Loquacious Readers.: REVIEW: Willow by Julia Hoban

Title: Willow
Author: Julia Hoban
Date Published: January 1, 2009
Page Count: 329 Pages
Year Read: 2010

Goodreads: Seven months ago, on a rainy March night, sixteen year- old Willow's parents died in a horrible car accident. Willow was driving. Now her older brother barely speaks to her, her new classmates know her as the killer orphan girl, and Willow is blocking the pain by secretly cutting herself. But when one boy - one sensitive, soulful boy - discovers Willow's secret, it sparks an intense relationship that turns the "safe" world Willow has created for herself upside down.

Told in an extraordinary fresh voice, Willow is an unforgettable novel about one girl's struggle to cope with tragedy, and one boy's refusal to give up on her.

Review: I remember when my friend told me about this book, "Willow, I really want to read that book it's about an 'emo' girl who goes through hardships." Instantly, I wanted to go read this novel. Especially since, I went through an "emo" phase myself therefore, I had to know how this author approached this situation. I actually came to like this book a bit more then expected. As the synopsis by Goodreads basically read... this book is about a girl named, Willow who lost her parents in a car accident leading to her current situation of being a "cutter" as the author puts it.

I loved Hoban's writing, it was just beautifully descriptive. She would also add a sense of Pathos which of course worked well with her writing. Basically persuading the reader to feel bad for Willows situation.

Willow's Character in the beginning of the book is a very paranoid character. She believes people are talking about her or know about her situation. For, Willow tends to blame herself for parent's death and believes other people must blame her as well. All this lead to her physical pain (cutting) since, she could not handle the emotional pain of the situation. Later, in the story... she meets Guy, though he is in a relationship and is an year older then her... he later helps heal her pain... Though I did like Guy's character... I seriously don't believe a guy would go through all the trouble to help a girl with issues like he does, but that's just my opinion.

David's Character (Willow's Older Brother/legal guardian) I didn't really like him... For an adult he seemed to act very childish. For example, how he doesn't bother to talk about the accident with he's sister... and would rather ignore it completely and deal with it himself. I feel like as an adult with a wife and child... he should at least tell his sister not to blame herself and that everything will be okay. Rather then making her feel like she did a horrible thing, that is not worth mentioning. I know, I know, he probably was going though a phase himself, but this did bug me. Because, I did not find his personality necessary in this novel, I felt like his character was just there to add to the drama, but what do I know, he may have improved this novel... All i'm saying is that he kind of bugged me or his personality did.

Overall, I really did like this novel I felt like Hoban really captured the depression of a young girl, especially after suffering such a big truma. I liked seeing Willow's personality change little by little as the time went by, I found that to be realistic. I also liked how Hoban captured the addiction of cutting yourself (I know this to be true, because sadly I went through a phase myself.).

A very good novel that must be checked out and read at some point of your life.

Writing Sneak Peek:

THE ONLY WAY TO COPE

If she let herself, she'd drown in a world of pain. But she can't let that happen, simply wouldn't be able to handle it, not that kind of pain. Thankfully she knows how to prevent such a thing.

Willow reaches into the pocket of her robe, feeling what she knows is there.

She never takes her eyes off of them as she slices into her flesh. The blade bights so deeply that she almost swoons, but still, she never stops looking at David and Cathy.

Her blood spits as voluptuously as David's tears. It drips unchecked, down her arm and onto the floor as Willow watches Cathy dry David's eyes with her long, long hair.