Lisa Zbaraschuk

Not only does this book have many inaccuracies about inpatient psychiatric treatment, but it perpetuates harmful stereotypes that reinforce tired, old narratives about mental illness. But my central objection to this novel is the author’s almost total lack of empathy for her characters that goes beyond comic sarcasm into the realm of distain and disrespect. Her characters were flat, cardboard cutouts with no development through the course of the story. It was almost as if the whole novel was a descriptive set up for a story that never began. And in the end, the tone of adolescent snark felt cruel and off putting and decidedly unfunny.