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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
Though a close friend is bipolar, I had little knowledge other than her experiences with it. I was quite taken immediately with this story, and though it took me a while to read the entire book, the last 150 pages had to be read in one night. I cried at the end, smiled and empathized throughout, and overall the book was really good. The Weight of Zero shows the support people have and may not even realize, the stigmas attached to mental disorders, and the unexpected path life can take. I loved Nonny, and Michael's family.
WASHYARG May 2017 review
During the year Catherine was dealing with the loss of her grandmother, she found out she was bipolar, and attempted suicide. More than a year later, and her single mother is working two jobs to help with Cath's medical bills. While she is waiting to hit zero again on a mental health scale, she has packed away her old pill bottles--her D-Day is approaching, and she plans on using these pills to take her life for good this time. She's made a list of what she wants to do before she dies, and losing her virginity is at the top. But, after meeting a guy who really likes her, befriending a girl in her outpatient care who immediately takes a liking to her, discovering a WWII female fighter whose story really resonates, finding a medication that seems to work, and a therapist who gets her, Cath starts to think maybe things can be okay. Zero isn't so sure, and it's always there hovering. There is nothing explicit in the book, and I would recommend it to mature middle schoolers on up.
WASHYARG May 2017 review
During the year Catherine was dealing with the loss of her grandmother, she found out she was bipolar, and attempted suicide. More than a year later, and her single mother is working two jobs to help with Cath's medical bills. While she is waiting to hit zero again on a mental health scale, she has packed away her old pill bottles--her D-Day is approaching, and she plans on using these pills to take her life for good this time. She's made a list of what she wants to do before she dies, and losing her virginity is at the top. But, after meeting a guy who really likes her, befriending a girl in her outpatient care who immediately takes a liking to her, discovering a WWII female fighter whose story really resonates, finding a medication that seems to work, and a therapist who gets her, Cath starts to think maybe things can be okay. Zero isn't so sure, and it's always there hovering. There is nothing explicit in the book, and I would recommend it to mature middle schoolers on up.
Mixed, mixed feelings. Very much mixed, like blender kind of mixed..... Lots of language in this one. But all in all I am glad I read this book.
Minus half a star for the painfully fake new haven references but besides that really fuckin solid.
Catherine is a teenage girl who has been diagnosed as bipolar. She knows it's a chronic condition and has already tried to kill herself once. She's doing OK right now but knows it's only a matter of time before the crippling depression part (which she calls Zero) returns. When it does, she'll kill herself--but before that happens, she has a few things she wants to do.
I love this book. Catherine is impossible not to love, even as she guards herself from everyone around her. She wants a life for herself but is afraid to try for one because she knows the inexorable nature of her diagnosis, which can be managed but not beaten. And I love the people who love her anyway.
Highly recommended.
I love this book. Catherine is impossible not to love, even as she guards herself from everyone around her. She wants a life for herself but is afraid to try for one because she knows the inexorable nature of her diagnosis, which can be managed but not beaten. And I love the people who love her anyway.
Highly recommended.
I read this so insanely quickly and it made me reconsider a lot about me. I really liked it and gave it 4.3/5 because some times I didn’t really like micheal, I just found him to be a bit cringe but I did like him and I loved Cathy mum and their relationship and the clinic was my favourite setting with all the characters. I like how they approached mental illness and I loved Nonny and all the Italian stuff.
4.5 Stars! A very beautiful, sad and sometimes funny story about a teen living with mental illness. *Also Nonny is the sweetest baby angel.*
First - the main character's name is Catherine Pulaski! How great is that? I mean she spells it differently from the undeservedly maligned Enterprise doctor but still. Anything that reminds me of Star Trek is nice.
On a personal note, I probably should not have been reading this book just now in my life - the way I'm feeling definitely coloured the way I perceived this book, in some direction or another, and I'm finding it hard to put it all together in my mind so I'll just say that I'm always happy to see books about mental illness existing. Though I mirror some other reviewers in that I wish we'd seen more of Cath struggling through her mania or depression instead of just flashbacks...she keeps saying that bipolar disorder is a lifetime diagnosis, that she will have future bouts of mania or depression though they can be managed with medication and therapy...but we just see her managing to push back her depression with new realizations and new friends. Which is totally plausible, it's not that I didn't believe this story but it would still be nice to see these people supporting her instead of just saying that they will support her. Anyway, I thought Cath was a great character, I get her instinct to hide things from people. She had a nice voice for a teen protagonist.
I also get that Cath felt like her short haircut was penance for etc. and of course I understand some people's negative reaction's to short hair on ladies but at the beginning I was imagining something a lot edgier than just an Audrey Hepburn cut. Maybe to the people who knew her who would recognize that it might be a symptom of mania but that's not normally a concerning haircut. That stuck out to me because the girl on the front cover has a nice normal haircut while the descriptions Cath was giving of her haircut sounded to me like it was way shorter and weirder. ANYWAY.
