Crash into Me

I read this book because I wanted to see if I should add it to my high school library. I've been suicidal most of my life, so I wanted to see if it the author got it right, and he did. The writing is beautiful (and unlike Hunger Games, it has only *one* typo, so it's even copy-edited well). I frequently skip to the end of a book to find out what happens, but I didn't feel compelled to do that here. Read it, review it--I'm sure many of you are more eloquent than I am. I'm grateful to have a young adult novel that I can recommend to students who either don't understand why someone would be suicidal or are suicidal themselves.

Wonderful, wonderful book. I won't get into details so as to avoid spoiling the book for anyone, but it's absolutely wonderful and worth reading. It deals with some tough subjects, but addresses them in a way that one would imagine someone the age of the characters would.

The plot is simple: four teenagers take a roadtrip with a planned group suicide at the end. The characters are not simple. They are deep, and real, and beautiful, and I cried so hard at certain points of the story that I had to close the book momentarily. This is a gem of a story, one I'd want to give to anyone in an existential crisis.

I loved it. An original story with original characters and personalities. ❤️

This novel is very well written and engaging as you follow a teen on his suicide pact journey. Twists and turns throughout. Couldn't put it down.

I enjoyed this. I would recommend this for the 13-18 age range. I related easily to the characters and enjoyed the twist ending.

I was looking forward to reading this book when I got it from the library. When I started it, though, I found myself struggling with connecting with any of the characters. I'll admit that some of them had their moments, but I found myself not caring about any of them. I think this was due to the writing. There wasn't a lot of emotion in any of the scenes or dialogue. It's like Borris held back with any emotion, like he didn't want to show any 'sentimentality'. With a topic concerning suicide, though, I expected emotion, you know?I myself have been in the hospital twice for depression, yet I just couldn't connect with the story. The road trip idea was really cool, but I feel like it fell flat for me. There was a lot of action, but for what? That's how I felt after I finished the book.To be honest, I hated most of the characters in this book. I really didn't like Audrey. She was so mean and just plain annoying, like one of those people who will do whatever they can to be the center of attention. I found it horrible when she intercepted Jin-Ae's call. Who the hell does that? And we're supposed to like her?Overall, I was disappointed with this book. I feel like it could have been so much better.

This book is unlike anything I've read before. It's raw, real, and disturbing, in a good way. It completely took me by surprise - it's nothing like the Perfect Chemistry-look-alike cover makes it out to be. And I loved every minute of it.When I first read the description for this book, I thought it would have multiple POVs, but it's actually written completely from Owen's perspective. At first, I didn't like that, since I thought that would make it hard to get to know the other characters, but I ended up liking reading from Owen's POV. His voice is incredible - he's so real, it felt like he was talking right inside my head. The way he thinks is so interesting and unique, and offers a new way of looking at depression and suicide. I loved Owen's character and found him easy to relate to, despite our different situations.This choice of POV did impact how we see the other characters - Owen tells us only what he finds worth noting, and we don't know every little thing about their lives. The writing is sparse, but I didn't mind. It made it even more realistic, made it sound even more like an actually suicidal teenager telling us his story.I feel kind of morbid for saying this, but I liked finding out so much about suicide and celebrity suicides. Owen's somewhat of a suicide-expert - he's studied all the statistics on what ethnic groups commit suicide most often, what the most common reasons are, the most common ways to do it, that kind of thing. It feels wrong to say this, but it was interesting to find out so much about suicide, especially since we're reading about it from someone who's been through all of it already - the reactions to his attempted suicide, the way schools handle it, what the counselors say, etc.There are no chapters in this book, just paragraphs and IM conversations in between. I usually dislike when a book doesn't have chapters - I like the structure, and I always tell myself I'll stop after one more chapter, or something like that - but I didn't mind in Crash Into Me. Somehow, the fact that there are no breaks between the paragraphs makes it more real and immediate, like you're right there with the characters.I can't say too much about this without spoiling anything, but I'm kind of confused about one scene towards the end, the one at the cemetery. I didn't really get what happened, or what it meant for Owen.I really liked the ending. It's perfect - hopeful without being unrealistic!I'm not sure whether the sparse writing style and characterization will work for everyone, but it worked for me. If you're looking for something raw, gritty and disturbing but that still gives you hope in the end, give Crash Into Me a try!