How It Feels to Float

Author: Fox, Helena

Color: Sky/Pale blue

Number Of Pages: 384

Details:

From School Library Journal Gr 9 Up-Biz's father died when she was young, and her grief hasn't let up, but he visits her to tell stories about the past, so he isn't really gone. Other things talk to her, too, such as the ocean, which she wades into while drunk and nearly drowns before the new kid, Jasper, pulls her out. After a few bad turns, she loses the group of friends she exists on the fringes of, including her best friend, and drops out of school. But then she loses her dad-again-and it's too much. She sets out on the road to find him, Jasper by her side, taking photographs of places that were important to her dad, who speaks to her through them. Through much of the story, it feels as though her father might be appearing and nonsentient objects may be talking through magical realism rather than hallucination, but as she pulls further from reality and ends up in the hospital, her dissociation becomes obvious. The lack of clarity between what's real and what isn't might be confusing, but it captures the experience of not being able to tell the difference. The grief, depression, and intrusive thoughts Biz endures are raw, but there is a healthy distance between her experience of events and readers'. This portrayal of mental illness is honest and authentic, including Biz's recovery. VERDICT For collections that need to expand their mental health offerings.-Alex Graves, Manchester City Library, NHα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Reviews:

“I haven’t been so dazzled by a YA in ages. . . . Biz’s voice is wild and rollicking, lyrical and hilarious, utterly authentic . . . There isn’t a false note.” —Jandy Nelson, author of I’ll Give You the Sun (via School Library Journal)

"[ How It Feels to Float] explores intergenerational mental illness in a way that is nothing short of exquisite." —PopSugar

"A profoundly moving story about grief, loss, and love that will take your breath away. Helena Fox is a writer to be reckoned with." —Kathleen Glasgow, author of Girl in Pieces

"If you've read Anna Borges's story for The Outline

"I Am Not Always Very Attached To Being Alive," you are perhaps already acquainted with the idea of

"treading to stay afloat" when living with mental illness. In How It Feels To Float, author Helena Fox tells the story of a young woman floating through life, struggling to hide her dark thoughts and a past marked by intergenerational mental illness. —Bustle

“ How It Feels to Float is technically a YA novel, but I'm not talking Twilight YA. I'm talking give-this-to-all-your-twenty-something-friends-immediately YA. This book will relate to anyone that's lived through the confusing mind-f*ck that is being a high school girl. More than that, it tackles mental health, depression, sexual identity, and anxiety with beauty and empathy as protagonist Biz comes to terms with the death of her father amid a devastating social fall-out.” —Cosmopolitan.com

"Beautifully written, Biz's story (of dark thoughts, grief and questioning her sexuality) is subtly revealed and immensely satisfying as she slowly unravels and puts herself together again." —Girls' Life

"Teens who don’t want to be labeled, who don’t conform to checklists of attributes or fall into tidy boxes, will relate hard to this book about a girl who wants, very badly at times, to float away, but who ultimately finds herself . . . Full of life, resplendent with sensory details, lush descriptions, clever and witty narration, and a beating heart that will make yours swell with feeling.” —B&N Teen Blog ★

“Lyrical and profoundly affecting, providing a nuanced account of the hereditary effects of trauma. Haunting.”

— Kirkus (starred review)

★

"Biz is smart, funny, and self-deprecating . . . [ How It Feels to Float is] a masterful portrayal of mental illness that illuminates the complex interplay between emotional trauma and the mind’s subsequent recoil. And the writ...

EAN: 9780525554295

Release Date: 07-05-2019

Languages: English

Item Note: Great shape- pages are unmarked and sharp.Has a remainder mark. Hardcover Used - Like New Ships fast! 2019

Item Condition: UsedLikeNew

Binding: Hardcover