BOOK REVIEW: My Heart And Other Black Holes – by Jasmine Warga

Title: My Heart And Other Black Holes
Author: Jasmine Warga
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
First published: February 10th 2015
Finished reading: August 19th 2015
Pages: 320

“Life can seem awful and unfixable until the universe shifts a little and the observation point is altered, and then suddenly, everything seems more bearable.”

I’ve had my eyes on My Heart And Other Black Holes ever since I first heard about it last year, and not just because of the beautiful cover. Depression and teenage suicide is a hard topic both to write about and to get right. I’ve read various raving reviews in the past that made me really look forward to this read despite the heavy subject… And now I’ve finished it I can say this novel was just as good as I was hoping for. The story has interesting characters that are well developed and feel ‘real’. Jasmine Warga was able to describe depression really well with the help of both main characters Aysel and Roman. They want to end their lives for different reasons and especially Aysel gives you a really good idea of what depression really feels like. The prose is simply beautiful; I have so many quotes highlighted on my kindle! I really enjoyed the plot as well, and all in all I would definitely recommend My Heart And Other Black Holes to those who enjoy reading realistic fiction and don’t mind a ‘heavy’ read.

After her Turkish father committed a terrible crime and was sent to jail, Aysel was left to deal with the consequences. The whole town wants to blame her for what her father did and even her own mother can barely look at her…  Her mother has remarried after leaving Aysel’s father a few years ago and Aysel now has to live with her stepfather. Aysel is depressed and feels that most of her ‘new’ family doesn’t really want her there… And when she discovers a website with a section called Suicide Partners, she decides it’s time to say goodbye to this world. Aysel replies to a message and meets the second half of her suicide pact: Roman. They don’t have anything in common and Aysel doesn’t understand why someone like Roman would want to end his life… But it turns out that both have their own reasons why. Will they really go through with their plan?

My Heart And Other Black Holes isn’t a light read and will definitely make you think. Lately there have been published a lot of books about teen suicide, but this one without doubt stands out from the rest. It’s an original story, the characters are interesting and well developed and I loved both the plot and prose as well. All in all a very interesting read if you like the genre and don’t mind the heavy subject.