Psychtember Interview with Trish Doller (and Giveaway!))

I'm excited to have Trish Doller on the blog today for an interview about her debut YA novel Something Like Normal!

First, a bit about Trish and the book:

"I've been a writer as long as I've been able to write, but I didn't make a conscious decision to "be" a writer until fairly recently. For that you should probably be thankful.

I was born in Germany, grew up in Ohio, went to college at Ohio State University, got married to someone really great, bounced from Maine to Michigan and back to Ohio for awhile. Now I live in Florida with my two mostly grown kids, two dogs, and a pirate. For real.

I've worked as a morning radio personality, a newspaper reporter, and spent all my summers in college working at an amusement park. There I gained valuable life skills, including counting money really fast, directing traffic, jumping off a moving train, and making cheese-on-a-stick. Also, I can still welcome you to Frontier Town. Ask me sometime.

These days I work as a bookseller at a Very Big Bookstore. And I write." (from her website)

"When Travis returns home from a stint in Afghanistan, his parents are splitting up, his brother’s stolen his girlfriend and his car, and he’s haunted by nightmares of his best friend’s death. It’s not until Travis runs into Harper, a girl he’s had a rocky relationship with since middle school, that life actually starts looking up. And as he and Harper see more of each other, he begins to pick his way through the minefield of family problems and post-traumatic stress to the possibility of a life that might resemble normal again. Travis’s dry sense of humor, and incredible sense of honor, make him an irresistible and eminently lovable hero." (from Goodreads)

And now for the questions...

1.) In addition to some traditional symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, Travis also experiences a more unusual symptom — hallucinations. Psychosis is not currently one of the diagnostic criteria for PTSD (according to the DSM-IV), but has certainly been known to occur in conjunction with it. Why did you choose to give Travis this symptom? In particular, how do you feel Travis' hallucinations of Charlie affect the reader's understanding of his character and behaviour?

When I first imagined SOMETHING LIKE NORMAL, I planned for Travis to be physically wounded. He was missing a leg. But the logistics of getting him from point A to point B in every scene became overwhelming, and I started brainstorming ways to manage this. Then I read the memoir of a Marine's experience with PTSD (Soft Spots: A Marine's Memoir of Combat and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by Clint Van Winkle) and I realized that not all wounds are physical. I think Travis' hallucinations--my cues for which came from Clint's personal experiences--bring the reader a better understanding of what Charlie meant to Travis and how his guilt keeps Charlie alive.

2.) Harper's presence obviously helps to calm Travis down and relieve his anxiety on more than one occasion. How important do you think social support is for individuals struggling with PTSD? What benefits would you say it provides that medication or therapy do not? Are there any ways you feel friends or family might unintentionally hinder an individual's recovery?

I think the underlying message I've received from people suffering from PTSD is that it's part of their lives but not their whole lives. They may need medication and therapy, but the social support goes a long way in helping them feel "normal." There is a scene in SOMETHING LIKE NORMAL in which Travis spends a day fishing with his friends and enjoying time with Harper, and he feels the closest to good that he's felt in a long time. While I'm not an expert, it seems logical that spending time with supportive friends and engaging in positive activities would work well in concert with medication and therapy. And again, while I'm not widely studied on PTSD, I would venture that trying to force an individual suffering from PTSD to talk about before he or she is ready would be unhelpful, even if well-meant.

3.) Travis and Kevlar both exhibit difficulty in re-adapting to life in the US, but they demonstrate this in different ways. Do you think one of them has healthier coping mechanisms? In the long-term, who do you think will be more successful in overcoming their psychological distress?  

I worry that Kevlar's problem avoidance and adrenalin addiction could be a collision course for disaster. I haven't really attempted to look into his future, but reading stories about soldiers with similar coping mechanisms seem to end with the individual developing more problems or ending in death. While I'd like to think that Travis is on the better road to recovery, I left him very deliberately at the end of SOMETHING LIKE NORMAL. He's acknowledged his problems and sought help, but what happens when he returns to Afghanistan? As an infantry Marine, it's unlikely he'd continue treatment while in-country, so we can only hope that the support group he's developed (his mom, Harper, Charlie's mother) and his therapy journal, will be a strong enough foundation to carry him through. That said, I think he's more likely to succeed than Kevlar.

4.) The stigma of mental illness in the Marines is briefly touched on in Something Like Normal. How large a factor would you say this attitude played in Travis' reluctance to seek professional help? In what ways would you suggest the system be changed to better accommodate veterans dealing with mental health issues?

