Book Review: Falling into Place by Amy Zhang

image: Goodreads

Falling into Place
Amy Zhang
YA Contemporary
Published: 2014

From Goodreads:
On the day Liz Emerson tries to die, they had reviewed Newton’s laws of motion in physics class. Then, after school, she put them into practice by running her Mercedes off the road. 

A beautifully written and haunting story of a teen girl's life circling depression and suicide. As a reader, I devoured this book in a couple sittings. As a writer, I noted how this story defies many "rules" we are taught that current young adult fiction has to follow. Here we find wandering narrative (third person present tense, not often used since it can be difficult), switching within scenes from different characters, and non-linear storytelling. 

Oh, and addition to that? The author wrote this in while in high school. 

This is a great book to show the nuance to depression, and how it's never just one incident that causes a person to attempt suicide. Here we see the whole spectrum of  Liz Emerson's life, including how others see her, and the step by step progression. There's a bit of  a twist in the story, and the ending worked really well for me. I can see educators using this book to show depression in a realistic way and told in an engaging story.