide?

Likes: It was an okay book. I didn't know what I was expecting, it could have almost been two different stories. The story is framed as a mystery, when it really is about Eddie and her grieving process about her father. The only character that was sympathetic to her pain was Milo and she kept pushing her away. While, I wasn't too keen on the whole mystery aspect to the story, Eddie's coping and processing of the grief caused her to act out in ways that wasn't expected. The characters were very real, even if I didn't like all of them (especially Beth). As mentioned before Eddie's emotions were erractic as she was dealing with grief. This is a very realistic portayal of grief, in my opinion, as everyone responds and experiences grief differently. Had the reader been given glimpses of life before the incident, Eddie's reactions would make more of an impact.

Psychological Aspect: The psychological aspect of this books deals more with the nature of grief. The Kübler-Ross model also known as The Five Stages of Grief, include denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Kubler-Ross acknowledges that not everyone goes through all of these stages when a life altering event occurs and these aren't only emotions associated with grief. Emotions such as guilt and confusion can play into this as well.

Writing Tip: There are more than 5 stages of grief, but the nature of grief doesn't follow these stages. One minute, someone can be angry, the next minute they can be in denial. One thing this book does well is have triggers that bring these emotions to the forefront. Grief can cause a character to act out of character, which would have been presented in this book had scenes showing how Eddie used to be when her father was alive would have really heigtened the nature of her grief.

Another Book to be Read: I honestly don't read a lot of book dealing with grief, but grief doesn't always have to be someone dying. . Does anyone have suggestions?

Najela is a graduate from UC Riverside with a dual degree in Psychology and Creative Writing and finally making the most of both degrees. She works with kids and is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Exceptional Student Education. She is also working on several writing projects including a Beauty and the Beast retelling webcomic coming in late October 2012. You can follow her at her website or her tumblr.
   
Thank you, Najela, for sharing your thoughts on Fall for Anything!

Readers, do you have any recommendations of other books dealing with grief?