Willow by Julia Hoban – Review

A poignant novel I never wanted to end...Willow, is beautifully written...Willow is the book I never thought I could read...
Willow synopsis via goodreads:

Seven months ago, on a rainy March night, sixteen year- old Willow’s parents died in a horrible car accident. Willow was driving. Now her older brother barely speaks to her, her new classmates know her as the killer orphan girl, and Willow is blocking the pain by secretly cutting herself. But when one boy—one sensitive, soulful boy—discovers Willow’s secret, it sparks an intense relationship that turns the “safe” world Willow has created for herself upside down.

Told in an extraordinary fresh voice, Willow is an unforgettable novel about one girl’s struggle to cope with tragedy, and one boy’s refusal to give up on her.

Though Willow and I are very different – I for one thing have never lost my parents...but Willow and I share a thread, something that ties this girl to me, a tie that very few people share – very few that I have found anyway. The tie is called cutting.

I, as I have said before in my review of Break – am a “former” cutter. And this book is everything that I wish I could tell you about what that experience was like for me...I did not want the book to end, the last few pages took me awhile to read, because I could not bare the thought of Willow's story ending...I wanted/want more – what happens to her now?

I had no idea that someone could write so much about how the act of cutting feels, but Hoban did an amazingly beautiful, almost breathtaking job! The amount of research that must have gone into the pages of Willow astounds me. The feelings that she wrote about were so real, and Willow is such an amazing person...so strong, though the way she looks at life sometimes is skewed, it's perfect at the same time.

Willow is about Willow, a girl – simple right? Nope, there's nothing simple about Willow's life – she's lost her parents and she is SURE that it's her fault. You see, they went out to dinner the 3 of them, her parents drank, and though Willow is only 16, and only with a drivers permit, they ask her to drive. It's pouring, and Willow crashes the car...and with that crash her life – the life she has known to this point ends...with that crash, her parents, her house, her friends and even her brother are taken from her. Though only her parents are gone physically – Willow's life is forever changed...

Living with her brother, his wife and there little girl, Willow is numb – she has decided to cut off ties with her old life, close the door to that world, and though cutting she tries to cut off her memories too. Willow starts cutting which allows her some control, control in a world that she feels she has no control. It allows her to feel, when everything else is numb. To her, it's a life line...because if you can't feel anything at all, if your totally numb your dead. In away it's her trying to remind herself that she is in-fact alive, and that when everything else is out of control there's one little thing that she can control.

Enter Guy – a guy who listens – though this may sound strange, it's exactly what Willow needs, he does not try to “fix her” - though he worries and wants to take her pain away. His greatest gift to Willow is his heart, and his ability to listen, not judging. I wish everyone in the world could have a Guy in there life...in there corner, I think everyone deserves one. He's compassionate, he's loving, he's real! His greatest wish is to take Willow's pain away, but he's real enough to know that's not possible...so he listens, trying to understand, and in the end Willow allows him to see the real her. She lets him in, and to Willow's amazement he does not run, he does not tell, he just keeps trying to support her in the only way he knows how...though his love and his ever present faith in her.

Willow changes though out this novel, and the end left me wishing there was more, like I said – a “5 years later” but with stories like these there's often no real “ending” it ended as a new beginning for Willow, for her life with Guy and with her making a commitment to try...that's all anyone can do right? Try? That's what I do, every day...I struggle, every day I try.

Willow is poignant, a novel that got right to my heart...ate away at my soul and made me wish for a Guy – someone who would not be repulsed by my scars...it also gave me hope, it's wonderful to see such novels being written for young adults...I know that cutting, eating disorders, suicide ect. are not pretty subjects...but it's nice to see that someone out there wants to give our teens today a life line saying “your not alone” - though, you feel like you are, your not.

I praise Hoban for her work, her efforts to make this one read I will NEVER forget...It was a hard book for me to read, the feelings it brought to the surface were so real...so raw. But it's really beautiful and it's one book that I think we all should read. It's about facing the reality of life, and learning to accept yourself...it's about looking at someone who's hurting and accepting them as they are, not trying to change them but trying your best to help them.

Bottom Line – Excellent book, amazing characters, hard dark subject that will get you thinking. Willow is a girl I will not soon forget, a girl I think will stay with me forever, silently hoping that even though she's just a character that she's out there, every day living, every day living and every day striving to be happy! Julia Hoban is now happily on my radar, I can't wait to read more from her! I give Willow 5 mushrooms!


Willow
Written by: Julia Hoban
329 Pages
Published: April 2, 2009
Publisher: Dial

This book was sent to me via Tricia Carr with Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, INC. for my honest review. - Thank you so much! No other compensation was received.