I asked a former Marine what advice he would give to an active duty Marine who recognizes he has a problem, but fears seeking mental health treatment within the organization and his advice was to do it privately through a non-military professional and pay out of pocket. Stay off the radar. While he was speaking from his own experience, I'd be willing to bet it's a pretty clear window on the stigma of seeking help within the system. I'm not sure the answer, but I've read a lot of stories about going to the VA and coming out with pills. And while I think medication can be helpful, I think getting individual (or even group) therapy helps. I know some Marine vets get together to have beers and talk, and I feel like talking is the key. Primarily with people who understand or have been there.

5.) Your next YA novel, All That Was Lost, involves a girl whose mother has bipolar disorder. Can you give us a sneak peek of what we can look forward to?

In ALL THAT WAS LOST, Callie's mother suffers from borderline personality disorder, but--like the PTSD in SOMETHING LKE NORMAL--I approach the subject with a light hand. Callie is dealing with many issues when her story begins and her mother is just one of them. While her life is not unaffected by her mother's illness, the story is primarily about family and the meaning of home. Here's a short snippet from the beginning of the story, when Callie is still with her mother and does not yet fully understand that her mother even suffers from a disorder:

I wonder what set her off this time. It could have been something the man in the leather jacket said. It’s as if she hears things at a different frequency, the way a dog picks up sounds the rest of us miss. Or maybe she hears something that isn’t really there at all. Either way, when she’s ready to go, there is no arguing. There is only leaving.

Thanks very much for these thoughtful answers to my questions, Trish! I'll be keeping an eye out for All That Was Lost come 2013 :)

Trish has generously offered up a copy of Something Like Normal for a giveaway!

The rules:

- Entrants must be 13 years or older.

- Open internationally

- One entry per person

- Following and tweeting are not necessary but always appreciated!

- Ends Sept 30, at 11:59 pm EST.

- Winner will be selected randomly and contacted by e-mail

To enter, please fill in THIS FORM. Comments are awesome but do not count as entries.

More Psychtember Giveaway Winners!

More of the Psychtember giveaways have ended and I've drawn the winners!


For the Adele Griffin giveaway, Random.org chose...

Angie!

For the Popular giveaway, Random.org chose...

Ricki from Reading Challenged!

For the Without Tess giveaway, Random.org chose...

Laura from All of Everything!

For the But I Love Him giveaway, Random.org chose...

Nikki from Take Me Away...!

I've already heard back from Angie and Nikki. The other winners have 72 hours to reply to my e-mail before I select another winner. Congrats to these four, and thanks to everyone else who entered!

Edited: I've now heard back from all the winners!

The Results of the Psychology Survey!

At the beginning of Psychtember, I conducted a survey to get at what my readers' perceptions of psychological issues. Now I've taken a look at the results, made some pretty pie charts, and voila! Here they are for you to enjoy as well :)

First, some demographics:

Gender:

No surprises there :D

Age ranges:

I'm happy to see such a great variety of ages in my readers!

Educational background in psychology or related discipline:

And now for the actual questions:

1.) When you hear the word "psychology," do you mostly think of... 

As you can see, over 75% of the respondents think of something other than rats running in a maze, patients in a psychiatric ward, or Freud, when they hear the word "psychology." There were some great write-in responses to this one, including:

• Brain parts!

• College classes

• my Husband - a psych major!

• Things that mess with your head

• Someone saying "How does that make you feel?"

• Frasier!

2.) In the book you're reading, the protagonist's arch-rival has just slashed the tires of the protagonist's car. The protagonist turns to her BFF and says, "That ***** is totally psychotic!" Your reaction?

The majority chose the response, "Psychotic? Really? I'm going to need a lot more proof than that," rather than, "Heck yes she's totally psychotic!! Who *does* something like that?"

Nice to see this result, since technically, there are no obvious signs of psychosis (having hallucinations and/or delusions) in the arch-rival's behaviour. She *could* be psychotic, theoretically, but she could have something completely different going on (some anger management issues, perhaps?) The word "psychotic" is tossed around in general conversation in a very casual way, giving it meanings that are actually completely inaccurate. It has nothing at all to do with being psychopathic, which is a whole other can of worms.

3.) When you hear the word "therapy" do you mostly think of...

With this question I was getting at the different types of therapeutical orientations. 50% of the respondents think of a therapist and client sitting across from each other, the client sharing his/her experiences while the therapist nods and says, "And how do you feel about that?" This would be a humanistic/client-centered approach. 32% think of a therapist giving his/her client lots of information, trying out some practice exercises with him/her, and then assigning the client homework. This represents cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT).

