*Genre* YA Contemporary*Rating* 3.0*My Thoughts*“I’d rather be no one than someone with no one.”This Song Will Save Your Life’s premise was obviously interesting enough that I took the time to request the title from the publisher via NetGalley and read it without stopping. Here are my thoughts, likes, and why I didn’t rate it any higher than 3 stars.16 year old Elise Dembowski considers herself to be precocious and intelligent until the day she decides to try suicide because she is tired of being ignored and treated as though she doesn’t exist by her high school mates. Although she fails and calls for help, it leads Elise on a path towards finding her true calling and a discovery that she really can make friends if she tries. There is an old adage about being one’s best friend and worse enemy at the same time. You can definitely say this about Elise.Elise is puzzle for me to figure out. Even though her parents are separated and each lives their own lives, she isn’t lacking for love or support or affection by either parent. There is no real reason for her to ACT out in ways that she does. So, what does she do? She sneaks out of the house and decides that it is okay for a 16 year old kid to be out all hours of the night in a club where there is drinking and music and sleeping over with someone who may or may not be using her for his own gain. Really, it isn’t until she unleashes her own brand of hell onto her innocent little sister in order to stop her from being special, that her parents finally realize that she’s a bit out of control and needs to be taken down a peg or two.Elise really pushed my buttons in this book, especially when it came to treating her father like junk. I mean, I really wanted to choke her when she lies and decides that staying at his house is too much work, and too far to go so that she can find her way in this world. She doesn’t really do her mother justice either by sneaking out of the house so that she can go to Start until all hours of the night. I know this is a story folks, truly I do. I have been complaining about non-existent family units in YA novels for years now. Here we have two very supportive parents and Elise doesn’t take into consideration how her actions may affect their lives as well.I majored in Radio and TV when I was in college, and spent more than a few nervous nights doing part time DJing (parties, bowling alleys, weddings, etc.) in order to make extra money so that I could purchase books, and gas to get to school. Elise as a DJ was very interesting to me. I was caught up trying to remember the cross fades, and the beats that work together in order to keep the floor filled with dancers and the drinks flowing. I remember more than one night at the Radio station where I worked on Saturdays, letting the music fade to black and scrambling like a chicken with my head cut off looking for something to play because I was also doing scheduling for the stations commercials.I think overall, this story will be an appealing one to those of a younger generation say 16-24. I also think that many will connect to Elise almost immediately. I would say that if you are one who BULLIED another individual in your lifetime, you should read this so that you understand that people have feelings whether or not you believe it or not. You do not have the right to choose whether a person is allowed to experience happiness or not.*Personal story*Today’s society seems to be all about bullying and the attempts to thwart it before it becomes a national epidemic. There have been more stories about bullying than I care to count. Too many of our children and teens have taken their own lives because of something someone said to them or posted on Facebook, or Twitter. (In the book, someone fakes a blog for Elise because they failed to take into consideration how she would feel about it.) Just recently a girl in Florida took her life after being told to kill herself on social media. There are those who continue to tell these kids to grow thicker skin because the world isn’t a safe place to be and that there are hidden dangers around each and every single corner. It’s too bad that back when I was in High School, more than 3 decades ago, that nobody thought about those of us who were used as cannon fodder and treated like whale dung at the bottom of the sea and kicked aside as though we didn’t exist or matter or attacked while we were walking home alone from school in front of our own HOME. There were no grief counselors or principles that would stand up for you and say, “I’ll take care of it.” My family, although supportive, couldn’t be with me 24/7 because they both worked in order to put food on the table, pay the bills and cloth us so that we didn’t look like heathens.A kid can grow up with serious issues which may lead to years of sitting on the psychiatrists couch trying to put their past behind them. Although I was a HS swimming team captain for 2 years, I had few real individuals that I could count on as friends. I was a black sheep among a flock of sheep all heading in different directions. When I finally decided to get the fuck out of New York and enter the Navy, I was more than happy to say FUCK YOU to everyone who failed to see me as a person, and not just something to be kicked aside and around like a piece of trash.In the end, I’m happy I read This Song Will Save Your Life and can understand why readers and reviewers have had glowing reviews over the story. Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for early access to this title.*Recvd via NetGalley 06/18/2013* Expected publication: September 17th 2013 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
