Stop Pretending

Stop Pretending by: Sonya Sones

Publisher: HarperTeen

Brief Summary:

This book of poems is written from the perspective of a girl whose sister goes crazy because she had a bipolar episode. The girl goes through how this has affected her emotions and her family's as well. She talks about how her parents have changed from being happy to feeling numb to the world. She wishes throughout most of the story that her sister will return to normal and will remember how good life was before the incident. The reader comes to a point where the girl falls in love with a boy and is afraid to tell him about her sister, but when he finds out, he is okay with it. This gives a sense a relief to the girl. Eventually the sister gets better and the whole family returns to being normal again.

Personal Review:

I really liked this book of poems because I could relate to it. I am bipolar myself and I have had a couple of episodes where I literally went crazy. This helped me to put into perspective what a witness to seeing someone going bonkers can do to them. My own family struggled during the times when I had an episode, but now that it is taken care of, we are all very happy ourselves. What I thought was interesting is that the bipolar sister ended up going into Library Science as a master's degree, and that is also what I am pursuing.

Warnings: Those who are sensitive to the topic of mental illness, will find this hard to read.

Other books by this author:

What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know

What My Mother Doesn't Know

One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies