(TW: self harm)
I first read this book in English at High School when I was around 13. I remembered it being about a girl called Callie who cut herself and was in a mental health place. I wanted to read it again because I couldn't remember why Callie did it.
I enjoyed my re-read as an adult, but I wasn't convinced by the ending: the reason of why Callie started talking as the trigger didn't seem real, and the overall reason for her mental illness didn't feel that it fit her age. The story itself was interesting, compelling, but very short and lacking in some areas. The girl, Callie, stopped talking and resorted to cutting herself as a form of relief. Her therapist was trying to get her to talk but nothing worked.
I enjoyed the other characters but wanted more from them. Their personalities did show but it was mostly through their illnesses and not through their hobbies and other details. Although it is a short book, this could have been done in a few sentences.
There were a couple of editing issues: some of the pages have designs which made it hard to see the words, and there were a few typos which is normal but for such a short book it felt lazy.
Lastly, I was underwhelmed by the ending. We found out why Callie stopped talking and cut but it didn't feel like something a girl of her age would react to the way she did.
3/5 Rating.