And of course, the client on a couch while the therapist strokes his beard in thought is psychoanalytic therapy (the more traditional variety) —which very few of you picked!

There were also a few of you who gave your own responses, which included:

• A client telling a therapist how things have been since the last meeting

• A relationship that can, ideally, help the client understand herself better and lead a fuller, more conscious life

4.) You're at a party and you find out that the person you're in conversation with has a degree in psychology. Your first thought is...

I loved the incredible variety of responses to this question! About 26% chose "Oh no, she's analyzing me right now, isn't she? I can tell!" and about 21% of you are fellow psych geeks (YAY!) but there were also a ton of creative write-in answers.

They ranged from the excited:

That's awesome! I wish you were Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds

To ask her if she's studied cog sci or neuroscience - fascinating stuff!

Awesome! That's what I want to get!

bet she has some great stories!!

 

To the lukewarm:

• Cool?
• That it's cool, but I don't really think more about it than I do any other job.
• Interesting. Feel like sharing anything about it?

And then to the downright less-than-enthusiastic:

• Meh
• Pfft, that's what people major in when they don't know what they want to major in.

There were also a couple who took a more personal angle:

• Can you examine this or that issue I seem to have?
• I know more about her field than she does.

5.) Your friend confides to you that she's been diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder. You think to yourself:

This question was getting at perceptions of OCPD and OCD — there's sometimes confusion between these, but they are separate disorders. It looks like most of you recognize this! OCPD involves a general mindset revolving around organization and perfection, but there are no specific obsessions and compulsions as there are in OCD.

6.) You're watching Lord of the Rings with your friends, and you're at the part where Gollum talks to his other personality, Smeagol. One of your friends says, "I don't trust this creep at all, he's so schizophrenic." Your response? 
 

I'm concluding from this that I have a large number of readers who are big Lord of the Rings fans and don't like to miss out on the fight scenes! :P

I included this question because schizophrenia is often confused with dissociative identity disorder (DID), and they are two COMPLETELY different issues. One of the primary symptoms of schizophrenia is psychosis, whereas with DID, the individual has multiple identities. Gollum has his alter ego Smeagol, for example.

7.) Your friend is raving to you about how awesome this book is. The characterization is phenomenal, the plot is amazing, and he just couldn't put it down. When you ask for more details, he says it's about an individual who's just been diagnosed with a mental illness. Your response? 
 

The majority would be interested in hearing more about the book, but there were also a few write-in responses that wanted to know some specifics:

• Is it depressing?
• Option 1 followed by- But umm, how ACCURATE is it?! Is it gonna piss me off?!
• Which illness?
• Is he a victim or a monster?

I found it lots of fun to read your responses, and I was pleased to see that many of you have quite a strong base of knowledge surrounding psychology!

What do you guys think of the results? Anything surprise you?

The End of Psychtember and An Update

Psychtember is officially over — I hope you enjoyed the posts and learned a bit more about psychology and mental health in YA! There were a few books I still didn't get to (even with the extension of the event into October) so you'll probably see reviews of them popping up on the blog throughout the next month or so.

I'll also be taking a look at the results of my Psychtember survey soon, making some pie charts and sharing them with you guys! And there are still some giveaways going on. *points to sidebar*

But, by and large, I will be scaling back my blogging a bit over the next couple months. I started an editorial internship at a publishing house partway through September, and so I won't have as much time as I did previously to spend on blogging. Don't worry, I will still be here! :P The posts will likely be a little less frequent, but I will certainly still be posting :)

A huge thanks to all of the guest bloggers, mental health professionals and authors who lent their time and energy to making Psychtember a success! And thanks also to everyone who took the time to leave thoughtful and thought-provoking comments on the posts :)

Out of curiosity — would you guys like to see Psychtember become an annual event?

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer: Guest Review

Bonnie from A Backwards Story is dropping by today with a guest review of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer for Psychtember!

The YA psychological thriller of the year is, without a doubt, THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER. I was reading my ARC of this amazing debut novel back when Danya announced Psychtember. Immediately, I knew this book would be a perfect fit. Mara Dyer suffers from PTSD. If you’re unfamiliar with the term or what it entails, Wikipedia defines PTSD as:

  Posttraumatic stress disorder (also known as post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity, overwhelming the individual's ability to cope. As an effect of psychological trauma, PTSD is less frequent and more enduring than the more commonly seen acute stress response. 

