REVIEW for Black Box

A great big thank you to Jenny for sending this book to me!

TITLE: Blackbox

AUTHOR: Julie Schumacher

GENRE: YA

RATING: 4 Stars

I will start off this review with one word "WOW".

The story of Dora and Elena two sisters who are as close as can be - when the older Dora starts changing - she is sleeping too much, no longer eating and is becoming less and less like herself every day. Eventually, she is diagnosed with a mental illness. This is the story of how mental illness (depression) affects absolutely everyone it touches.

Elena finds herself having to deal with the fact that her beloved sister is no longer the person she use to be. Elena is heartbroken and scared. Her parents are arguing all the time and somehow most of their friends are now staying away - far away. It is almost impossible for Elena to deal with it all - as she finds herself going to extremes in order to make everyone "be okay again".

This novel (its very, very short at a little under 180 pages) is extremely touching and sad, which is to say that the author takes a very honest and real view at an illness that for some reason still appears to be taboo. I love the title of this book - indeed mental depression certainly makes everyone feel as though they are living in a box - I highly recommend this book to anyone who believes it will never happen to them.