There is a warning for recovering and recovered addicts. It is necessary. I thought about it while reading the book, about how hard it would be to read this and not want to get high if you struggled with this. I am so fortunate to have not had this struggle but the descriptions of being high in this book are that powerful. It made me understand opioid addition. Truly.
This is considered a YA book but like many YA books it is a great read for adults also. It is McGinnis's seventh novel.
The prologue of the book throws you into a death scene. The entire book you are reading, knowing what is coming, but reading for the journey that took Mickey Catalan from a driven athlete to a junkie. It feels very authentic, so authentic in fact that it really bothered me as a high school teacher to think of my students going through this, hiding this from everyone. It was not a fun read but an important read I believe.
Mickey and her best friend Carolina, the pitcher on their hopeful state-bound softball team, experience a car wreck the winter of their senior year, a few months before practices are to start. They both struggle with healing, taking different roads to recovery. Working against Mickey is her parent's recent divorce which includes a very busy mother who's an obstetrician, therefore on call often, and a distant father. Her mother is reeling not only from the divorce but also the fact that her estranged husband is becoming a father with a much younger woman, something she couldn't do. Mickey was adopted after they found out Annette couldn't have children. Because of this it is easier for Mickey to hide what is happening. Carolina, on the other hand, has an intact and very close watchful family who have ostracized an extended family member addicted to opioids. Both girls are in pain throughout the story.
The book details how Mickey falls more and more into the grip of addiction and how she pays for it both financially, emotionally, and physically. I felt the pressures Mickey is under in the book, the pressure to be the best athlete, to not be a "problem" for her busy but caring parents, to be a great teammate, to always be strong. She doesn't know how to ask for help, has learned from her grandfather to take the pain on her own and "suck it up." Her coach also has a take-no-prisoners attitude as many coaches do. She would not condone Mickey's use but believes the lie that Mickey is ready to play come March.
It is a hefty read at 408 pages. I wish there had been more about how hard recovery would be. I felt it was skimmed over compared to the many descriptions of being high. It does tell throughout the book, however, the gnawing need for the drug so perhaps that balances it out.
I definitely recommend the book Heroine to teens, parents, teachers and just curious readers.
I picked up this ARC of Heroine, by Mindy McGinnis at the NCTE National Conference in Houston. Copyright 2019. Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Trade ISBN 978-0-06-284719-5
This is considered a YA book but like many YA books it is a great read for adults also. It is McGinnis's seventh novel.
The prologue of the book throws you into a death scene. The entire book you are reading, knowing what is coming, but reading for the journey that took Mickey Catalan from a driven athlete to a junkie. It feels very authentic, so authentic in fact that it really bothered me as a high school teacher to think of my students going through this, hiding this from everyone. It was not a fun read but an important read I believe.
Mickey and her best friend Carolina, the pitcher on their hopeful state-bound softball team, experience a car wreck the winter of their senior year, a few months before practices are to start. They both struggle with healing, taking different roads to recovery. Working against Mickey is her parent's recent divorce which includes a very busy mother who's an obstetrician, therefore on call often, and a distant father. Her mother is reeling not only from the divorce but also the fact that her estranged husband is becoming a father with a much younger woman, something she couldn't do. Mickey was adopted after they found out Annette couldn't have children. Because of this it is easier for Mickey to hide what is happening. Carolina, on the other hand, has an intact and very close watchful family who have ostracized an extended family member addicted to opioids. Both girls are in pain throughout the story.
The book details how Mickey falls more and more into the grip of addiction and how she pays for it both financially, emotionally, and physically. I felt the pressures Mickey is under in the book, the pressure to be the best athlete, to not be a "problem" for her busy but caring parents, to be a great teammate, to always be strong. She doesn't know how to ask for help, has learned from her grandfather to take the pain on her own and "suck it up." Her coach also has a take-no-prisoners attitude as many coaches do. She would not condone Mickey's use but believes the lie that Mickey is ready to play come March.
It is a hefty read at 408 pages. I wish there had been more about how hard recovery would be. I felt it was skimmed over compared to the many descriptions of being high. It does tell throughout the book, however, the gnawing need for the drug so perhaps that balances it out.
I definitely recommend the book Heroine to teens, parents, teachers and just curious readers.
I picked up this ARC of Heroine, by Mindy McGinnis at the NCTE National Conference in Houston. Copyright 2019. Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Trade ISBN 978-0-06-284719-5
RSS Feed