On a personal note, I probably should not have been reading this book just now in my life - the way I'm feeling definitely coloured the way I perceived this book, in some direction or another, and I'm finding it hard to put it all together in my mind so I'll just say that I'm always happy to see books about mental illness existing. Though I mirror some other reviewers in that I wish we'd seen more of Cath struggling through her mania or depression instead of just flashbacks...she keeps saying that bipolar disorder is a lifetime diagnosis, that she will have future bouts of mania or depression though they can be managed with medication and therapy...but we just see her managing to push back her depression with new realizations and new friends. Which is totally plausible, it's not that I didn't believe this story but it would still be nice to see these people supporting her instead of just saying that they will support her. Anyway, I thought Cath was a great character, I get her instinct to hide things from people. She had a nice voice for a teen protagonist.
I also get that Cath felt like her short haircut was penance for etc. and of course I understand some people's negative reaction's to short hair on ladies but at the beginning I was imagining something a lot edgier than just an Audrey Hepburn cut. Maybe to the people who knew her who would recognize that it might be a symptom of mania but that's not normally a concerning haircut. That stuck out to me because the girl on the front cover has a nice normal haircut while the descriptions Cath was giving of her haircut sounded to me like it was way shorter and weirder. ANYWAY.
Content warnings: Suicide attempt, suicidal ideation, death of close relative, bulimia discussion and episodes, mild violence
"This is not a death sentence."
Okay. I think it's time I've done a proper review of this book. THE WEIGHT OF ZERO is about Cath, a seventeen-year-old who fears the arrival of Zero, the depressive side of her bipolar disorder. To prepare for Zero's inevitable arrival, she stockpiles pills and plans for another suicide attempt.
THE WEIGHT OF ZERO is a book that contributed to saving my life. I have major depression disorder, not Cath's bipolar disorder, so I can't speak on the overall bipolar rep. I can say that Cath's depressive episodes rang true to me, and her insights on mental illness mirrored my own.
What makes this book truly special is that it has a recovery arc. A recovery arc that doesn't fall apart even as Cath's life does. Though intensive outpatient therapy, new friends, enhanced freedom from her overprotective mother, and medication that actually worked, Cath sees hope for herself. This hope and pain and love is felt by the reader as Fortunati expertly navigates Cath's emotions.
This is one of my absolute favorite books. I encourage everybody to read it. There is so much hope bursting in this novel.
"This is not a death sentence."
Okay. I think it's time I've done a proper review of this book. THE WEIGHT OF ZERO is about Cath, a seventeen-year-old who fears the arrival of Zero, the depressive side of her bipolar disorder. To prepare for Zero's inevitable arrival, she stockpiles pills and plans for another suicide attempt.
THE WEIGHT OF ZERO is a book that contributed to saving my life. I have major depression disorder, not Cath's bipolar disorder, so I can't speak on the overall bipolar rep. I can say that Cath's depressive episodes rang true to me, and her insights on mental illness mirrored my own.
What makes this book truly special is that it has a recovery arc. A recovery arc that doesn't fall apart even as Cath's life does. Though intensive outpatient therapy, new friends, enhanced freedom from her overprotective mother, and medication that actually worked, Cath sees hope for herself. This hope and pain and love is felt by the reader as Fortunati expertly navigates Cath's emotions.
This is one of my absolute favorite books. I encourage everybody to read it. There is so much hope bursting in this novel.
i think a 3.5 star is a pretty apt rating for now
tws for: discussions and mentions of eating disorders, discussions of suicide, descriptions of blood, sexual harassment, some body horror (not self-injury dw)
in the beginning i was so thoroughly unimpressed by everything in this book. i didn't like the protag (im assuming we weren't supposed to, to some extent, but cmon) and i found her waaay too selfish. the 'romance' also felt really weird an icky in the beginning and i was truly worried this was gonna be one of those 'love cures everything' books and i'd be furious
thankfully! i kept reading and now i (kinda) really like it. i got super invested in cat's recovery process, and what i liked about it most was her realisation about honesty and how people won't always run from you; and even if they do it won't always be like that
the standing criticism i do have though, is that there was a weird..lack of zero in this book despite the title. not that im encouraging absolutely drowning your book in depression metaphors but it was just very off considering that's the title, and the premise, and that the entire back cover is essentially doused in it so obviously that's what i was expecting
but regardless!! pretty good, not super heavy honestly and just very wholesome in the end
tws for: discussions and mentions of eating disorders, discussions of suicide, descriptions of blood, sexual harassment, some body horror (not self-injury dw)
in the beginning i was so thoroughly unimpressed by everything in this book. i didn't like the protag (im assuming we weren't supposed to, to some extent, but cmon) and i found her waaay too selfish. the 'romance' also felt really weird an icky in the beginning and i was truly worried this was gonna be one of those 'love cures everything' books and i'd be furious
thankfully! i kept reading and now i (kinda) really like it. i got super invested in cat's recovery process, and what i liked about it most was her realisation about honesty and how people won't always run from you; and even if they do it won't always be like that
the standing criticism i do have though, is that there was a weird..lack of zero in this book despite the title. not that im encouraging absolutely drowning your book in depression metaphors but it was just very off considering that's the title, and the premise, and that the entire back cover is essentially doused in it so obviously that's what i was expecting
but regardless!! pretty good, not super heavy honestly and just very wholesome in the end