My Heart & Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga

I'm part of a book group (this is a very loose and casual affair) and the first book of the year was young adult fiction My Heart & Other Blacks Holes.

The debut novel by Jasmine Warga is a good effort and got loads of brilliant reviews. It was a painful plunge into the world of teen depression caused by tragic circumstances. The protagonist of the novel is Ayzul is a smart teenager who is being eaten alive by her father's crimes. This hot-tempered man was a devoted father, who was imprisoned for murdering future Olympian and local hero, teenager Timothy Jackson.

On a quest to destroy the 'slug' that sits inside of her, she makes a suicide pact with Roman who is also dealing with the grief and guilt of his little sister who drown in a bath while in his care.

The narrative counts down to the agreed suicide day, as you join them on a journey of coping with crippling depression and finding hope in a desperate situation.

The book talks about depression in a pragmatic and empathetic way. Its simple prose perfectly describes those knotty feelings and the anxiety this inevitably brings. And how hope can found in simple places.

It's written in a very immature way, considering the subject matter is so mature, which I guess is why it'll appeal to the target demographic and not me.

Ignoring the mainstream Americanism (which I'm not a fan of) and grammatical issues (Hodder and Stoughton editors were clearly on holiday); for me, I just kept thinking 'for god sake, pull yourself together, you're young and soon enough your life will be unrecognisable whether you like it or not'. However, it was engaging and I wanted to know what happened to these two people.

There, I read it so my slack friends don't have to.

Six out of ten