Wow. I was a little confused at first, but I was drawn in pretty deep after the first few chapters. I sympathized strongly with the protagonist´s pain. ( )

teen fiction (mental health/schizophrenia)
I read to page 26 or so--thought I could follow at least the thread of the friend's unplanned pregnancy, but mostly it is a schizophrenic's unexplained, nonlinear thoughts--the book jacket says "a spiral of delusion and DNA that is heartbreaking yet hopeful." Really, a spiral of delusion AND DNA? I like genetic science as much as the next person, but that does not sound like a winner--though I appreciate what the author was trying to do for mental health awareness. It just was not a readable story for me. ( )

This is the story of a young woman with a mental illness, inherited from her mother. The story progresses as a straightforward story at times, then meanders back to the past or maybe to the future, maybe memories or truths or alternate realities. I knew not to expect normal but I didn't quite expect this.

This story definitely got me thinking, but I'm still unsure how to put the threads together and I think that was the plan. ( )

Wow, what an incredibly effing depressing book. I’ve never experienced a more hopeless ending. I know that representation and education are important but this just did not seem like the way to go. I was confused for a big chunk of it, and found myself rereading parts searching for some sort of clarification that just wasn’t coming. Which in a lot of cases was intentional, given the circumstances. ( )

This was a structurally unusual and compelling story. However, in the end I feel like the depiction of mental illness is designed for maximal mystery plot effectiveness rather than in a way that's true to mental illness or that feels realistic for the characters. The stigma against people with schizophrenia is already so substantial that further misinformation is potentially damaging. ( )