A review by thebooknerdscorner
52 Weeks a Party of One by Bianca Pensy Aba

4.0

A book that explores the complexities of the human condition in one year filled with heartbreak, sorrow, hopelessness, depression, acceptance, hope, and so many other complicated feelings. 

Aisha finally feels like her life is in a decent place. That is, until she finds her boyfriend and her best friend having an affair on New Year's Eve. This sends Aisha packing up her things and taking off to a location that she draws out of a hat: Dallas, Texas. Her time away from everything and everyone causes Aisha to realize that many aspects of her life are falling apart including the relationship with her mother, the unresolved feelings she has towards her absentee father, and the void growing between her and her brother. Aisha must learn to confront her problems before she drowns under the weight of everything that she has been shouldering on her own. 

I hope that nothing as bad ever happens to me as what happens to Aisha in this book; I truly don't know how I would get through it. I'm not saying her coping mechanisms were in any way good, but I don't know how anyone would healthily go through a breakup with your best friend and your boyfriend simultaneously. I'm glad that Aba was willing to showcase some of the horrible emotions one might feel in this kind of a situation to shine light on the types of horrible things people sometimes go through in life. 

I can't say that I enjoyed reading this book, but it was penned so beautifully that I can't give it anything less than a four star. There are so many quotes in this book that I highlighted because they so profoundly capture complicated aspects of the human condition. This book showcases depression and loneliness so poignantly, which I think many can find relatable. I hope to never reach a point in my life where my depression is that bad, but I can still see how easy it would be to fall into these bouts of numbness. 

One thing that I thought was really neat about this book is that it takes place in 52 weeks (which is one entire year). Each chapter highlights a different week, which leads to some chapters being quite lenghthy. However, I thought this was quite a powerful way to organize the book and was a really fun play on the title. 

This book really had me thinking about how much can truly change in a year. Aisha goes from happily in a relationship, with a paying job, and a happy-ish life to depressed, alone, living in a different state, back to being happy-ish but single and healing from her injuries. People can go through so many things in such a short amount of time and this book did a great job of reminding me never to assume you know what others are going through and to never take anything for granted because things change so rapidly. 

This book did often have me spiraling to some pretty dark places due to the nature of some of the content. Aisha drinks, does drugs, aggressively seeks out sexual companions, contemplates suicide, becomes so numb to life, and even considers turning to things such as murder. Aisha never expected some of the things to happen to her to happen, and this book often got me thinking about what if something like this would occur in my own life. I usually could pull myself out of the rabbit hole relatively quickly, but I just wanted to warn people that this book does dip into some pretty dark places at times. 

Overall, "52 Weeks a Party of One" is a complex book that dives deep into some of humanities darkest emotions and the way that we spiral when our lives are overturned. This wasn't a very fun read, but it was a very profound one brimming with masterful quotes that really had me thinking about different aspects of life. It certainly gets dark at times so makes sure you are in the right mindset to read this one, but I think it does a great job of illuminating some of humanities less fine moments. I had quite the rollercoaster of a journey reading this one, but I think it was a worthwhile one.