Diagnostic symptoms for PTSD include re-experiencing the original trauma(s) through flashbacks or nightmares, avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, and increased arousal – such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger, and hypervigilance. Formal diagnostic criteria (both DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10) require that the symptoms last more than one month and cause significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. ~quote taken from PTSD’s Wikipedia page

Mara used to be an ordinary, happy teenager…until the day she woke up in a hospital to discover that her world had been shattered. One night, she snuck into an abandoned mental asylum with her best friend, boyfriend, and boyfriend’s sister…and the building collapsed. Mara was the only survivor, with barely a scratch on her—but she has no memory of that night.

She’s so traumatized by what happens that she cries in her closet, and has nightmares and visual hallucinations. She does things she doesn’t remember such as wind up with a bloody shard of mirror in her hand. Her mother is concerned and takes Mara to see a specialist, where she is diagnosed with PTSD.

The family moves to Florida hoping for a fresh start so that Mara can heal and move on, but the PTSD never goes away. Instead, it gets worse, but she tucks her hallucinations away where no one can find them and pretends that she’s coping. For example, Mara will be walking down the hallway to her room and see a portrait of her grandmother. She’ll believe that her grandmother’s eyes are moving, that she’s watching Mara. One day, she’s watching a news report concerning the murder of local student Jordana Palmer, but seeing a report where the police have recovered her friends’ bodies from the asylum.

When Mara walks into class for first time at new school and sees the classroom fall apart the way the building she’d been trapped in did and falls and bloodies up her nose. (Way to make a first impression, right?)

“Cracks appeared in the classroom walls as twenty-something heads turned in my direction. The fissures spidered up, higher and higher, until the ceiling began to crumble. My throat went dry. No one said a word, even though dust filled the room, even though I thought I would choke. 

Because it wasn’t happening to anyone else. Just to me. A light crashed to the floor right in front of the teacher, sending a shower of sparks in my direction. Not real. But I tried to avoid them anyway, and fell.” (~pg. 29, US hard cover edition, first printing)

When she goes into the bathroom to wash up, she hallucinates and sees a sinister image of one of the dead girls. That same day during lunch, she hears a dead boy’s laugh behind her, but of course, no one is there…until she turns the corner and swears she sees him:

“Someone laughed behind me. My head snapped up as my blood froze. It was Jude’s laugh. Jude’s voice. I stood slowly and faced the fence, the jungle, as I hooked my fingers in the metal and searched for the source. 

Nothing but trees. Of course. Because Jude was dead. Like Claire. And Rachel. Which meant that I’d had three hallucinations in less than three hours. Which wasn’t good.” (~pg. 35, US hard cover edition, first printing)

There’s another early incident where Mara sees a dog that has been abused by its owner and, fueled by hate, daydreams about his death. The man dies in the exact way she imagined during school hours. Or was he dead when she got there and she imagined their entire confrontation, which is why she so vividly imagined his death later?

The hallucinations get more serious. Mara becomes paranoid, thinking she’s being watched, thinking someone’s breaking into her house. Mara winds up seriously injured, making her mother think she’s suicidal. She experiences scenarios that may or may not be occurring in reality.

“But when I pulled into the driveway, her car wasn’t there. Neither was my father’s. The lights inside the house were off too. Where were they? I went to the front door and reached out to unlock it. 

The door swung in. Before I touched it. 

I stood there, my fingers mere inches from the handle. I stared, my heart in my throat, and raised my eyes slowly up the length of the door. Nothing unusual. Maybe they just forgot to lock it. 

…But the second I entered the hallway, I froze. When I had left the house with Daniel, all of the family pictures had been hung on the left side of the wall, opposite three sets of French doors on the right. 

But now all of the pictures were on the right. And the French doors were on the left. The yogurt fell from my hands, spattering the wall. The spoon clattered to the floor and the sound snapped me back into reality. I had a bad night. I was imagining things. I backed out of the hall, then ran to the kitchen and snatched a dishtowel from the oven handle. When I went back to the hallway, everything would be where it should be. 

I went back to the hallway. Everything was where it should be. 

I hurried to my bedroom, closed the door behind me, and sank onto my bed. I was upset. I shouldn’t have gone out; the party was not, in fact, what I needed. The whole thing was nervous-making and stressful and was probably causing a PTSD episode. I needed to relax. 

…I went to the closet to slip off my dress, but then I froze. An opened box sat on the closet floor. I had no memory of taking it down from the shelves. No memory of ripping the tape off the flaps and opening it since we’d moved. Did I leave it out? I must have. 

…When I noticed the silence, it stole the air from my lungs. I backed away from the closet and peered into the bathroom. The faucet was off. A single drop of water fell, sounding like a bomb in the stillness. The bathtub had overflowed, making the ceramic tile reflect the light like glass. 

