Books I've Read: My Heart & Other Black Holes, by Jennifer Warga

     "My Heart & Other Black Holes" is a book about two teenagers, Aysel and Roman, who, through a website encouraging people to commit to their suicide attempts, end up finding each other and, you guessed it, forming a suicide pact. Aysel and Roman's stories as well as their reasons for wanting to die are very different, but they come to find how well they understand each other, because regardless of their motives, they are both under immense pain, the type of pain only someone who has been through it can understand.  

     I enjoyed this book so, so much. I think I read it in two days - it's that wonderful. Well, the topic doesn't necessarily scream "light read", Warga's writing makes you flow through the pages and makes you want to keep turning them in order to know what's in store for these characters' future. Warga's depiction of living with depression is nothing short of incredible. Often times, especially in YA literature, mental illnesses can have a tendency to be romanticized and made to be a quality in someone, something that is alluring and adds mystery to a character - Warga's runs away from that narrative and attempts, quite successfully, to obliterate it: “Anyone who has actually been that sad can tell you that there's nothing beautiful or literary or mysterious about depression.”

     The way the author writes about the effect of depression on the people around someone who suffers from it, is also on point. People with depression are often very aware of how their illness can cause the people in their life pain. That's why we try to push people away, why we isolate ourselves, why we choose to remove ourselves from the lives of people we love: “It's like your sadness is so deep and overwhelming that you're worried it will drown everyone else in your life if you let them too close to it.”

     My only criticism of this book is it's ending. I wish the author would developed it a bit more, given it more depth, explored the consequences of their actions a bit more and maybe given the readers a glimpse of Aysel and Roman's futures. Regardless, this book is still tremendously wonderful.

     If you, or anyone you know. suffer from depression I recommend you read this. Firstly, because you will find comfort in Warga's writing and connect to Aysel and Roman deeply. Secondly, it's a great, simple, gentle book to read if you are trying to understand what living with depression is like and want some insight in order to comprehend what people with depression go through daily. Overall, a great summer read!