The Words We Keep

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A gorgeous and deeply touching rumination on the power of art, this book is for anyone who has lost their words and lost their way. The Words We Keep is a tender, heartfelt, and realistic look at mental illness, familial love, and finding your voice.” —Kathleen Glasgow, New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces and You’d Be Home Now Before, I had a place. I was a daughter. A friend. A singer. I was a million things. Now I’m only one— the Burned Girl.”

It’s just, I have this vision, you know? A world where your diagnosis doesn’t define you, and getting help doesn’t make you weak or dangerous or other. And sometimes I forget that the world isn’t there yet.” The Words We Keep wasn’t that great of a story and I found myself bored. It contained so many clichés that it wasn’t an original story. There were some points of light in there but you have to read a lot before you find them. This book wasn’t for me but I can see others really enjoying this one. A beautifully realistic, relatable story about mental health and the healing powers of art–perfect for fans of Girl in Pieces and How it Feels to Float.

Books that include characters struggling with their mental health can sometimes feel like a balancing act. They need to be real enough to be relatable but there needs to be some hope too. The author definitely doesn’t shy away from the hard stuff here but there are some rays of sunshine as well. The characters’ thoughts and emotions have an authenticity that are clearly drawn from the author’s lived experience, discussed in the Author’s Note at the end of the book. “You are enough. Right now. Just the way you are.” Content warnings include attempted suicide, mental health and self harm. Readers with emetophobia may have trouble with some scenes. A beautifully realistic, relatable story about mental health and the healing powers of friendship and art, perfect for fans of Kathleen Glasgow's Girl in Pieces and Jennifer Niven’s All the Bright Places.

This is a five star read, clear and simple. Tissues were required. I was obsessed with listening to this. I was invested way too much in these characters and the reader was amazing too. But there is no lightning bolt of insanity. It’s more like a drizzling leak you don’t even notice until you’re gasping for air, suddenly and irrevocably aware that you’ve drowned in your own thoughts. i don’t know what tomorrow will hold, but im here, existing in the in-between. screaming into the void. and for now, that’s enough. and so am i. I mean yeah there are a few flaws, like how it’s pretty cringy since it’s a YA book but i don’t mind! The amazingness of the book compensates for it! The characters are so deep and i just relate to Lily (the fmc) so much. She is me, I am her. Following the discovery of her older sister, Alice, self-harming on the bathroom floor, Lily grapples with her own increasingly perilous mental health.

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I watch the scene like a movie reel: Gifford calling up the first row of students to read their poems. Sam gets up and reads hers, a rhyming, iambic-pentameter metaphor about violin strings stretched too thin. Lily’s development and descent as the story progressed was heavy, and at times, difficult to read, but laced within every word chosen was an authentic battle and vulnerability that had my heart aching. Her anxiety and thoughts were well-laid, and, though I expect there will be those who question her choices and character, I believe Stewart has done a great job in shaping a real character in whom many will felt seen. I stare holes into my notecards. I pretend not to see him coming. Pretend I don’t notice when he’s standing right next to me.

A fost o poveste frumoasă si emoționantă care a reusit să surprindă lupta pe care cei din jur (inclusiv noi) o au cu proprii demoni. Overall, this book deserves all the stars. It deserves a whole lot more than that. For now, though, I’ll just say that if you struggle with your mental health, if you need a story that makes you feel seen, this is the one for you. Ask for help. Love yourself. Let others love you, too. Because you are enough. No matter what the monsters say. Enter Micah, a new student at school with a past of his own. He was in treatment with Alice and seems determined to get Lily to process not only Alice’s experience, but her own. Because Lily has secrets, too. Compulsions she can’t seem to let go of and thoughts she can’t drown out. Relaxation will not help me ace this,” I reply without looking up from my notecards, where I’ve written each line of my poem for today’s presentation. Damon leans toward her, whispering dramatically, “Exactly. It’s the perfect ones you have to be careful about. So tightly wound.i cannot write objectively about this story because this is the first time in my life i have read a book and felt so deeply that i was reading about my own life. my own childhood. 95% of the things that lily went through, i also went through. usually when i read books with such a heavy focus on mental health, it’s just the protagonist who is affected by a ‘diagnosis’ and nothing more. but a story about being the person in such close proximity to the one that breaks is so important because it can feel so lonely and so consuming and you often feel like you have no reason to be sad because someone you love so deeply has it worse and they broke first. Go away, I say. But my voice is tiny and no match for monsters.” (an excerpt from the poem Monsters) p.155 The reception that Micah had to face, and the pressure to be the perfect child that Lily had to wrestle each day displayed just how hard it is for people to speak out and ask for help. I loved Micah’s character and the friendship he contributed through his own battles and triumphs, while shedding a little more light into Lily’s darkness. What I really enjoyed was the guerrilla poetry. The little pieces of inspiration and hope throughout the school was a very special touch. It brought out a lot of love in others and support in time of need. No one knew what others were going through but those words helped someone along the way. Words are magical and powerful, we should use them in the right ways. So until next month when Alice comes home from psych-ward sleepaway camp, I won’t know if we’re on the same slow train to locoville. All I know is that I, Lily Larkin, at the ripe old age of sixteen, am losing my freaking mind.