Spoiler: Willow by Julia Hoban

This book was pretty incredible. I think that Julia Hoban did a tremendous job teaching her readers that self harm isn’t a trend; it’s a serious problem that needs to be more looked into in our society. If that was her point, I 100% agree. I loved that although this book was fiction, it was a novel that the reader can visualize. That you can tell is happening in society day to day for some people, and so you can learn from it. It has a point. I didn’t particularly care for the way it was written as it seems like the author is always on the outside looking in, but at times that was more than appropriate. I think that it helped during the scenes where Willow actually cut, so then readers can feel as though they’re watching a loved one and feel it. I definitely flinched at those parts.

Characters:

Willow: I think that she is a strong young woman who is becoming who she’s going to be during the rest of her life. She believed strongly during most of the book that she killed her parents when in fact it wasn’t all her fault, far from it. Her parents should have been more responsible then to let her drive in the storm. And it was an accident, although sad, they happen. I was so happy when she started seeing Guy and making friends with Chloe and Laurie. I think branching out was what she needed. She needed to feel and that made her a better person. Made her stop cutting. A fantastic main character!

Guy: May I just say that the fact that he didn’t just run away is impressive? I don’t think that I would be able to either, but I’m sure that many people would just use the excuse that it’s not their lives so why should they deal with it? I love that he ended up with Willow (oh come on we all knew it would happy, but you aww’d when it did). I think that he’s the main reason that she was able to stop before doing herself in. Yay Guy!

David: I think that just reading that he wept every night made me feel like we should love him. Sure he wasn’t the most open with his sister, but it can’t be easy becoming a guardian of two people, one a baby and one a seventeen year old, so quickly. But when Willow and David finally talked it meant that her world was getting more secure and back to the easier life of a seventeen year old girl. Even though David seems cold, he’s a good guy at heart I believe.

Laurie: She’s probably the average senior girl. I love that she just rambles about transcripts. Kind of sweet in her own way. I also love that she didn’t make anything weird after the kitten comment.

Carlos: The best coworker ever!

♥ Moments to Remember ♥

♥Pg. 158

“‘Hey,’ Guy smiles at her, ‘I was working up here and I thought that maybe when you get a break we could—‘

 ‘She’s got a break now,’ Carlos interjects.

 ‘I just got here!’ Willow protests.

 ‘I’m in charge today,’ Carlos says. ‘Besides, things are pretty quiet here. Go on, see you in thirty.’”

♥Pg. 270

“She starts to roll down her sleeve, but Guy stops her. He holds her arm, looks at her cuts, traces the pattern of her razor marks with his hand.

 ‘Don’t, it’s…’

 Willow stops speaking as he bends his head and kisses the scars.”

♥Pg. 295

“‘Thank you for bringing me out here. Thank you for not telling my brother. Thank you for being such a…’

 ‘You’re crying again.’ He shifts so he can take her in his arms.”

♥Pg. 316

“‘I get mad at other things too,’ he continues. ‘I get mad that I’m forced to think about things like you going to college and putting the house on the market to pay for that college. I get mad that I can’t have sex with my wife whenever I want because this apartment is so small and I don’t want my little sister to hear us. I get mad that I can’t walk around the house in my underwear and that I have to behave as if I am the parent of a seventeen-year-old and not just an infant.’”

Thanks for reading,

Love,

Sidny xoxo