I didn’t remember turning the water off. 

But I must have. 

But there was still no way I was getting in. 

…The bathtub drain needed to be unplugged. I made my way over to it carefully, but everything inside me screamed bad idea. I leaned over the edge. 

The emerald and diamond earrings glinted at the bottom. I raised my hands to my ears. Yup, gone. 

…I tested the water with my finger. Nothing happened. 

Of course nothing happened. It was only a bathtub. The pictures had distracted me and I let I overflow, then turned it off without remembering it. Everything was fine. I plunged my arm in. 

….For a second, I could not think. It was as if all feeling beneath my elbow had been cut off. Like the rest of my arm never even existed. 

[hospital]…‘Your arm must have been there for some time,’ [the doctor] said, meeting my eyes. ‘These are some serious burns.’ 

What could I say? That I tested the water before reaching in and it didn’t seem that hot? That it felt like something grabbed me and held me under? I could see in the doctor’s eyes that he thought I was crazy—that I did it on purpose. 

[later at home]...‘I was going to take a bath, but the earrings—’ I took a shaky breath. The earrings you lent me fell into the tub. I had to get them before I could unplug the drain.’ 

‘Did you?’ my mother asked. 

I shook my head. ‘No.’ My voice cracked. 

My mother’s eyebrows knit together. She walked over to me and put her hand on my earlobe. I felt her finger unhook the back of an earring. She held the emerald and diamond stud in her flat palm. I lifted my hand to my other ear; that one was in, too. I removed the earring and placed it in her hand as tears welled in my eyes. I’d imagined the whole thing. ” (~Excerpts from a scene between pgs. 144-151, US hard cover edition, first printing)

I’m not a psychologist, so I couldn’t personally say whether or not Hodkin is realistically portraying PTSD. To me, it feels well. Throughout the novel, it’s unclear whether or not Mara is losing her mind. What’s real and what isn’t? I’ll leave it for the experts to weigh in on the psychological ramifications of Mara’s experience!

For me, I just enjoyed the story for what it is. Which events are truth, and which are lies? Mara’s life is spinning out of control. Is she crazy? Is something unexplainable happening? Is there more at stake than what meets the eye? Unfortunately, answers won’t be provided until the sequel drops in 2012.

Bonnie runs the book review blog A Backwards Story.  While she isn't a psychologist, she is a writer and likes looking at the psyche of a character and seeing what makes him/her tick.  THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO CHARACTER TRAITS by psychologist Dr. Linda Edelstein is her favorite book to recommend to other writers because it's an in-depth look at every type of person, from serial killers to toddlers to one's boss.

Thanks so much for giving us a look at the depiction of PTSD in The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Bonnie!  

Bonnie has a more general (not psychology-focused) review of the book up on her blog here (which includes a detailed cover design vlog!)

Psychtember Character Interview: Adele Griffin (and Giveaway!)

I'm excited to have Isa, from Adele Griffin's Tighter, join us today for a chat! Isa's the young girl that Jamie is hired to look after.

"When 17-year-old Jamie arrives on the idyllic New England island of Little Bly to work as a summer au pair, she is stunned to learn of the horror that precedes her. Seeking the truth surrounding a young couple's tragic deaths, Jamie discovers that she herself looks shockingly like the dead girl—and that she has a disturbing ability to sense the two ghosts. Why is Jamie's connection to the couple so intense? What really happened last summer at Little Bly? As the secrets of the house wrap tighter and tighter around her, Jamie must navigate the increasingly blurred divide between the worlds of the living and the dead." (from Goodreads)

1.)  Welcome to the blog, Isa! To start off, what’s your favorite thing about living on the island of Little Bly?

I like that nobody is watching me. Except the people who I want to watch me.

2.)  What was your first impression of your new au pair, Jamie? Has this changed as you’ve become better acquainted with her?

At first I thought she was just another boring person sent to tell me what to do. But then I realized she never told anyone what to do. It scares me a little bit. But it is also fun, a secret.

3.) I understand your previous au pair, Jessie, died tragically last summer. If you could spend one more day with her, where would you go and what would you do together?

Jessie was most fun when she was disrupting something else. Like bedtime, or dinner. She would turn the music on really loud and go up on the roof. I'd spend my last day with her on the roof, staring at the clouds, laughing.

4.)  Everyone says Jamie looks almost exactly like Jessie. How similar is she to Jessie in personality?

Jessie never tried to be anything else but herself. Jamie is always hiding parts of herself. She wants to be happier than she is, and nicer. But Jamie has a softer heart. Maybe that's why she tries.

