Glimpse - Carol Lynch Williams

Published in 2010.

Pages: 484.

Number of books by author: 34.

Genre: YA Fiction.

When Liz has another suicide attempt, she's put on lock down in a psychiatric hospital. She refuses to speak to her mom, but will whisper various clues to Hope and trusts that Hope will figure out what brought her to the suicide attempt. Will Hope save her sister, or herself?

You may like this book if you like the following sub-genres:

• Family life

• Coming of age

• Sexual/Domestic Abuse

• Suicidal Tendencies

• Psych-Ward

Goodreads users gave this book a 3.85. I think it was more deserving of a 3.00.

This book felt very young adult, very general writing - and it made sense when I read the "about the author." This was Williams' first book, and it felt like a first book. There was a severe lack of detail. I felt almost like I was reading a children's book with a PG-13 subject matter. The book was just so incredibly bland. There was no descriptions

that stuck - not of the characters, not of the location (which we barely get a feel for), not for the actual behaviors that take place when abuse has taken place in a young girl/teenager; there was very little emotion seeping through (real emotions; not just the actions being displayed); the story has been written before (it felt like a down-played White Oleander); there was a lack of imagination in the personalities of these characters.

I'm not sure what propelled me to continue reading, honestly. I think just natural curiosity mixed with a bout of boredom. A book is a source of entertainment, and this did just enough to keep me reading - afterall, one sister is a disaster in a psychiatric lockdown while the other is free to roam about the neighborhood, with a broken down mother. It is simply a basic story line. I almost felt like someone was in monotone, sharing their sibling's story of downfall.

It's a wonder that I can give this three stars - and I think it's because I didn't put it down. It could've been worse, for sure. The format of the book wasn't great - the author wasted an extra 150-200 pages by writing in a poetry format. It was miserable, for me. I would've much rather read through the story line in a traditional format.

The whole book just lacked any pizazz, I guess you could say. It wasn't horrible, but I don't know that it'll be memorable either.

#familylife #comingofage #sexualassault #domesticassault #suicideattempt #psychward