History Is All You Left Me

By Adam Silvera

5/5

“Griffin has lost his first love in a drowning accident. Theo was his best friend, his ex-boyfriend and the one he believed he would end up with. Now, reeling from grief and worsening OCD, Griffin turns to an unexpected person for help. Theo’s new boyfriend. But as their relationship becomes increasingly complicated, dangerous truths begin to surface Griffin must make a choice: confront the past, or miss out on his future.”

This book is absolutely beautiful from start to finish. It made me cry a lot and it is a story that will stick with me for a very long time. The story is written in alternating chapters of ‘History’, which explores Theo and Griffin’s relationship from start to finish, and ‘Today’, which explores the friendship between Jackson and Griffin.

I think grief is portrayed excellently in this book. No character is being judged for grieving differently than others and Griffin’s parents really understand and support what he is going through. His grief was unique to him which is an important message – no one grieves the same and this is ok! Griffin and Jackson’s (Theo’s ex-boyfriend) friendship was really special and I liked how it developed throughout the book as they started off really disliking each other. I liked Jackson’s character a lot despite disliking him at the start of the book as I was purely ‘Team Griffin.’ Wade is definitely my favourite character, as although we didn’t see too much of him, he was a really integral part to the story. I did also like Griffin’s character but he acted very selfishly at times. Theo was a character that I grew to really hate – I loved him at the start of his and Griffin’s relationship but he grew to be incredibly selfish and manipulative. I think what was the most upsetting was Griffin losing his best friend rather than him losing the love of his life.

Mental health is also a key component to this book but it is not the main focus. I myself don’t suffer from OCD so I can’t comment on how well it is represented but Griffin did see therapy in a positive light which I thought was brilliant. The other characters took Griffin’s illness really seriously and tried to make life as easy as possible for him in regards to his compulsions which was excellent to see.

I highly recommend this book to everyone – it will definitely make you cry but I think it’s a really important story in regards to grief, mental illness and also healthy relationships.

A Monster Calls

By Patrick Ness

5/5

“Conor has the same dream every night, ever since his mother first fell ill, ever since she started the treatments that don’t quite seem to be working. But tonight is different. Tonight, when he wakes, there’s a visitor at his window. It’s ancient, elemental, a force of nature. And it wants the most dangerous thing of all from Conor. It wants the truth.”

This book is absolutely breath-taking. It is the first Patrick Ness book I have read and I will most definitely be reading more. His writing is beautiful and raw, enabling me to speed through this book in about an hour – I just couldn’t put it down! This was partly due to the fantastic writing, but also due to the incredible story the words told. As someone who has unfortunately dealt with quite a lot of loss in my life, this story really hit home. It was wonderful, but also rather scary, to find a book that understand my feelings so perfectly. The theme of “letting go” was one I struggle with daily, both in regards to mundane situations and also more life changing situations, such as the one Conor faces.

Conor was a truly wonderful character – at 13 years old, he was facing more than a boy that age should. His defiance towards the monster at the beginning of the novel really expressed his character. He was so strong, yet his vulnerability shone through making him a really relatable protagonist. We weren’t really introduced to too many other characters in depth but I thought Conor’s relationship with his Mum was really special, and the end of the book appeared to look towards a positive relationship for Conor and his Grandmother. The character of the monster was really unique and his role was really positive.

I cried for a good 10 minutes after finishing this book which I think shows how utterly heart-breaking it is. But it is also one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read and I cannot wait to read more of Patrick Ness’ work.