5.)  If you had to describe Milo in 10 words or less, what would you say?

Kicked out of everything in less than ten minutes.

6.) Dr. Hugh sometimes drops by the house. What does he talk to you about?

He's in the boring grownup category. I never talk to him more than I have to. Once I put salt in his coffee. 

7.)  What’s your greatest fear?

Being alone in the dark. Also once I ate a rotten egg salad sandwich, and I am really scared to get a stomach ache like that again.
 
8.) What do you want to be when you grow up?

Brave. Because I want to rescue animals. I feel like I have a strong rescuing self underneath my scared self.

9.) When you were younger, what were your favourite games/toys?

After my mom got sick, she didn't like the noise of Apps. So we played a lot of quiet games. Scrabble. Crossword. I am good with pen and paper games.

10.)  You spend a lot of time at the lighthouse. Why do you like it there?

I am high over everyone and nobody can sneak up.

11.)  Who’s your best friend(s)?

I used to say my mom. Now I think it's better not to name people, because so many people leave me.

12.)  If you could have one wish come true, what would it be?

I'd like to wake up eight years older. I'm mostly tired of being a kid.

13.) It seems like you have a few secrets, Isa. Can you share one of them?

I'm no good at sharing. All my teachers say that. But the secret to a perfect pitcher of lemonade is to use tupelo honey and garden mint.

Isa, thanks so much for dropping by and talking to us about your life on Little Bly!

And now, for the giveaway...

Adele has generously offered up a copy of either Tighter or Where I Want to Be (another of her novels involving psychology!)

The rules:

- US/Canada only

- Entrants must be 13 years or older.

- One entry per person.

- Following and tweeting are not required, but always much appreciated.

- Winner will be selected randomly and contacted by e-mail for their address and book choice, which will then be passed on to the author, who'll ship out the prize.

- Ends Oct. 20 at 11:59 pm EST. 

To enter, please fill in THIS FORM. Comments, while wonderful, do NOT count as entries.

Popular and Tighter: Snapshots (and Giveaway!)

 

Both of these books have mental health aspects, but I can't say too much about them for fear of majorly spoiling! So instead of the regular Psychtember review format, I'm going to use my quick "snapshot" instead.

Popular by Alissa Grosso

"Meet the clique that rules Fidelity High: Olivia, Zelda, Nordica, and Shelly, each one handpicked by über-popular Hamilton Best. You know you're "in" when you make the guest list for one of Hamilton's parties. And in the thralls of senior year, everyone wants to get noticed by Hamilton.

But Hamilton's elite entourage is coming apart at the seams. Olivia fantasizes about finally having a boyfriend, Zelda dreams of ditching high school, Nordica wants to be alone with her photography, and Shelly's plotting to dethrone Hamilton. Lies and secrets are ripping away the careful ties that have kept them together for years. But Hamilton has the biggest secret of all, one that only her boyfriend Alex knows. If the truth got out, it would shock everyone and destroy Hamilton's fragile world—and she'll do anything to protect her secret and keep her clique together." (from Goodreads)

The subject: a one-of-a-kind high school clique...trust me, you've never seen one quite like this before.

Shutter speed: pretty snappy, as the social scene is ripe with drama — although it does become repetitive after a little while, as Part 1 is drawn out a bit more than I thought was really necessary.

What's in the background? Alex, the apparently perfect boyfriend...but he comes more into the foreground in Part 2, and we get to see what's really going through his mind. Getting Alex's perspective adds such a necessary layer to what's going on.

Zoom in on: Jasmine, or really any outsider to the clique. I'd like to see a little more of what everyone else thinks of Hamilton.

Anything out of focus? I had some trouble remembering which perspective I was reading, since Part 1 flips between five.

The mental health issue is fascinating, and the way the storyline is crafted around it is stupendous. I had a few niggling questions about the accuracy of how a certain disorder is portrayed, but overall it's handled well.

Ready? Say... "Secrets!"

Click! 4.5 shooting stars.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher for review.

Tighter by Adele Griffin 

"When 17-year-old Jamie arrives on the idyllic New England island of Little Bly to work as a summer au pair, she is stunned to learn of the horror that precedes her. Seeking the truth surrounding a young couple's tragic deaths, Jamie discovers that she herself looks shockingly like the dead girl—and that she has a disturbing ability to sense the two ghosts. Why is Jamie's connection to the couple so intense? What really happened last summer at Little Bly? As the secrets of the house wrap tighter and tighter around her, Jamie must navigate the increasingly blurred divide between the worlds of the living and the dead." (from Goodreads) 

The subject: an au pair struggling to understand the clues she sees about the previous au pair's death...

