Anna K

I was well into the book when I realized how toxic and not relatable the story is. Full of ignorance about adolescent psychic. It appears to me to be damaging for young people who are experiencing parental loss due to unrealistically smooth transition the heroine makes. Young impressionable people may believe that the story has something to do with the reality and feel ashamed for not coping as well as heroine. Yet another unrealistic standard for our youth. More damage than gain. I even stumbled upon an article by practicing therapist who have a similar opinion on that kind of literature: "Absent parents are a trope in children’s and young adult novels. In fiction, the absence of a child character’s parents usually frees the child or young adult to follow their own dreams and adventures, to become independent, to bond with friends, and to learn about life and themselves. Though the effects of absent parents are mostly positive for young fictional characters, they are generally negative for real life children. While the fictional characters find adventure and maturity in these novels, real-life adults usually suffer emotional fallout due to the absence of parents in their childhoods." Edubirdie.com Even for someone who haven't been through parental loss though, this book created false picture about the way people cope with a loss.