Author: Laura Wiess
Genre: YA Fiction
Subject: Neglect
Publisher: MTV books
Release date: June 14, 2011
Length: 320 pages
I got this book: For review through Simon & Schuster
From Goodreads:
"How can you make someone love you when they won’t?
And what if that person happens to be your mother?
Sayre Bellavia grew up knowing she was a mistake: unplanned and unwanted. At five months shy of eighteen, she’s become an expert in loneliness, heartache, and neglect. Her whole life she’s been cursed, used, and left behind. Swallowed a thousand tears and ignored a thousand deliberate cruelties. Sayre’s stuck by her mother through hell, tried to help her, be near her, be important to her even as her mother slipped away into a violent haze of addiction, destroying the only chance Sayre ever had for a real family.
Now her mother is lying in a hospital bed, near death, ravaged by her own destructive behavior. And as Sayre fights her way to her mother’s bedside, she is terrified but determined to get the answer to a question no one should ever have to ask: Did my mother ever really love me? And what will Sayre do if the answer is yes?"
Personal opinion:
It took me a while to get in this book. About the first 80 pages were slow going for me. The story didn't yet get together and I didn't really feel close to Sayre in the beginning even though it is clear from the start that she has a rough life. It is not until the story came more together, that I was drawn in, but when I did, it was almost impossible to let go. In the beginning I was a bit annoyed by the constant jumps from past to present, but that feeling disappeared when everything started to make sense. The first time I actually start to feel involved was when a pet parakeet died from neglect. I am a person that can't handle any form of animal abuse or neglect and while this was only a small detail in the story, it made me more mad than anything about the story so far. While technically the things that happened before were far worse then the parakeet dying.
This story made a great impression on me as to how far a person with an addiction would go to get what she needs. The ending was maybe a bit too perfect and somewhat unrealistic, but after everything that Sayre has been through, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
I liked it!
Purchase links: Simon & Schuster
By this author: Such a Pretty Girl
Other reviews: None yet
If you have reviewed this book and want your link here, please leave a comment with the link, and I will add it :)
Glad you seemed to enjoy this one, I'm not far in but will hopefully finish it this week!
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