The setting: the island of Little Bly, a seemingly perfect holiday spot

Shutter speed: fairly slow-moving, I thought. It's not showy in suspense or horror, but the mystery is confusing and keeps you guessing, distrusting everyone. Something about it made me feel uneasy and apprehensive as I read. And the final reveal is mind-boggling.

What's in the background? a cast of distinct, well-depicted characters that you can't quite pin down in terms of "good" or "bad." Sebastian's relationship with Jamie added an easy, sweet and stable element to her rocky existence on Little Bly. Plus, he was one of the few characters I actually liked (many of them aren't intended to be particularly sympathetic, I think...Jamie herself is not exactly likeable).

Zoom in on: Jamie's charge, Isa. Even when everything was revealed, I still had questions about that odd little girl.

Anything out of focus? I found the backstory of Jamie and her teacher to be a bit much. I know Tighter is based on The Turn of the Screw, which I have not read, so perhaps this goes back to the original...but in any case, I did not find the cause of Jamie's angst — being rejected by her teacher — to be very convincing.

In terms of the psychology, by and large it is done well, demonstrating several key facts about a particular issue. Overall I think one needs to suspend some disbelief; there are a few places I'm not so sure the explanation behind events is entirely plausible, but at any rate, it's a clever ending Adele Griffin presents the reader with.

Ready? Say... "Woah..."

Click! 4 shooting stars.

Take two? Yes. This is the kind of book that you'll want to re-read from the beginning once you reach the end, because the revelation is so spectacular it completely changes the meaning of the rest of the novel. 

 
And lucky for you guys, I'm giving away a copy of Popular!

The rules:

- US/Canada only

- Entrants must be 13 years or older.

- One entry per person.

- Following and tweeting are not required, but always much appreciated.

- Winner will be selected randomly and contacted by e-mail for their address.

- Ends Oct. 20 at 11:59 pm EST. 

To enter, please fill in THIS FORM. Comments, while wonderful, do NOT count as entries.

 

The Sharp Time: Review

Patient: The Sharp Time by Mary O'Connell

Presentation:  

Sandinista Jones is a high school senior with a punk rock name and a broken heart. The death of her single mother has left Sandinista alone in the world, subject to the random vulnerability of everyday life. When the school system lets her down, her grief and instability intensify, and she ponders a violent act of revenge.

Still, in the midst of her crisis, she gets a job at The Pale Circus, a funky vintage clothing shop, and finds friendship and camaraderie with her coworker, a boy struggling with his own secrets.

Even as Sandinista sees the failures of those with power and authority, she's offered the chance to survive through the redemptive power of friendship. Now she must choose between faith and forgiveness or violence and vengeance. (from Goodreads)

Assessment:

Axis 1. Characters

Sandinista's a one-of-a-kind protagonist: quirky, dark, edgy, cynical, with a sardonic-verging-on-bitter sense of humour. She and I are very different in personality, so while her voice is powerful and present, I had a difficult time relating to her. Her way of looking at the world is not one I can identify with, but it's one that raises lots of questions. She's got a hard shell of protection around herself; her voice projects a "tough" image, her words continually loaded with sarcasm. It's clear that she had a close bond with her mother, and her death has left Sandinista feeling alone and desperate. You get a very strong sense of her personality, and it seems like she herself also has that strong sense of self; she sees things a certain way, and is not easily swayed by others to change her viewpoint.

Given the trouble I had connecting to Sandinista's perspective, her reaction to her teacher Mrs. Bennett's cruelty seemed extreme. Certainly the teacher was way out of line, both in terms of her continual verbal harassment of Sandinista and Alecia (her treatment of Alecia was particularly vicious, I thought), and her physical kicking of Sandinista's desk. But I wasn't feeling the venomous hatred that Sandinista was, and her obsession with revenge on the teacher — rather than a more rational course of action such as taking this to the principal or school board — didn't click with me. I had difficulty sympathizing with Sandinista's complaints about how no one from the school was getting in touch with her, when she personally had not voiced how she was treated to someone of authority. Admittedly there were plenty of witnesses, and Mrs. Bennett was undeniably in the wrong; but this inaction on Sandinista's part, followed by the festering desire to see Mrs. Bennett taken down, did not make it easier to relate to her.

Bradley is a very atypical teenager as well. He waxes philosophical on occasion, and like Sandinista has an extensive vocabulary. I must admit, while I could swallow Sandinista being so intellectual, I had a bit more difficulty believing that she would happen to find someone her age of a similar bent of mind working at the Pale Circus. 


