Author: Cammie McGovern
Series: None
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: June 3, 2014
Genre: Romance; Realistic Fiction; Contemporary; Young Adult
Pages: 343
Format: Hardback
John Green's The Fault in Our Stars meets Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park in this beautifully written, incredibly honest, and emotionally poignant novel. Cammie McGovern's insightful young adult debut is a heartfelt and heartbreaking story about how we can all feel lost until we find someone who loves us because of our faults, not in spite of them.
Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can't walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions. Plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, Matthew is consumed with repeated thoughts, neurotic rituals, and crippling fear. Both in desperate need of someone to help them reach out to the world, Amy and Matthew are more alike than either ever realized.
When Amy decides to hire student aides to help her in her senior year at Coral Hills High School, these two teens are thrust into each other's lives. As they begin to spend time with each other, what started as a blossoming friendship eventually grows into something neither expected.
Born with cerebral palsy, Amy can't walk without a walker, talk without a voice box, or even fully control her facial expressions. Plagued by obsessive-compulsive disorder, Matthew is consumed with repeated thoughts, neurotic rituals, and crippling fear. Both in desperate need of someone to help them reach out to the world, Amy and Matthew are more alike than either ever realized.
When Amy decides to hire student aides to help her in her senior year at Coral Hills High School, these two teens are thrust into each other's lives. As they begin to spend time with each other, what started as a blossoming friendship eventually grows into something neither expected.
I’ve never read a story about characters crippled with disability, and that story was not entirely focused on the disability itself. McGovern handled the story’s circumstances with the utmost grace, and the result was beautiful.
Amy and Matthew are both plagued by a disability. Hers is physical and his is mental, but both are equally affected. Matthew can hide behind his outward appearance, while Amy cannot. Together, they can learn to open up and discover themselves, and each other, beyond the condition that usually defines them. This novel is groundbreaking in the way that we deal with mental and physical illnesses alike. It shows that love is blind to how we look, or the problems we may face, and can heal even the deepest wounds. With twists as wild as windstorms, Amy and Matthew must overcome adversity with a strength they do not know if they possess.
Matthew’s mental illness, OCD (or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), is close to my heart, and is frequently misunderstood and wrongly used in conversations. Most people think that being OCD is the same as being a perfectionist, or liking groups of items to be arranged in an anesthetically pleasing order, either alphabetically or by color. Many people equate being OCD with being overly organized, and while this can be true in some situations, it is not the full definition. People with OCD can be overcome with unreasonable fears (obsessions), and these fears can result in repetitive behaviors (compulsions). Those with OCD can become overcome with anxiety or stress. Unfortunately, I believe as a society, we refer to mental disorders and illnesses with a certain flippancy and disregard. Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, and other mental disorders along with OCD are considered laughing matters when, in reality, they can cripple and force people to wage war against a condition that is based within themselves. These conditions should not be seen with derision, but with sympathy and understanding.
That which we can see is easier to accept than what we cannot. Matthew’s OCD is virtually invisible and is only recognizable through his actions. In a way, it is even harder than Amy’s cerebral palsy, which can be seen and easily diagnosed and accepted. While both are very difficult, each has its own parts that are harder to deal with than others.
While the character’s conditions and personalities were carefully handled, the plot and its twists were, if anything, overdone. The beginning complications added to the story and created an intriguing conflict. Towards the end, it stopped being an addition and started becoming more of a subtraction. The last plot twist, especially, was superfluous and unnecessary. The story could’ve been better and needed a bit more refining and polishing.
The story needed more editing, but the portrayal of the characters were a piece of art. I had a exceptionally high hopes, that were met in some areas, but not in others.
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