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A review by lucychanning
Damage by Eve Ainsworth
3.0
Trigger Warnings: Self-harm (There is mentions of self-harm in this review so if that’s something that triggers you or makes you feel uncomfortable, please just be aware) , Alcoholism
This book was a disappointing read for me. That doesn’t, however, make it a bad read, but rather I was just hoping for something a little more.
The main plotline of this book is about Gabi, who starts self-harming after the death of her grandad. This book is a little graphic in terms of the description. It could of been worse in terms of graphic detail, but I just still feel that the description was enough to be triggering as well as the topic in general. It obviously talks about ways of self-harming so all of this is just something to be aware of going into it.
I really liked how Ainsworth showed the descent into self-harm rather than Gabi one day just picking up a blade. While I’m not suggesting someone picking up a blade isn’t possible or anything, I just personally liked how it started off ‘small’ and built up to cutting. But if there’s one thing to remember as I’m saying this, self-harm is self-harm, if you purposely hurt yourself in anyway, that is self-harm. Self-harm isn’t always just cutting and burning which is what I like about this book. It does show that.
However, I did feel like there was something off about the self-harming storyline which I later figured was probably due to the end. The ending was hopeful, I did quite like the end in some senses, but I just felt like it made self-harm easy to recover from when that’s far from the truth. It’s difficult to judge because it didn’t say that this was the complete end to Gabi’s self-harming but personally, I would have preferred an end that portrayed the ups and downs. So for this reason, I felt like some areas of the book could have done with being slightly longer.
But that being said, the storyline about how her grandfather died felt well concluded even though there was a part where Gabi didn’t feel ready to announce what happened to her family but I felt like this did give the possibility that this would happen at some point and that her saying it would just take time.
Another interesting thing I feel that was brought up in this book was the idea of self-harm being attention seeking, with one side character in particular. Unfortunately, this didn’t feel wrapped up enough to make me satisfied and it felt like this side character was very much brushed off. While this wasn’t the side character’s story, it would have been interesting to get her perspective of things in some way or another (as in Gabi perhaps talking to her).
I was never really sure how I felt about the characters. I found them okay, but they weren’t my favourite characters of all time. What I did enjoy was Gabi’s relationship with her family. There was a lot of tension between Gabi and her mother and she got on with her father better. While I know there will be teenagers and children out there that don’t get on with either of their parents, it was nice to see her parents were actually featured even if she didn’t get along with one as well. Because we all know there’s nothing worse than absent parents in a YA book. Her parents were busy with their lives, but like I said, they were still there. There’s point in the book where they acknowledge they haven’t been there for Gabi that much which I really appreciate being mentioned.
Would I recommend?
If you’re easily triggered by the topics mentioned above, then definitely not, but if you’re looking for a book that helps you understand self-harm a bit better, then perhaps, yes, but just be aware of the ending like I said. I haven’t really got a go to book yet that deal with self-harm but there were aspects of this book I really liked.
This book was a disappointing read for me. That doesn’t, however, make it a bad read, but rather I was just hoping for something a little more.
The main plotline of this book is about Gabi, who starts self-harming after the death of her grandad. This book is a little graphic in terms of the description. It could of been worse in terms of graphic detail, but I just still feel that the description was enough to be triggering as well as the topic in general. It obviously talks about ways of self-harming so all of this is just something to be aware of going into it.
I really liked how Ainsworth showed the descent into self-harm rather than Gabi one day just picking up a blade. While I’m not suggesting someone picking up a blade isn’t possible or anything, I just personally liked how it started off ‘small’ and built up to cutting. But if there’s one thing to remember as I’m saying this, self-harm is self-harm, if you purposely hurt yourself in anyway, that is self-harm. Self-harm isn’t always just cutting and burning which is what I like about this book. It does show that.
However, I did feel like there was something off about the self-harming storyline which I later figured was probably due to the end. The ending was hopeful, I did quite like the end in some senses, but I just felt like it made self-harm easy to recover from when that’s far from the truth. It’s difficult to judge because it didn’t say that this was the complete end to Gabi’s self-harming but personally, I would have preferred an end that portrayed the ups and downs. So for this reason, I felt like some areas of the book could have done with being slightly longer.
But that being said, the storyline about how her grandfather died felt well concluded even though there was a part where Gabi didn’t feel ready to announce what happened to her family but I felt like this did give the possibility that this would happen at some point and that her saying it would just take time.
Another interesting thing I feel that was brought up in this book was the idea of self-harm being attention seeking, with one side character in particular. Unfortunately, this didn’t feel wrapped up enough to make me satisfied and it felt like this side character was very much brushed off. While this wasn’t the side character’s story, it would have been interesting to get her perspective of things in some way or another (as in Gabi perhaps talking to her).
I was never really sure how I felt about the characters. I found them okay, but they weren’t my favourite characters of all time. What I did enjoy was Gabi’s relationship with her family. There was a lot of tension between Gabi and her mother and she got on with her father better. While I know there will be teenagers and children out there that don’t get on with either of their parents, it was nice to see her parents were actually featured even if she didn’t get along with one as well. Because we all know there’s nothing worse than absent parents in a YA book. Her parents were busy with their lives, but like I said, they were still there. There’s point in the book where they acknowledge they haven’t been there for Gabi that much which I really appreciate being mentioned.
Would I recommend?
If you’re easily triggered by the topics mentioned above, then definitely not, but if you’re looking for a book that helps you understand self-harm a bit better, then perhaps, yes, but just be aware of the ending like I said. I haven’t really got a go to book yet that deal with self-harm but there were aspects of this book I really liked.