Axis 2. Premise/plot

I found the pace of this one quite sluggish, weighed down by a bit too much description for my taste (albeit well-written description). The 'revenge on Mrs. Bennett' storyline occasionally brought up the tempo a little, but then towards the end that plot sort of died, in a way I thought robbed Sandinista of making her own decision. (Spoiler, highlight to read: Bradley throws her gun away, and this seems to dissolve her nebulous revenge plans, rendering Sandinista's role very passive. I also wanted to see a confrontation with Mrs. Bennett, and we don't get that.) This resulted in the story losing its 'point,' so to speak, outside of Sandinista coming to some realizations.

Axis 3. Writing Style

O'Connell's writing style is very literary, her sentences peppered with unusual description and words you might find on the GREs (I consider my vocabulary to be quite broad, but I must admit she had me furrowing my brow a few times). There are artistic and cultural references throughout, many of which went right over my head, unfortunately. Indeed, I remember thinking that it could be read and analyzed in a classroom situation. 
  
I also think this is one that could fall into the elusive "new adult" category. Sandinista's 18 and spends most of the book out of school. This, coupled with the high language level, could make older YA readers more likely to pick it up.

 
Axis 4. Psychological Accuracy

The psychological elements of The Sharp Time are not as clear-cut as some of the other books I've reviewed for this event. Sandinista mentions ADD (attention deficit disorder) once or twice, but I'm not sure if she's officially been diagnosed with it, or simply been told about her poor attention span many times before. In any case, it's a sore spot for her, one that Mrs. Bennett attacks her about again and again. Sandinista's obsession with whether or not she is "paying attention" demonstrates that this is an area she feels defensive about, regardless of whether or not she actually meets the criteria for ADD.

Which, itself, is not so obvious. We're in her head a whole lot, and yes, her thoughts do cover an expanse of topics, but I don't know that her attention span is any shorter than the average teenager's. It's made abundantly apparent that Mrs. Bennett believes Sandinista needs to pay closer attention to the task at hand; whether Sandinista is actually having difficulty doing so is another question. One of the reactions to having ADD can, however, be violence/aggression, and Sandinista certainly displays impulses in that direction.

But I think Sandinista might show signs of an adjustment disorder as well. This is a response to a "life stress" — for instance, the death of a family member or problems in school, both of which Sandinista experiences — that is more extreme than one might expect. Symptoms Sandinista arguably demonstrates include: lack of enjoyment (her general outlook on life is dark and jaded, although she does seem happy when she's with Bradley), desperation, trouble sleeping, feeling overwhelmed, skipping school, vandalizing property, and avoiding family/friends (she avoids her previous friends, anyway, although she does make new ones). (There's also a scene with reckless driving, of a sort, but seeing as this is accidental on Sandinista's part, I don't think it counts!) At any rate, she certainly seems to have a dangerous amount of anger brewing into a stalker-ish, decidedly unhealthy obsession with Mrs. Bennett. 

A minor quibble: a couple of times the words "OCD" and "psychotic" are used incorrectly. It's true, these terms do pop up in daily conversations in a casual way, and they are generally not used properly. But nevertheless it irritates me. In particular: you cannot have a "psychotic smile." Psychotic refers to having hallucinations and/or delusions, and a smile cannot hallucinate much of anything.

Validity Score: How psychologically accurate was The Sharp Time?

Axis 5. Miscellaneous

Personally, I didn't enjoy the anti-Christian barbs made by some of the characters (including Sandinista) throughout. Other readers might not mind this at all, but it soured my own impressions. I can appreciate that a lot of teens do question, criticize, and make light of religion, so Sandinista's biting and satirical observations may well be realistic of that age, but regardless, I found myself feeling offended at times. Religion is a topic that I like to see handled with care, and that didn't happen here the way I might have wished.

I felt like there was some sort of message the author was trying to send, but frankly, by the end I still wasn't really getting it. I couldn't tell if it was intentionally anti-Christian, if it was just anti-organized-religion, or something else entirely. I think Sandinista gains a better understanding of spirituality and faith, but I'm not certain what that understanding is.

Diagnosis: 3 shooting stars. Don't get me wrong — the quality of writing is high, the themes and characters nuanced and complex, and begging to be analyzed. But I didn't like many of the characters (especially Sandinista), I had some issues with the religious aspects, and the plot was ultimately a letdown. 

Note: there is some mature language used in this book.

Disclaimer: I received this book for review for Psychtember from the author. 

For my interview with Mary O'Connell, go here.