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mjvanhusen 's review for:
4.23/5 (more of a reflection than a review)
I remember being engrossed in Maddy Holleran’s story when it was first in the news cycle, but when the book was published I avoided reading it because I thought it would hit too close to home. I vividly remember being aware of “Penn face” and the equivalent monikers at other universities i visited on my college tours based on her story and the subsequent articles on mental health on college campuses. I’m glad I waited to read it after graduating (maybe still not in the best headspace), but also think it’s an important read especially for student athletes.
Fagan does an excellent job of piecing together Maddy’s life and gaining trust with her family before and throughout the process. Additionally I like that the book looked at issues such as mental health amongst student athletes and college students as a whole, showing the differences and similarities. While I’m not on the traditional apps, I still reflected a lot on how someone would piece together my story if they had access to my phone/laptop/home (like Maddy, I also keep lots of notes and draft documents on my devices that describe how i feel). Reading about Maddy’s first semester of college was eerily similar, sadly because it’s a more common story than people think. The ending where Fagan describes the last hours of Maddy’s life was really difficult to read and I considered skipping over it. I appreciated that Fagan followed this up by talking with a survivor and that the survivor emphasized the line between honoring and romanticizing these stories. May have more thoughts later that will stay in my journal and not make it goodreads.
I found the quote below relatable to my college experience but also now…
“Living with a ghost is frightening enough, but if you change houses to escape it and the ghost is present in the new space, then you’ve confirmed that it’s not the house the ghost is haunting. It’s you.” (p.96)
I remember being engrossed in Maddy Holleran’s story when it was first in the news cycle, but when the book was published I avoided reading it because I thought it would hit too close to home. I vividly remember being aware of “Penn face” and the equivalent monikers at other universities i visited on my college tours based on her story and the subsequent articles on mental health on college campuses. I’m glad I waited to read it after graduating (maybe still not in the best headspace), but also think it’s an important read especially for student athletes.
Fagan does an excellent job of piecing together Maddy’s life and gaining trust with her family before and throughout the process. Additionally I like that the book looked at issues such as mental health amongst student athletes and college students as a whole, showing the differences and similarities. While I’m not on the traditional apps, I still reflected a lot on how someone would piece together my story if they had access to my phone/laptop/home (like Maddy, I also keep lots of notes and draft documents on my devices that describe how i feel). Reading about Maddy’s first semester of college was eerily similar, sadly because it’s a more common story than people think. The ending where Fagan describes the last hours of Maddy’s life was really difficult to read and I considered skipping over it. I appreciated that Fagan followed this up by talking with a survivor and that the survivor emphasized the line between honoring and romanticizing these stories. May have more thoughts later that will stay in my journal and not make it goodreads.
I found the quote below relatable to my college experience but also now…
“Living with a ghost is frightening enough, but if you change houses to escape it and the ghost is present in the new space, then you’ve confirmed that it’s not the house the ghost is haunting. It’s you.” (p.96)