Summary | Excerpt | Reading Guide | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
16-year-old Vicky Cruz wakes up in a hospital's mental ward after a failed suicide attempt. Now she must find a path to recovery - and perhaps rescue some others along the way.
When Vicky Cruz wakes up in the Lakeview Hospital Mental Disorders ward, she knows one thing: After her suicide attempt, she shouldn't be alive. But then she meets Mona, the live wire; Gabriel, the saint; E.M., always angry; and Dr. Desai, a quiet force. With stories and honesty, kindness and hard work, they push her to reconsider her life before Lakeview, and offer her an acceptance she's never had.
But Vicky's newfound peace is as fragile as the roses that grow around the hospital. And when a crisis forces the group to split up, sending Vick back to the life that drove her to suicide, she must try to find her own courage and strength. She may not have them. She doesn't know.
Inspired in part by the author's own experience with depression, The Memory of Light is the rare young adult novel that focuses not on the events leading up to a suicide attempt, but the recovery from one - about living when life doesn't seem worth it, and how we go on anyway.
The Memory of Light sends a message to a depressed teen that he or she is not alone. I would also recommend it to friends and family members looking to understand a loved one's fight with depression. It certainly helps to answer Vicky's question: "How can you love someone and still want to kill yourself?"..continued
Full Review
(942 words)
This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access,
become a member today.
(Reviewed by Sarah Tomp).
According to Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE), suicide is the second leading cause of death in people 15-24 years of age, and ranks tenth when considering all ages. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the United States, eight percent of all people over the age of twelve suffer from depression in any two-week period. Although females are more likely to experience a major bout, males' related suicide attempts are more likely to end in death.
In addition to The Memory of Light, several recently published books for teens explore the issues of depression and suicide in teens.
All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Told in alternating points of view, this tells the tragic love story of two ...
This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.
If you liked The Memory of Light, try these:
The Last True Poets of the Sea
by Julia Drake
Published 2021
From a stunning new voice in YA literature comes an epic, utterly unforgettable contemporary novel about a lost shipwreck, a missing piece of family history, and weathering the storms of life.
by Amy Reed
Published 2019
Three misfits come together to avenge the rape of a fellow classmate and in the process trigger a change in the misogynist culture at their high school transforming the lives of everyone around them in this searing and timely story.
Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd rather have been talking
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!