TW: suicidal ideation

Young Adult Fiction

Published on March 18, 2014 by Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

304 Pages

TITLE & AUTHOR: The Edge of Falling by Rebecca Serle

PLOT: Caggie is a senior in high school from Manhattan, New York. She comes from a wealthy, elite family, is smart, has a loyal best friend and boyfriend. Basically, her life is going pretty well, until her younger sister drowns in the family pool when Caggie was supposed to be watching her. After this tragedy, Caggie finds herself dealing with tremendous grief and guilt over the loss of her sister, which results in breaking up with her boyfriend and isolating herself from the rest of her family and best friend. Not only does Caggie carry grief and guilt, but she also must deal with a rumor circulating around school that Caggie saved a fellow classmate from jumping off a roof.

Then, a new student arrives at school named Astor. Caggie quickly becomes close to Astor and eventually learns that they both have grief and loss in common. What Caggie does not realize until it is almost too late is that instead of leaning further into sadness and darkness, two things that Astor understands, she needs to keep trying to find the light, no matter how difficult it may be. She also needs to learn to forgive herself and heal from her devastating loss.

THOUGHTS: Okay so based on the plot of this book, it goes without saying that this is a pretty sad story. My heart ached for Caggie, not just for the lost of her sister Hayley, but for how she was feeling and thinking about the event. Rebecca Serle did a superb job of evoking that amount of emotion from me as a reader.

I also enjoyed reading a book that is geared towards young adults regarding depression and suicidal ideation. Oftentimes teens and young adults are unsure of where to turn or how to get help, which is why I appreciate her writing a novel based on depression and suicidal ideation. HOWEVER, what I didn't like was how mental health treatment was portrayed in this book. There continues to be a significant amount of stigma regarding mental health treatment, especially inpatient care, which was perpetuated by the way the characters spoke about inpatient treatment in the book. While the characters do acknowledge the need for help at the end and how no one should be ashamed of needing help, the judgment associated with treatment throughout the book irked me. Regardless, I am still glad these issues were addressed for young adult readers.

IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS EXPERIENCING DEPRESSION OR SUICIDAL IDEATION, CALL THE SUICIDE HOTLINE AT 800-273-8255

Rating: 4/5 Stars