22 - the nature of jade

so here's another deb caletti book . . . and just like the first book i reviewed on this blog, i was really drawn into this one. i'm starting to admire caletti's ability to write about common societal issues that tend to get overlooked in the YA genre. in the nature of jade those two issues are anxiety disorders and teen fatherhood.  there is a line in the book where jade says, "i am not my disorder" and while that is a powerful message to send about mental illness, i also feel like it is an honest description of this novel.  caletti has avoided writing a novel that reads like a diagnosis and also is able to stay away from defining her character (jade) only by some sort of textbook description of anxiety.  but yet, now that i've finished the book, i feel like i have more of an understanding of what anxiety is and how it touches every part of a person's life as they are dealing with it.

on a personal note, i should be back on track with reading now.  school is out and i've got a stack of all sorts of 'stuff' waiting for me.