Spotlight List: Psychological Issues (Guest Posting for Psychtember!)

Psychological Issues

Normally I don't read issues books. I like happy books that make me smile and have things like bright pink covers and lots of sparkles. So issues books? Not really my thing.

But! Here are six issues books that even *I* think are well worth reading. So if you're like me and hearing "issues" is an automatic DO NOT WANT, then you might just want to check these titles out.

Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler
Release Date: October 18, 2010
Publisher: Graphia
Pages: 177
Goodreads Page

I had a few problems with this book, particularly with the development (or, rather, lack of development) with the fantasy aspects, but the realistic parts are top notch.

Jackie Morse Kessler's portrayal of the internal torment of anorexia was phenomenally real. If you ever want to know what it feels like to be anorexic on a mental and emotional level, then I highly recommend this book. I have never seen a more accurate and astonishing portrayal. Other sources may show the physical horrors, but no one (in my experience) has so thoroughly and accurately captured the psychological aspects of the disorder like Jackie Morse Kessler.

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols
Release Date: March 17, 2009
Publisher: MTV Books
Pages: 245
Goodreads Page

Usually when I talk about this book my recommendation is accompanied by fangirly squees and lots of hand-flapping and OMG JOHN AFTER!!!1.11! But there's more to this book than the white-hot sexiness that is Officer John After (though, really, isn't that enough to get you to pick up this book?)

Underneath all the sexual tension is an equally hard-hitting look at grief and fear. John experienced a loss prior to the events of the book, and he still has not properly dealt with that grief. Instead, he's squashed his dreams and thrown himself into work. And Meg? Well, I can't say much, but Meg's tough-girl attitude is a cover for a secret that, once revealed, made me sit back in shock as I reevaluated all of Meg's actions and thought about how I would react if I were in her shoes. Jennifer Echols' sensitive approach to grief and trauma make Going Too Far a book with surprising depth that has lingered with me long after I read it.

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Release Date: 1959
Pages: 324
Goodreads Page

Journeying with Charlie--the test subject of a new drug designed to enhance IQ--as he goes from a man with a retardation level IQ to a super genius is a touching, fascinating, and heartbreaking experience. It is what occurs after this transformation, however, that really makes me sob. While focusing on intelligence, the concept of loss, explored here in many forms, is what sticks with me the most.

Flowers for Algernon is an intriguing look at intelligence and the way an individual's IQ affects both the way the individual relates to the world and the way the world relates to the individual. Narrated through Charlie's journal entries chronicling the experiment, I became hopelessly attached to Charlie and felt every bit of pain and joy he experienced.

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Release Date: October 18, 2007
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 288
Goodreads Page

Thirteen Reasons Why follows Hannah Baker as she explains the reasons why she decided to commit suicide (and keep in mind, she's kind of an unreliable narrator). Jay Asher walks a tightrope as he explores the ripple effects an individual's actions have on others and how, while these actions may affect us, our decisions are ultimately our own. 

Compulsively readable, this book should come with a warning not to read it in public. I was choking back the tears while reading it in a crowded waiting room. I haven't read a more touching book that explored suicide from the perspective of the person who committed it and the people in that person's life.

Where I Want to Be by Adele Griffin
Release Date: April 21, 2005
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Pages: 160
Goodreads Page

This is an extremely short book, but don't let the length fool you; Where I Want to Be is a complex, multifaceted emotional powerhouse. The perspective shifts from Jane, who struggles with mental illness, and her sister Lily who is not mentally ill.

Both sisters wormed their way into my heart with their profoundly real emotions. Jane's child-like approach to the world and her realization that she does not and cannot fit in broke my heart. Lily's guilt and frustration surrounding her sister was palatable and raw. On top of all of that, this is also a story about grief and how each of the characters approach the losses they have suffered.

The Wave by Tod Strasser
Release Date: October 1, 1981
Publisher: Laurel Leaf Books
Pages: 138
Goodreads Page

Honestly, I think this book is kind of awful. It's written in a style that's so dry and hokey. It screams "I'M A SCHOOL ASSIGNMENT" and reads like an eye-roll-inducing after-school special.

But if you can slog though the writing (luckily the book is extremely short), then I promise you'll be rewarded with a story that is a truly terrifying look at the way people can easily embrace fascist-like principles. What makes it even more poignant is that The Wave is a novelization of events that actually happened (the experiment was called The Third Wave).

First posted as a guest post. Click the button to see the original post.

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Book Review: Hunger by Jackie Morse Kessler

Hunger, by Jackie Morse Kessler
Release Date: October 2010
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Pages: 174
Received: Net Galley 
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Author's Page
Amazon Page

Summary:

Teenager Lisabeth Lewis is anorexic, and she is also Famine, one of the famed Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. As she fights against coming to terms with her eating disorder, Lisabeth travels around the world as the Black Rider using her scales to grant and withhold food from people. Each of the Four Horsemen make an appearance, while Lisabeth's mother, father, boyfriend, and two best friends round out the story in Lisa's human life.

Review:

The idea for this story is phenomenal, but the execution is uneven. The real life part of the story where the reader is taken through Lisabeth's daily routine struggling with the Thin Voice is written exceptionally. The Thin Voice Lisa hears in her head constantly criticizes her and urges her deeper and deeper into anorexia. The inner torment Lisa goes through, combined with the effects her eating disorder is having on her body, is described in a searing and brutally honest manner. Any glamour or control associated with eating disorders is stripped away, leaving behind only the ugly truth. Lisa's friend Tammy's experiences with bulimia are equally vivid and horrifying.

As a novel about eating disorders, Hunger is top notch. I would even go so far as to say this is the most honest and accurate portrayal I've seen of both the physical acts, and, even more importantly, the psychological torment a person with an eating disorder of this magnitude experiences. The author's note at the end of the book explains the author's personal experiences with eating disorders, and this explains the notable honesty and accuracy in the book. This alone is an achievement and makes Hunger a significant book.

Unfortunately, the rest of the book is not up to par. The fantasy elements are poorly developed and, as a result, the plot is convoluted. I'm still not completely sure how the power of the Four Horsemen work, what makes a person suitable for their roles, what their roles are, and how they work in the world. Are they forces of good, evil, both? The personalities of the other Horsemen are equally vague and inconsistent. In many ways, the three other Horsemen are extreme caricatures, which doesn't line up with Lisabeth's personality if she, too, is a qualifying Horseman.

Death, the most fleshed out of the remaining three Horsemen, is a strange mix of modern and old, which could make sense if he didn't feel so gimmicky. His speech was contrived and irritated me. He sounded to me like the creation of a teenager's: over-done and trying much too hard to appear "totally cool." The allusions to a certain angsty deceased grunge rock star made this character especially cheesy and eye-roll inducing for me. He just didn't work for me at all.

The other weak point of the book is the constant messages. The fantasy elements are used to help Lisabeth come to terms with her eating disorder, but because the fantasy elements are so weakly defined, the metaphors fall flat. Despite the tenuous connections, the messages are obvious, *too* obvious, and are really beaten to death. Ultimately, the points are made (and they are good points), but they are not made subtly or effectively.

I wish the author had spent as much time and effort on the fantasy elements of the story as she did on the realistic eating disorder parts. If she had, then this book would have been amazing and a true achievement. Instead we get a superb vignette surrounded by a mediocre and amateurishly written story. I hope the author puts more effort into developing the fantasy aspects in future installments of this series.

This is the first book in a series of, presumably, four books. Even though it's a part of a series, this book can easily be read as a standalone book.

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key

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