"It is nothing less than astonishing that her new world -- so far from brave -- has such a person in it."

Willow by Julia Hoban is a book I debated picking up a few days ago when I was ready for something new to read. I knew it was going to be sad and frankly, a little hard to read. I knew this because Willow is a cutter. And her parents died. Not only did her parents die, she was driving the car when both her parents were killed in a car crash. Talk about sad! But immediately you want to know Willow. You know she is in pain and is inflicting physical pain in an effort to stop the emotional pain, to deaden it.

I was surprisingly overwhelmed by this book. I cried towards the end. And while I thought that the ends were wrapped up a little too easily (understandable really), I could FEEL where Willow was coming from, what was at the root of her grief and pain. And why at 17 she couldn't see there was another way. While I'm not that familiar with the ins and outs of cutting (a form of self-injury, where cuts are made usually on the wrists, arms, belly, etc, affecting more girls than boys), I do know people who have been cutters. Without knowing first hand the experience of cutting, I think that Julia Hoban does a good job of writing about a girl and why she cuts and what she thinks she is getting out of it.
This book is due to be released on April 2, 2009.