From Goodreads,"16-year-old Vicky Cruz wakes up in a hospital's mental ward after a failed suicide attempt. Now she must find a path to recovery - and perhaps rescue some others along the way.
When Vicky Cruz wakes up in the Lakeview Hospital Mental Disorders ward, she knows one thing: After her suicide attempt, she shouldn't be alive. But then she meets Mona, the live wire; Gabriel, the saint; E.M., always angry; and Dr. Desai, a quiet force. With stories and honesty, kindness and hard work, they push her to reconsider her life before Lakeview, and offer her an acceptance she's never had.
But Vicky's newfound peace is as fragile as the roses that grow around the hospital. And when a crisis forces the group to split up, sending Vick back to the life that drove her to suicide, she must try to find her own courage and strength. She may not have them. She doesn't know.
Inspired in part by the author's own experience with depression, The Memory of Light is the rare young adult novel that focuses not on the events leading up to a suicide attempt, but the recovery from one - about living when life doesn't seem worth it, and how we go on anyway. "
Goodreads - The Memory of Light
Awards:
- Tomas Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award (2017)
- Americas Award Commended Title (2017)
As a teacher we are constantly on high alert for students who are unstable. In my community we have had multiple students commit suicide and frankly it is unsettling. I'm not entirely sure why I am attracted to books that are about mental health. Maybe it is because I work in a profession where I have to constantly monitor my students and their mental health. Maybe it is because each story is unique and different from the last. Either way, I tend to gravitate to books about mental illness.
This book starts with Vicky Cruz waking up to find herself in the hospital. She realizes that she has survived her attempt at suicide, but she isn't sure how. Vicky makes friends with her roommate and two other people. She doesn't know what is wrong with her, but she does know that she isn't okay. Her father and stepmother think she is fine and they want her to leave. Vicky tells them she needs to stay and they reluctantly agree. Over time Vicky comes to realize what is wrong with her and finds out the truth behind why each of her new friends are in the mental ward with her.
I loved that this book had various people from various backgrounds with various mental disorders. Even more than that, I loved that everyone didn't get a happy ending. I feel like with mental illness books they go one of two ways. They either end with the person being "fixed" or they end with death. This book had various endings for each of the characters. I think that Stork did an excellent job at portraying mental illness because honestly no one with a mental illness is ever really healed or fixed. They learn how to manage and cope with the disorder they have or they don't. In this book Vicky was slowly learning how to cope with her disorder and how to handle being back in her normal environment again. However, Vicky's friend Mona was bipolar and we read about her deciding to stop taking her medication because she didn't like how it made her feel. Mona didn't learn how to cope with and manage her illness. I feel like this book was a true picture of people with mental illness. Some want help and will do anything possible to make things better, and some don't care. Things aren't always rainbows and happy endings, and Stork did an excellent job at portraying a real world ending.
While I loved the realness of the characters, I wasn't too fond of the storyline. I felt like there lacked a solid plot that had exciting twists and turns. I honestly expected there to be more events that led Vicky to attempting to commit suicide. I expected there to be a big fiasco that happened at school or at home, or something that happened between a friend or a boyfriend. But there never was anything that really stuck out. The story was kind of flat and lacked depth in my opinion. Vicky basically tried to commit suicide, talked to counselors and worked through her problems, went to a ranch retreat, and went home. The plot was a typical mental illness plot sprinkled with characters with realistic personalities.
I enjoyed the characters in this book because they didn't portray happy-go-lucky characters that all had a happy ending in the end. The plot had a lot to be desired. I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of mental illness books.
This book starts with Vicky Cruz waking up to find herself in the hospital. She realizes that she has survived her attempt at suicide, but she isn't sure how. Vicky makes friends with her roommate and two other people. She doesn't know what is wrong with her, but she does know that she isn't okay. Her father and stepmother think she is fine and they want her to leave. Vicky tells them she needs to stay and they reluctantly agree. Over time Vicky comes to realize what is wrong with her and finds out the truth behind why each of her new friends are in the mental ward with her.
I loved that this book had various people from various backgrounds with various mental disorders. Even more than that, I loved that everyone didn't get a happy ending. I feel like with mental illness books they go one of two ways. They either end with the person being "fixed" or they end with death. This book had various endings for each of the characters. I think that Stork did an excellent job at portraying mental illness because honestly no one with a mental illness is ever really healed or fixed. They learn how to manage and cope with the disorder they have or they don't. In this book Vicky was slowly learning how to cope with her disorder and how to handle being back in her normal environment again. However, Vicky's friend Mona was bipolar and we read about her deciding to stop taking her medication because she didn't like how it made her feel. Mona didn't learn how to cope with and manage her illness. I feel like this book was a true picture of people with mental illness. Some want help and will do anything possible to make things better, and some don't care. Things aren't always rainbows and happy endings, and Stork did an excellent job at portraying a real world ending.
While I loved the realness of the characters, I wasn't too fond of the storyline. I felt like there lacked a solid plot that had exciting twists and turns. I honestly expected there to be more events that led Vicky to attempting to commit suicide. I expected there to be a big fiasco that happened at school or at home, or something that happened between a friend or a boyfriend. But there never was anything that really stuck out. The story was kind of flat and lacked depth in my opinion. Vicky basically tried to commit suicide, talked to counselors and worked through her problems, went to a ranch retreat, and went home. The plot was a typical mental illness plot sprinkled with characters with realistic personalities.
I enjoyed the characters in this book because they didn't portray happy-go-lucky characters that all had a happy ending in the end. The plot had a lot to be desired. I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of mental illness books.
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