GizmosReviews
*Genre* YA Contemporary*Rating* 3.0*My Thoughts*“I’d rather be no one than someone with no one.”This Song Will Save Your Life’s premise was obviously interesting enough that I took the time to request the title from the publisher via NetGalley and read it without stopping. Here are my thoughts, likes, and why I didn’t rate it any higher than 3 stars.16 year old Elise Dembowski considers herself to be precocious and intelligent until the day she decides to try suicide because she is tired of being ignored and treated as though she doesn’t exist by her high school mates. Although she fails and calls for help, it leads Elise on a path towards finding her true calling and a discovery that she really can make friends if she tries. There is an old adage about being one’s best friend and worse enemy at the same time. You can definitely say this about Elise.Elise is puzzle for me to figure out. Even though her parents are separated and each lives their own lives, she isn’t lacking for love or support or affection by either parent. There is no real reason for her to ACT out in ways that she does. So, what does she do? She sneaks out of the house and decides that it is okay for a 16 year old kid to be out all hours of the night in a club where there is drinking and music and sleeping over with someone who may or may not be using her for his own gain. Really, it isn’t until she unleashes her own brand of hell onto her innocent little sister in order to stop her from being special, that her parents finally realize that she’s a bit out of control and needs to be taken down a peg or two.Elise really pushed my buttons in this book, especially when it came to treating her father like junk. I mean, I really wanted to choke her when she lies and decides that staying at his house is too much work, and too far to go so that she can find her way in this world. She doesn’t really do her mother justice either by sneaking out of the house so that she can go to Start until all hours of the night. I know this is a story folks, truly I do. I have been complaining about non-existent family units in YA novels for years now. Here we have two very supportive parents and Elise doesn’t take into consideration how her actions may affect their lives as well.I majored in Radio and TV when I was in college, and spent more than a few nervous nights doing part time DJing (parties, bowling alleys, weddings, etc.) in order to make extra money so that I could purchase books, and gas to get to school. Elise as a DJ was very interesting to me. I was caught up trying to remember the cross fades, and the beats that work together in order to keep the floor filled with dancers and the drinks flowing. I remember more than one night at the Radio station where I worked on Saturdays, letting the music fade to black and scrambling like a chicken with my head cut off looking for something to play because I was also doing scheduling for the stations commercials.I think overall, this story will be an appealing one to those of a younger generation say 16-24. I also think that many will connect to Elise almost immediately. I would say that if you are one who BULLIED another individual in your lifetime, you should read this so that you understand that people have feelings whether or not you believe it or not. You do not have the right to choose whether a person is allowed to experience happiness or not.*Personal story*Today’s society seems to be all about bullying and the attempts to thwart it before it becomes a national epidemic. There have been more stories about bullying than I care to count. Too many of our children and teens have taken their own lives because of something someone said to them or posted on Facebook, or Twitter. (In the book, someone fakes a blog for Elise because they failed to take into consideration how she would feel about it.) Just recently a girl in Florida took her life after being told to kill herself on social media. There are those who continue to tell these kids to grow thicker skin because the world isn’t a safe place to be and that there are hidden dangers around each and every single corner. It’s too bad that back when I was in High School, more than 3 decades ago, that nobody thought about those of us who were used as cannon fodder and treated like whale dung at the bottom of the sea and kicked aside as though we didn’t exist or matter or attacked while we were walking home alone from school in front of our own HOME. There were no grief counselors or principles that would stand up for you and say, “I’ll take care of it.” My family, although supportive, couldn’t be with me 24/7 because they both worked in order to put food on the table, pay the bills and cloth us so that we didn’t look like heathens.A kid can grow up with serious issues which may lead to years of sitting on the psychiatrists couch trying to put their past behind them. Although I was a HS swimming team captain for 2 years, I had few real individuals that I could count on as friends. I was a black sheep among a flock of sheep all heading in different directions. When I finally decided to get the fuck out of New York and enter the Navy, I was more than happy to say FUCK YOU to everyone who failed to see me as a person, and not just something to be kicked aside and around like a piece of trash.In the end, I’m happy I read This Song Will Save Your Life and can understand why readers and reviewers have had glowing reviews over the story. Thanks to Farrar, Straus and Giroux for early access to this title.*Recvd via NetGalley 06/18/2013* Expected publication: September 17th 2013 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
