Just a Normal Tuesday (KCP Loft, 2017) by Kim Turrisi is a powerful book with an inside look at grief.
It’s just a normal Tuesday until sixteen-year-old Kai finds a suicide letter from her older sister Jen. She tries to save her sister, but it is too late and Kai’s stuck letting their parents know. Jen meant everything to Kai. How could Jen do this? Kai saw nothing to warn her of Jen’s unhappiness. To deal with the loss, Kai self-medicates with alcohol and the same drugs Jen used to kill herself, until she inevitably crashes. To save her, Kai’s parents send her away to grief camp. There she can begin healing.
Warning: the book does have language that may be offensive.
This is author Kim Turrisi’s debut novel. Although not an autobiography, she’s not a stranger to this kind of grief. She wishes grief camp had been something available to her. Read more about Kim on her website.
Tag: teen grief
How to save a life
I love how the title of this book, How to save a life (Little, Brown and Company, 2011) by Sara Zarr, applies to multiple situations and characters in this story. Told in two viewpoints from two teen girls from very different backgrounds we see the world through them in very different ways. I love how the author has made me sympathetic for both girls even though they have opposing needs.
Here’s a brief intro to the girls:
There’s Jill, who has lost her father, and whose mother is doing this crazy thing of taking in a girl to adopt the girl’s baby, like that will replace Dad.
And there’s Mandy, who is pregnant, hopefully because of the wonderful experience she had at the fair, and not something else, is looking for a home for a child and a place to stay while she waits for him to be born.
Throw in Jill’s boyfriend, who is bonding with Mandy, and the tension rises.
Don’t pass on this very good award winning book by the wonderful Sara Zarr. Her website has been re-designed, so if you haven’t been there for a while, check it out. You might also be interested in her blog where she’s been posting episodes of “This Creative Life.”