Willow

Reader reviewed by Katt

   Willow is a girl with a tragic past, after her parents died in a horible car accident while willow was driveing, Willow begins to blame herself, and she assumes her older brother, who she moved in with, does too. She spirals down into a pit of depression and numbness. So, discovering that the only way to ward off the emotional pain is by hurting herself physically, she begins to cut everyday, even at school and work. Then, one day, she runs into Guy, a boy who tries to stop her destructive habit and force her to face her emotions. They start out as just friends, with Guy basically babysitting Willow, but it slowly turns into more, and they eventually have sex. By the end of the book Willow and  Guy are a perfect couple, and Willow gives up cutting and works things out with her brother.

The plot of the book is quite beautiful, but I thought the conversations were unrealistic and the relationship between Guy and Willow boring and unbelievable. Parts of the book read like a fan-fic on a teen website, also, the way Willow easily throws away her razors and stops cutting like it's no problem is unlikely. While this book does have it's moments, the writing style seemed amature to me. As someone who used to cut, I don't think it was a very accurate portrayal of a cutter.

Well, I didn't see the appeal of this book that so many people love. I guess I would have rather heard it from Willow's POV instead of in third person, since it only follows Willow anyway. I hate being the only bad reviewer of this book, so I've got to think of some positive things to write. First of all, since Willow works at a university library, and her parents were anthropologists, there are a references to some interesting books. There was also a quote where Guy says to Willow something along the lines of  "I'm your lover now, so that box of blades can't be your lover anymore, no matter how much they've been there for you in the past" I think that's really beautiful.

So that's my review, I don't recomend this to younger reader's not mature enough to deal with the disturbing subject.