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Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach

24 reviews

chaptersofchase's review against another edition

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emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Thank you, Henry Holt, for the gifted book! {partner}

Genre: Fiction
Trope: Coming-of-Age
Format: 📖
Pub Date: 5.17.2022
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆

"All of a sudden, you want an answer for every question you never thought to ask them."

What a beautiful coming-of-age story!

There was something so cathartic about reading this book. It was filled with sadness, loss, and grief, but it was also full of everything that a teenager growing up in the 90s would experience. It took me back to my childhood, and I saw a lot of myself in Sally and Kathy.

While the story had a slower beginning, it really fit with the story's tone. Eventually, I was drawn in and couldn't put the book down. I felt like the entire novel was one long letter to Kathy after her death. You know that Kathy dies, but you aren't told how. Then slowly, in a countdown that only the reader is aware of, you wait for the inevitable moment when you know that no one will be the same again.

Alison Espach did a spectacular job of showing how grief can impact a family - it's a reminder that there is no right or wrong way to mourn the death of someone. In one part, Sally talks about not wanting to leave the funeral home because that's where Kathy is, and I related so much to this feeling. You don't want to just leave them there, alone. The book was full of several moments just like this, and although they were tough to read, they gave me a deeper connection to the characters.

📝 Felt like a letter written to her sister
🥺 Intimate look at grief within a family
👧🏽 Very relatable to growing up in the 90s

❌ - attempted suicide

I couldn't get enough of Espach's writing and how she could articulate so many emotions in such vivid detail. I felt like I was brought in on the most intimate and delicate moments of someone's life.

And the ending? Well, that was absolutely perfect.

Make sure you add this to your reading list when it publishes on May 17th!





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tormerritt's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

Summary:
"An unconventional love story between two broken people who are unexplainably, inconveniently drawn to each other, and a wry, sharply observant coming of age story that looks at the ways the people we love the most continue to shape our lives long after they’re gone."

Thoughts:
A short, but profound, and emotional read with a fantastic narrator. I've read unconventional love stories before and they are never done quite right, but this was beautifully written. I felt my heart break along with the characters'. A beautiful, raw example of a coming to age story involving love and loss. It's a simple story, but had a huge impact on me. If you ever experienced love, heartbreak, or loss of a loved one... this will move you, and you'll resonate with it. This book will hold a special spot in my heart for a long time to come. I can't stop thinking about it. Just an absolutely gorgeous book overall. 

Thank you Netgalley, Alison Espach, Jesse Vilinsky, and MacMillan Audio for the Audiobook eARC. All opinions are my own!
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onemorepagecrew's review

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emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

In this emotional coming of age story, we meet Sally and her older sister, Kathy, when they are in elementary and middle school.  The story is primarily told through Sally’s experiences and with the audio at just over 12 hours long, there was time to develop her voice and let the reader build a connection to her.  We follow Sally through the tragic and sudden loss of her sister, through her childhood, and into early adulthood.  We get to hear her inner thoughts as she makes her way through the world.  Often, she is misunderstood by those she is talking with, and the author did a great job of giving space for the close encounters of relationships when people aren’t connecting as their true selves.  I felt myself longing to nudge people closer together or just clarify how they felt, but that’s not always how life works and the story felt wistfully authentic. 
 
The two primary people in Sally’s life are her sister and her sister’s boyfriend, Billy.  Billy continues to be an important person in Sally’s life, even beyond her sister’s death, and the way their relationship evolves felt realistic and tangible.  I need to be in the right mindset for an emotional, sad, and wry coming-of-age tale and reading this felt like great timing.  When an author captures a teen or young adult inner monologue well, especially as they navigate a world that doesn’t always “get” them, it always pulls me in. 
 
If you enjoyed books like In an Instant by Suzanne Redfearn or Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, then I highly suggest adding Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach to your TBR.  It’s available on May 17 and I am excited to hear what others think.  Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the chance to read this advanced copy! 
 
Content warnings: Child death, Grief, Self-harm, Mental illness 
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mschwa1118's review against another edition

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emotional reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Notes On Your Sudden Disappearance was unlike anything I have read before. While a fictional story, it was a very raw depiction of grief and it’s impact. Content warnings include a serious car accident, grief of a child/sibling/SO, and suicide attempts. This book is written in the voice of Sally, who is directly speaking to her deceased sister Kathy throughout. Sally’s grief is prominently discussed, as is her mom’s, her dad’s, and the character Billy, who was Kathy’s high school boyfriend at the time of her death. Sally also very specifically details the kind of rapport she had with her sister prior to her death, and the experiences the had together. This gave a really interesting viewpoint of grief, and how the grief of others can really impede your own; even if unintentional. My only major issue with the book was that the last 50 pages felt like a detachment from the story, a really different and dragged out tone. And there were some parts that I didn’t feel added to the story. All and all, this was a great read 
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