Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes?

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The end wasn’t exactly what I wanted. I feel like we didn’t really have a complete ending. Even Olive’s storyline was rushed and not really over, I would have loved to see her talk to her parents during the final weekend of camp. That’s why I’m giving this book 4 stars. Ofcourse it’s one thing to say you want to get better and another to actually actively try to get better. Olive mostly just wants to do things on her terms and when your brain, who is just so mean to you sometimes, calls the shots and tells you lies, it’s just hard to look at others for help. This book hit a little too close to home for me every time Olive would have her manic episodes or the Numb Days. The way she would describe how she saw things and felt things and just understood the world around her, it was all just something I could identify with. This book was just really important to me for so many reasons that I don’t have the fancy vocabulary to explain properly. The Kindness virus idea was so lovely and Sophie’s speech to Olive at the end had me crying. She really has amazed me with her brilliant writings, I always knew that she can write but this one is her masterpiece! Olive was kinda an unreliable main character because of her illness she has pretty erratic behavior through out the story. But i managed to related to her struggle so many times; her self hate and bad thoughts.... Honestly, it took me a while before I was able to really invest in the story, but once I arrived at that point, I really could not put the book down! In fact, despite having a 10 A.M. class the following day, I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning because I was that determined to finish this book.

My heart feels like it’s been sliced down the middle and every painful thing that’s ever happened is oozing from it.’ Olive is standing on the edge of a cliff, screaming up at the sky. Screaming because she feels scared and worthless and wants that feeling to end. The outstretched hand of a policeman coaxes her away from oblivion, and Olive finds herself agreeing to a month’s trial treatment at a teenage mental health facility. We join her at Camp Reset, as she struggles with therapy, relationships, and the biggest dilemma of all, how to make this crazy world a kinder place. Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes? by Holly Bourne is the latest from one of our most popular YA authors.

She appeared at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2018, alongside author Cat Clarke, discussing her book Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes?, mental health, and resolve. [12] The event was chaired by author Alex Nye. [13] This book did not touch me at all. I think it's mainly because I couldn't stand the main character. I feel really conflicted about that, because her being a bitch is part of her mental illness, and the entire point of the book is that she can't help that she was born this way. But Olive (the main character) is just annoying me so much. Not really in being mean, because I think that's very understandable and relatable. What annoyed me is that she went to a camp to learn how to deal with her mental illness, and then she concludes that the professionals don't know how to help her so she decides to do her own thing. Hun, if you were able to help yourself, you wouldn't be in the situation you're in. Holden, Lucy (19 June 2018). " 'Life isn't how it looks online.' Holly Bourne, the woman on a mission to end social-media envy". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460 . Retrieved 30 July 2018. This book is just so full of beautiful thoughts and words and things, And the message that kindness is so important is so so beautiful and so wonderfully portrayed through out.

Yes, this is a great stylistic device, but it just annoyed me so much. There were also a lot of words in all caps to emphasise it, which caused me to read sentences as if the person saying it was screaming some words. And this annoyed me as well because it's so very exhausting if the voice in my head is screaming all the times. Trigger Warning: This book features suicide ideation, and discussion of sexual child abuse and selfharm. The part with the kindness virus was pretty ridiculous to me, to be honest. I thought the idea itself was not well thought out by itself, plus I doubt people in that situation are so easily convinced to take time from their free therapy that normally is incredibly expensive and that a bunch of teens wouldn't use social media for that kind of project, which would have a far wider reach.

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a b Sheffield, University of (21 August 2014). "Holly Bourne: journalist, novelist, Sheffield graduate - Latest news - Journalism Studies - The University of Sheffield". www.sheffield.ac.uk . Retrieved 15 May 2018. The Nottinghill Carnival takes central stage in this story about families, memories and the power of dance and festivals. Author Yaba Badoe tells... Author Anna Kemp introduces The Hollow Hills, the sequel to her dark magical tale, Into Goblyn Wood. I was really enjoying the first half of the novel, savoring it, trying to internalize the striking truths particularly the concept of not wanting to be labeled when it comes to mental conditions and I was really excited thinking this is yet another rebellious take on mental health and all because I am a huge fan of Holly Bourne and her writing. I love her revolutionary approach to feminism, mental health, and even to romance and it honestly pains me to be saying this but at the halfway mark, this one kind of fell just a little bit flat, a little preachy, and admittedly a bit corny for my taste.

Olive is a bit all over the place and so is this writing but honestly I can say that this was, for me at least, such an accurate read on how we get to see Olive’s thought process battling her demons. Her highs and lows were described so accurately that I just understood her actions so well even if the characters in the books sometimes didn’t. The thing that intrigued me the most about the way Olive goes into the camp is that she genuinely WANTS to get better. Book Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, Mental Health, Mental Illness, Romance, Young Adult, Young Adult Contemporary Yep, and call us crazy when we don't. And give us therapy and meds and freaking alpacas until we can be moulded into something at can at least pretend it divides nicely into the world."' (p223-224)* confessionsofabooklover (25 July 2015). "Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne – review". The Guardian . Retrieved 8 May 2018.A place offering a shot at “normality” for Olive, a girl on the edge, and for the new friends she never expected to make – who each have their own reasons for being there. The pacing of the story felt a little, off at times and, with Olive’s trail of thoughts and narrative, sometimes compelled me to read on, sometimes slowed me down. Are We All Lemmings and Snowflakes? by Holly Bourne is a gripping contemporary YA novel dealing with the issue of mental health. It revolves around Olive and more people of her age who suffers from mental illness and their shot at ‘normality’ at Camp Reset. The book opens up with Olive having a really hard time. Again. For the third time. She is in her room, with pillows and duvets, cocooning herself away under her desk, trying to escape all noise, which makes her anxious, to the point of panic. But, as her mum points out, it's her dad's birthday, and they're having a barbecue, and people are coming round. Can't Olive just try? Can't she just pull herself together this once and try? But a barbecue, with all the people and all the noise, is Olive's worst nightmare. And she has to escape. Not just the noise, but herself, because she's realised she's not ok.